Automation anywhere user manual tethys solutions
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The document provides an overview of Automation Anywhere software which allows users to automate repetitive tasks. Some key capabilities include automating business processes, web tasks, data transfers, scheduling tasks, and more. It describes how to record tasks, create tasks using templates, and highlights some templates included like backing up data, file operations, and FTP tasks. Privacy and security features are also summarized.
![Insert Keystrokes Examples
Use this command to tell a task to insert keystrokes in a window.
1. In Automation Anywhere, select a task in the Task List and choose Edit.
2. In the Task Editor, double-click the Insert Keystrokes task. The Insert Keystrokes dialog
appears.
3. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the Select Window text box, and select the title of a
currently open window.
Tip: Windows that you already included in the task appear at the top of the list. The currently
open windows appear below the dotted line in the list. Before you begin inserting keystrokes in a
window, make sure the window is open. If the correct window doesn’t appear in the Select
Window drop-down list, open the window, and in the Insert Keystrokes dialog, click Refresh.
4. In the Select Window text box, you can type a wildcard character (*) at the start or end of the
window title. This is helpful, for example, if you expect the window title to change over time. For
example, you can type “Microsoft Excel*” or “*Excel” or “*Excel*,” so that the window will still
be selected when the task runs, even if the window title has changed to reflect the name of an
open document. However, if you know the exact title of the window, we recommend that you
type the complete window title to ensure that the actions will always performed only in that
window.
5. In the Keystrokes text box, type (or cut and paste) any text you want Automation Anywhere to
insert.
6. To insert special keystrokes such as Control, Shift, or Tab, click the appropriate button in the
Special Keystrokes box. For example, if you want Automation Anywhere to type Ctrl + C in a
window, first click Ctrl Down, then type “c,” and click Ctrl Up. You should now see the
following commands and text in the Keystrokes window: [CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP].
Similarly, if you want to type Ctrl + Shift + a, first click Ctrl Down and Shift Down, type “a,” and
click Shift Up and Ctrl Up.
7. You can insert many system variables in the Keystrokes window. You can also insert your own,
user-defined variables. For example, to insert today’s date, in the Insert Variable list double-click
Date, or choose Date, then click Insert. If you don’t want your keystrokes to be visible while you
edit a task, select Encrypt Keystrokes (above the Keystrokes box).
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![Insert Keystrokes Command Examples How to use?
Example 1: Insert keystrokes in a Microsoft Word document titled news.doc.
Open a document named news.doc in Microsoft Word.
1. In Automation Anywhere, click New, and in the Create New Task dialog, click Task Editor.
2. In the Commands list, double-click Insert Keystrokes.
3. Click the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the Select Window text box, and in the
drop-down list select news.doc - Microsoft Word.
4. Insert the required keystrokes. For example, type “Today's tasks are complete” and under
Special Keystrokes choose Enter.
5. Click Save.
Example 2: Copy a cell from an Excel document titled data.xls.
1. Open a document named data.xls in Microsoft Excel.
2. In Automation Anywhere, click New, and in the Create New Task dialog, click Task Editor.
3. In the Commands list, double-click Insert Keystrokes.
4. Click the downward-pointing arrow at the right of the Select Window text box, and in the
drop-down list click Microsoft Excel - data.xls.
Follow these steps to perform a copy operation by inserting a Ctrl+C command in the
Keystrokes window:
5. In the Special Keystrokes section, click Ctrl Down, then type “c” in the Keystrokes window,
and under Special Keystrokes click Ctrl Up. The Keystrokes window now displays: [CTRL
DOWN]c[CTRL UP].
6. Click Save.
Example 3: Insert the current date and time. For example, to include the date and time in filenames,
so that you can identify the files that were created when you ran the task.
Automation Anywhere provides system variables that you can use to insert the current date and time and other
useful data. The date system variables are: $Date$, $Year$, $Month$, $Day$, $Hour$, $Minute$,
and $Second$. You can configure the $Date$ variable to print the date in your preferred format.
1. In the Task Editor, choose Tools > Variable Manager > System Variables > Date. Click the “...”
button to the right of the Date variable, and in the Date format text box, edit the format, or click
the down-arrow to the right of the Date format text box and select a standard format from the
drop-down list.
