Automation Basics

Customizing the Activities Panel

For Windows and cross-platform projects

• Filter by availability:
  • Installed - Show activities that are part of packages installed in your project (this filter cannot be deactivated)
  • Available - Show discovered activities that you can add to you project
  • Windows - Show activities that are only available in Windows projects (this filter is only available in cross-platform projects)
• Filter by type:
  • Activities - Show activities
  • Triggers - Show triggers
• Filter by category:
  • Developer - Show activities designed for the Studio profile.

For Windows - Legacy projects

• Filter by type:
  • Activities - Show activities
  • Triggers - Show triggers
• Filter by category:
  • Developer - Show activities designed for the Studio profile. These activities may not function as expected in the StudioX profile.

• Resource activities - Add an application resource to the automation and make that resource available to the activities added inside them.
• For Each activities - Define a collection of items and repeat the activities added inside them once for each of those items.
• Repeat number of times - Similar to a For Each, but it repeats the activities added inside it for a specified number of times.
• If, Switch, and Check App State - Evaluate a condition and determine the flow of the automation by executing specific activities added inside them based on the result of the evaluation.
• Wait for Download - Detects a file download initiated by the activities added inside it and makes the file available in the automation.

• Use Excel File - Use a specified Excel file. The data in the Excel file is available to all the activities added inside this activity. When you configure child activities, you can select individual cells, ranges, or sheets in the file directly from StudioX.
• Use Desktop Outlook App, Use Outlook 365, and Use Gmail add a desktop Outlook, Outlook 365, and Gmail account to the automation. The emails in the account are available to all the activities added inside this activity. When you configure child activities, you can select individual folders, messages, or message fields directly from StudioX.
• Use Word File - Use a specified Word document. Add the activities to perform on the file inside this activity.
• Use Application/Browser - Use a specified desktop application or web browser page. Add the activities to perform in the application or web browser inside this activity.
• Use PowerPoint Presentation - Use a specified PowerPoint file. Add the activities to perform on the file inside this activity.
• Use OneDrive & SharePoint - Select an account to use for OneDrive and SharePoint automation. Add the related activities inside this activity.

• To add activities that use both data from an Excel file and emails from an Outlook account, add a Use Excel File activity inside a Use Desktop Outlook App activity, and then add the common activities inside Use Excel File.
• To add activities that use both data from a web page and a Word document, add a Use Application/Browser activity inside a Use Word File activity, and then add the common activities inside Use Application/Browser.

Adding Global Resources to the Automation

• For Each Excel Row - Repeat one or more activities for each row in an Excel table, range, or sheet.

  The current item option is CurrentRow. For some activities, you must also select which column to use from the current row.

• For Each Excel Sheet - Repeat one or more activities for each sheet in an Excel file.

  The current item option is CurrentSheet.

• For Each Email - Repeat one or more activities for each message in an Outlook folder, Gmail label, or in a selection of messages.

  The current item option is CurrentMail. For some activities, you must also select which field to use from the current mail: Subject, Body, Body as HTML, Bcc, Cc, To, From, or Priority.

• For Each File in Folder - Repeat one or more activities for each file in a folder on your computer.

  The current item option is CurrentFile. You must also select which file property to use from the current file: Size, Name, Full Name (includes full path), Folder, Last modified date, Last accessed date, Created date, IsReadOnly, or Size in KB.

• For Each Folder in Folder - Repeat one or more activities for each folder inside a specified folder on your computer.

  The current item option is CurrentFolder. For some activities, you must also select which folder property to use from the current folder: Name, Full Path, or Last modified date.

• Data from resources added to the project:

  • Excel - Data from the Project Notebook or from an Excel file added to the automation. Select named cells, named ranges, tables, or sheets directly from the Plus menu, or select Indicate in Excel to open the workbook in Excel and indicate in it. Selecting Custom Input lets you manually enter sheet names, table names, cell addresses, or range addresses. If the activity is inside an For Each Excel Row activity, you can select the current row in the iteration.
  • Outlook / Gmail / Outlook 365 - Data from an email account defined for a parent mail resource activity. You can use the message selected in the Outlook desktop app when the project is executed or, if the activity is inside a For Each Email activity, the current email in the iteration.
  • PowerPoint - Data from a PowerPoint presentation defined for a parent Use PowerPoint Presentation activity. You can select slides, placeholders, slide masters, or layouts.
  • File - If the activity is inside a For Each File in Folder activity, you can use properties of the current file in the iteration.
• Text - Enter text using the built-in text builder. You can click Plus inside the Text Builder to add Excel data, mail data, or values you saved for later use to the text.
• Text - Empty Value - This option gives you the ability to have an empty text as a value for cases where you want to add additional text or update it later on.
• Number - Enter a numeric value or a formula. Formulas support the following operators and symbols: + (addition), - (subtraction), * (multiplication), / (division), ^ (exponent, for example 2^3 for 2 raised to the power of 3), ( ) (to enforce the order of operations).

  You can click Plus inside the Numeric Calculation window to add numeric values from the project. For example, select a cell in an Excel file, or a numeric value that you saved for later use.