2. For example, to name an Excel file MyExcelResults plus the current date and time, open the File
Save dialog in Excel, then follow steps 1 and 2 above to insert the following in the Keystrokes
text box: MyExcelResults-$Year$-$Month$-$Day$-$Hour$-$Minute$- $Second$.xls.
To configure your own date and time format, using the System variables $Year$, $Month$,
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![5. You can use the Insert Keystrokes commands with the $Dataset Column$ variable to type the
results in the Excel document.
6. Disconnect from the database.
Example 4: Print prices extracted from a pricing table on a Web page.
1. Use the Web Recorder “Extract Table” command to extract the tabular data from the Web
page.
2. After you call the Extract Table command, Automation Anywhere stores all of the tabular data in
a system variable called $Table Column(index)$. You can use this variable to get all the rows
and columns of the table you extracted.
3. Double-click the Loop command.
4. Select “Each row in an Internet Explorer Table.”
5. To access each row and column in the $Table Column$ system variable, use the “Loop for Each
row in an Internet Explorer table” option to loop through the rows of the table. To access each
column, use $Table Column(index)$; for example, to get the first column, use $Dataset
Column(1)$, and so on.
6. You can use the Insert Keystrokes command with the $Table Column$ variable to type the
results in the Excel document.
Example 5: Insert an Exit Loop command to break out of the loop.
1. Open the Task Editor.
2. Double-click the Loop command and select Exit Loop, and move it to the appropriate location
between the Start and End Loop commands.
3. The Exit Loop command can appear only between Start Loop and End Loop statements.
Tips for Using Nested Loop
Let’s say you are using a nested loop as follows:
1 Start Loop "List Variable my-list-variable"
2 Variable Operation: $my-list-variable$ To $Income$
3 Start Loop "5" Times
4 Keystrokes: $Income$[ENTER] in "Untitled - Notepad"
5 End Loop
6 End Loop
You should assign the value of the list variable to a value type variable before the nested loop starts, and
use the value type variable inside the nested loop.
You can apply the same tip when you are using Loop for each row in an Internet Explorer Table, Loop
for each row in a SQL Table, or Loop for each row in an Excel dataset.
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![10. Select the Notepad window title from the drop-down list.
11. Select the variable Excel Column from the list on the right, and insert the column number as 1,
since you are retrieving values for one column.
12. Insert a special keystroke of [ENTER] after the $ExcelColumn(1)$ variable.
13. Click Save.
Example 3: Run an Excel macro in an Excel spreadsheet.
1. Open the Task Editor.
2. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command.
3. Click “...” and select the Excel spreadsheet that contains the macro.
4. Click Save.
5. Double-click the Run Excel Macro command.
6. Type the macro name, e.g., Macro1.
7. Click Save.
Example 4: Delete an entire row in an Excel spreadsheet.
1. Open the Task Editor.
2. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command.
3. Click “...” and select the Excel spreadsheet.
4. Click Save.
5. Double-click the Delete Cells command.
6. Specify a cell in the row you want to delete.
7. Select Entire Row from the Delete options.
8. Click Save.
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![String Manipulation - Examples How to use?
Example 1: Extract the price of a product from a product literature document.
1. Open the Task Editor.
2. Double-click the Open Program/File command.
3. Specify the location and name of the product literature document in the Program/File Path.
4. Click Launch Program/File.
5. Click Save.
6. Double-click the Insert Keystrokes command.
7. Select the window in which the document is open.
8. Specify [CTRL DOWN]a[CTRL UP][CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP] as the keystrokes.
9. Double-click the String Manipulation command.
10. Press F2 and select Clipboard variable from the list, as the source string.
11. Specify the Before keyword, i.e., the word before the product price, e.g., $.
12. Specify the occurrence of the Before keyword in the string.
13. Specify the After keyword, i.e., the word after the product price, e.g., A.
14. Specify the occurrence of the After keyword in the string.
15. Select a variable from the list to assign the extracted price to.
16. Click Save.
Example 2: Extract an account number from a text file.
1. Open the Task Editor.
2. Double-click the Open Program/File command.
3. Specify the location and name of the text file in Program/File Path.
4. Click Save.
5. Double-click the Insert Keystrokes command
6. Select the window in which the text file is open.
7. Specify [CTRL DOWN]a[CTRL UP][CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP] as the keystrokes.
8. Double-click the String Manipulation command.
9. Press F2 and select Clipboard variable from the list, as the source string.
10. Specify the Before keyword, i.e., the word before the account number, e.g., No.
11. Specify the occurrence of the Before keyword in the string.
12. Specify the length of the account number in “Number of characters to be extracted,” e.g., 8.
13. Select a variable from the list to assign the extracted account number to.
14. Click Save.
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![Tips
1. How to copy an Excel cell and move to the next cell in the record?
2. How to paste data in your application and move to the next item?
3. How to create timestamps for your files using Automation Anywhere System variables?
4. What is the recommended way to open an application as part of your task?
1. How to copy an Excel cell and move to the next cell in your record?
When you highlight the cell and use Ctrl + C to copy a cell in Excel, it copies an extra ENTER keystroke
along with the data in the cell. To copy only the cell in the Excel file, use the keystrokes:
[F2][HOME][SHIFT DOWN][END][SHIFT UP][CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP].
The above keystrokes will copy the data in the cell.
Now, if you want to move the cursor to the next cell after copying the current cell, use the following
keystrokes:
ENTER to move one row down in the same column
TAB to move to the next cell to the RIGHT in the same row
Shift + ENTER ( [SHIFT DOWN][ENTER][SHIFT UP] ) to move one row
up in the same column
Shift + TAB ( [SHIFT DOWN][TAB][SHIFT UP] ) to move to the next cell to
the LEFT in the same row
To skip a cell, you need to use the corresponding key twice. For example, to move RIGHT to alternate
cells, you must enter [TAB][TAB]
2. How to paste data in your application and move to the next item?
Most applications support the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V to paste data that has been copied to the
clipboard. To paste the data using the keyboard, you need to ensure that the focus is at the correct place,
e.g., the correct cell in a table, or the correct control in a browser page, etc. You can then perform the
Ctrl + V keystroke. To simulate Ctrl + V in Automation Anywhere, you need to write it as [CTRL
DOWN]v[CTRL UP].
The above series of keystrokes will paste the data into your application.
The following examples illustrate how to move to the next record/cell in your application using the
keyboard:
Use the TAB key to move from a highlighted link to the next link in an Internet
Explorer Web page
Use the [RIGHT ARROW] to move to the next cell in the same row in a
Microsoft Word table.
Some applications also support using the Spacebar to move to the next control or
button.
3. How to create timestamps for your files using Automation Anywhere System variables?
Automation Anywhere provides the following system variables that you can use to append timestamps:
Year
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Automation anywhere user manual tethys solutions
- 1. AUT Th TOMA he Lead US ATION der in A SER N ANY Automat MAN YWHE tion Sof NUA ERE ftware AL
- 2. Overview The Intelligent Automation Software. Automate and schedule business processes / IT tasks the easy way! Unique Features Intelligent automation for business and IT tasks. Unique SMART Automation Technology® automates complex tasks fast! (No programming required.) Create automation tasks in minutes – record keyboard and mouse strokes, or use easy point-and-click wizards. Easily distribute tasks to multiple computers, using Task to SMART Exe capability (Premier and Enterprise editions only). Web recorder / Web data extraction. Use Automation Anywhere to automate scripts in disparate formats. Powerful task scheduling and auto-login – run scheduled tasks anytime, even when computer is locked. 270+ actions including: conditional, loop, prompt, file management, database, system, Internet. More great features: fast speeds, automatic email notification, task chaining, hotkey, variables, logging, etc. Capabilities Automation Anywhere can reduce a wide array of tasks to a single keystroke: 1. Business processes 2. Web tasks 3. Data transfer 4. Data import/export (from any application, to any application, or from files) 5. Web data extraction 6. Fast data entry and formatting 7. IT and system administration tasks 8. Data backup and file management 9. Integrate disparate scripts, or replace existing scripts 10. Job scheduling 11. Batch data processing 12. Automated software testing, Web testing 13. Automated FTP Benefits 1. Very easy to use – no programming knowledge is required. Simply record your actions, or just point and click the action wizards. Page 1