• Condition Builder - Add conditional statements that are used to determine what activities to execute based on whether or not the conditions are met. For example, the If activity contains a condition field, and it executes a series of activities if the condition is met and, optionally, another set of activities if the condition is not met.

  You create a conditional statement by selecting two values and comparing them using one of the available operators: greater than, greater than or equal, less than, less than or equal, equal to, not equal to, is empty, is not empty, is true, is false, starts with, ends with, contains, is numeric, is not numeric.

  You can add multiple statements and select if all of the statements or any of the statements must be true for the condition to be met.

• True / False - Adds a conditional statement. Select either True or False for fields that support conditional statements in activities such as the If activity.

• Use Variable - Use the output of another activity that you stored as a variable in the project for the current field. In certain cases, StudioX adapts the variable type so it matches the type the field requires. For example, you can use Text variables in fields that require a Number since the value is automatically converted from Text to Number. When a variable type is converted to another type, StudioX adds the new type at the end of the variable's name.

  In Windows and cross-platform projects, the variable selection window displays all the variables and arguments in the project, as well as properties specific to each data type. You can navigate to the desired property or use the search bar to find it. An icon next to each property indicates the type (for example, Tt for strings or 123 for numerical types). Variables that are automatically generated by StudioX for activity outputs are displayed under the activity where they were generated.

  
  

  

  
  
• Choose Date/Time - Select a date from the calendar or a time (hour, minute). This option is available for date and time fields.
• Choose Duration - Select a duration (hours, minutes, and seconds). This option is available for duration fields.
• Runtime options - Contains the Ask when run and Paste from clipboard options. Ask when run prompts for a value during project execution, This option is available for fields that accept text, numeric, date/time, or Boolean (True/False) values. Paste from clipboard uses an output value that you copied to the clipboard in another activity as input for the current field. This option is available for fields that accept text values or Excel ranges.
• Variables - Select a variable created for use in App/Web activities selectors.
• Open in Advanced Editor - Enter VB expressions.
• Clear Value - Clear the current selection in the field.

• Excel - Save output to the Project Notebook or an Excel file defined for a parent Use Excel File activity. Select named cells, named ranges, tables, or sheets directly from the Plus menu, or select Indicate in Excel to open the workbook in Excel and indicate in it. Selecting Custom Input lets you manually enter sheet names, table names, cell addresses, or range addresses. If the activity is inside an For Each Excel Row activity, you can select the current row in the iteration.
• Create Variable - Save the output for later use in your automation as a variable. Enter a name by which to refer to the variable in the project, select a scope, and a data type from the following options: Text, Number, True or False, Number with decimals, Date, and Duration. The created variable can then be selected as input in another activity.
• Runtime options - Contains the Copy to clipboard option, which saves the output to the clipboard. You can then paste the value in an input field in another activity. This option is available for fields that output text, Boolean values (True/False), numbers, or Excel ranges (for example, the Destination field in the Copy Range activity). Boolean and number values are converted to text when copied to the clipboard.
• Use Variable - Use the output of another activity that you stored as a variable in the project for the current field. In certain cases, StudioX adapts the variable type so it matches the type the field requires. For example, you can use Text variables in fields that require a Number since the value is automatically converted from Text to Number. When a variable type is converted to another type, StudioX adds the new type at the end of the variable's name.

  In Windows and cross-platform projects, the variable selection window displays all the variables and arguments in the project, as well as properties specific to each data type. You can navigate to the desired property or use the search bar to find it. An icon next to each property indicates the type (for example, Tt for strings or 123 for numerical types). Variables that are automatically generated by StudioX for activity outputs are displayed under the activity where they were generated.

• Rename Variable - Rename a variable you created for later use.
• Variables - Select a variable created for use in App/Web activities selectors.
• Open in Advanced Editor - Enter VB expressions.
• Clear Value - Clear the current selection in the field.

1. To save data and use it in other activities, select the Create Variable option in the Plus menu of a field that configures the output data of an activity, and enter a name for the variable (saved value). You will use this name later to identify and select the variable as input in another activity, so make sure to use a unique name that describes the variable.

   Note: Certain activities may require you to select the type of the data along with the name of the variable. Select from the following options: Text, Number, True or False, Number with decimals, Date, and Duration. Select Advanced options if the type of data you need to store is not found in the list.
2. To use the variable as input for another activity later in the project, select it from the Use Variable option in the Plus menu of a field that configures the input data of an activity.

• A Read Text File activity reads and outputs the contents of a text file which can then be used as the input for an Append Text activity to add the text to a Word file.
• A File Exists activity checks whether a file exists and outputs the result (True or False) which can then be used in the condition of an If activity to determine specific actions to perform when the file already exists.

• You can open Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files added to your automation directly from the Data Manager panel. Right-click any Excel or Word resource and select Open. You can also select Open file location to open the folder containing the file.

  
  

  

  
  

• If you're not sure which activity can help you automate a specific action, search through activities using either the search bar at the top of the Activities panel, or the one displayed at the top of the screen after you click Add activity in the Designer panel. Searching returns results from activity names as well as descriptions, so it can be a good way to find activities you may not have discovered yet.

  
  

  

  
  
• When you need help with an activity you added to your project, right-click it and then select Help, or select the activity and then press F1 on your keyboard to open its documentation page with information about how to configure it.
• If you want to save a few clicks when designing your automations, you can double-click most activity fields to open the option in the Plus menu most commonly used to configure that field. For example, double-clicking a field that accepts text input opens the Text Builder, doing the same for the Condition field in the If activity opens the Condition Builder.
• When you select Text from the Plus menu to add text to an activity field, you can compose text that combines multiple types of data using the Text Builder. In addition to typing text, you can select other types of data from the Plus menu in the upper-right corner the Text Builder. For example, you can add the contents of a cell in an Excel file, a field in an Outlook email, or one of the properties of a file on your computer that you saved for later in a previous activity.

• When configuring a Use Application/Browser activity to add a desktop application to the automation, if you want the automation to open a specific file, indicate the application, and then add the path to the file in the Application arguments field. For example, if you indicated Acrobat Reader as the application to automate and you want to work with the file form_template.pdf located in the C:\Work folder, enter C:\Work\form_template.pdf in the Application arguments field to open the file in Acrobat when the automation is executed.
  
  

  

  
  
• When indicating target elements of App/Web activities in web browsers, always add at least one anchor to make sure the element is correctly identified by the Robot. For more information about targets and anchors, see UI Automation.
• When configuring a Use Application/Browser activity to automate tasks you perform in a web browser, before you indicate the web browser, navigate to the web page where the automation performs the first action. Doing this automatically adds the URL of the page to the Browser URL field, so that you don't have to enter it manually.
• If you don't want to add too many Type Into activities to fill out a form with many fields, you can simplify your workflow by configuring one Type Into activity to enter text in multiple fields. After indicating the first field on the form and selecting the text to type into it, you can open the Text Builder of the Type this field, add the tab special key from the Plus menu inside the Text Builder, and then select the text for the following field. For example, provided that the tab key moves the cursor to the next field in the target application, configuring the Type this field like in the following image copies the text from three different cells and pastes it in three different fields.
  
  

  

  
  
• When two consecutive App/Web activities aren't timed correctly (for example, the first takes a long time to execute the action and the second one starts before the previous action is complete), configure the Delay before or Delay after properties from the activities' Properties panel to make sure the first activity completes before the second activity starts. These properties add a delay before or after an activity is executed, increasing the time between activities when needed.
• When the actions you want to perform in a desktop application or web browser depend on the state of the application, use a Check App State activity to determine which actions to perform based on the state. This activity verifies whether an element appears in or disappears from the user interface of the target application and enables you to add different activities to execute when the element is found and/or when it is not found. For example, you can check if you are already logged in to a web application by verifying if the Log in button is present, and only perform the actions required to log in when the button is found.

• The Excel files you add to automations are not always available at design time (for example, a file can be created by or downloaded during the automation). In this scenario, you can still take advantage of StudioX's deep integration with Excel to configure the activities that use the file by defining another file with the same format (same sheets, columns, tables, etc.) as a template file.

  Once defined, you can indicate data in Excel or select data from the template file directly from the Plus menu.

  For example, if you want to create an automation with a report you'll receive monthly, use an existing report with the same format as the template. To define a template, add the Use Excel File Excel File activity, enter the path to the file to automate, then select the Template file option and indicate the file to use.

• When you want to work with a .xls (Excel 97-2003) workbook, the data in the file cannot be accessed directly from the Plus menu. In this case, you can configure activities that use the file with the Indicate in Excel or Custom input options in the Plus menu. Alternatively, to be able to select data directly from the menu, create a .xlsx copy and add it as a template file.
• When you filter rows in a large sheet and iterate through them using an Excel For Each Row activity, instead of iterating through the original sheet after applying the filter, use a Copy Range activity to copy the filtered rows to a different sheet, and then iterate through the filtered range in the new sheet. This will result in better performance when the project is executed.

• You can add bodies formatted as HTML for emails sent using mail activities from the desktop Outlook app by selecting the Use Word Document option for the Body field. This enables you to select a Word document containing formatted text, images, or tables as the body of emails sent with the Send Email , Reply to Email, and Forward Email activities.

  
  

  

  
  

• If you want to use your computer during project execution without interference from the Robot, you can run your automations in picture-in-picture mode. This features enables you to execute the project in another session opened in a separate window, leaving you in full control of the keyboard, mouse, and screen. To run an automation in picture-in-picture, click the arrow next to Run in the StudioX ribbon, and then select Run in PiP.

  
  

  

  
  

• If you dismissed an error that occurred when executing a project before having a chance to read the error message, you can find the error message in the Output panel. To access the Output panel, click Output in the lower-left corner of the StudioX window.

  
  

  

  
  
• To avoid opening multiple instances of the same application, before running an automation, close all the applications and files that are used in it.