- 3. 2. Eliminates human error 3. Increases transaction speed 4. Huge savings in time and costs 5. SMART Automation Technology is highly reliable and accurate. Page 2
- 4. What Can I Do With Automation Anywhere? Automation Anywhere can automate any repetitive tasks on your computer or the Internet. Automation Anywhere comes with a number of sample tasks that you can run to become familiar with what Automation Anywhere can do. To run a sample task, in the Folders list, choose Sample Tasks. Under Task List, highlight a task, and choose Run. (To view the commands contained in a task, highlight the task and choose Edit.) For tutorials and additional sample tasks, visit: http://www.tethyssolutions.com/automation-samples.htm. Automation Anywhere speeds your workflow by automating many complex tasks – for example: Use Automation Anywhere to automate time-consuming business processes: check inventory, re-order supplies, generate reports, enable fast data entry and formatting, etc. Automate Web tasks. For example: logging in to websites, searching, submitting forms, updating records, managing ERP Web front-ends, etc. Automation Anywhere is ideal for automating complex IT tasks: website monitoring, website testing, repetitive system administration tasks, etc. Use Automation Anywhere to automate data transfers, and import or export data between applications or from files. Automate routine backups and file management tasks. Automate software testing and routine Web development testing tasks. Use Automation Anywhere to automate job scheduling. Automation Anywhere is ideal for batch data processing. Automate FTP tasks. With a Premier or Enterprise license, you can easily share tasks by converting them to standalone .exe files. For example, businesses and IT managers can generate .exes for common software configuration and management tasks, such as installing software changes, etc. Automation Anywhere puts powerful, flexible tools in your hands. Automation Anywhere makes it easy to automate one-of-a-kind tasks quickly and creatively, using the simple, visual Automation Anywhere graphical user interface (GUI). Page 3
- 5. Privacy and Security Powerful privacy and security features protect the integrity and privacy of your data: 1. To ensure privacy, Automation Anywhere stores tasks on your local computer. So passwords that you enter while recording tasks are stored only on your local computer. 2. Automation Anywhere’s password protection lets you lock tasks so that only you can edit or run them. (Password protection is available only in the purchased version.) 3. Password-protected tasks are stored with industry-standard strong encryption. 4. Automation Anywhere lets you hide sensitive information and passwords that you type on the screen, to prevent unauthorized persons from seeing them as you work. 5. Automation Anywhere offers secure auto-login – you can schedule a task to run at a later time, then lock the computer and go home. At the scheduled time, Automation Anywhere will automatically log in, run the task, and lock the computer again. Auto-login offers many additional security options as well. For example: * If someone tries to use the computer during secure auto-login, Automation Anywhere automatically locks the computer, ensuring security. * Turn on stealth-mode auto-login to prevent information from being displayed on the screen during auto-login. * Disable the mouse and keyboard so that unauthorized persons cannot access the system during auto-login. Page 4
- 6. Installing Automation Anywhere 1. How do I install Automation Anywhere? After downloading the software, double-click Atmn-Anywhere-setup500.exe and follow the installation wizard. 2. How do I upgrade Automation Anywhere? Download and install Automation Anywhere. Files that you created with the following applications will work with the current version of Automation Anywhere: Automation Anywhere 4.x, 3.x, 2.x; Workspace Macro Pro 5.x and 6.x; Workspace Macro 4.x. Note: Tasks that use certain advanced features may need to be re-recorded. To purchase upgrades to Automation Anywhere, see: http://www.tethyssolutions.com/upgrade.htm. 3. If, after the 30-day free trial, I decide to purchase Automation Anywhere, do I have to re-install the software? No. Some features are locked in the free trial version, but once you enter your registration key and username, they will be available. 4. How do I uninstall Automation Anywhere? To uninstall Automation Anywhere, go to Start -> Programs -> Automation Anywhere 5.0 (the default program folder) and click Uninstall Automation Anywhere. Follow the uninstall wizard. When you uninstall Automation Anywhere, any tasks you have recorded are not deleted. If you no longer plan to use Automation Anywhere, you can remove recorded tasks by deleting the Automation Anywhere installation folder. (The default folder location is: C:Program FilesAutomation Anywhere x.x – where “x.x” is the version number.) Page 5
- 7. System Requirements Automation Anywhere is supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 2003 and Windows 2000. Page 6
- 8. Purchasing Automation Anywhere 1. Trial vs. Purchased Version Several features are locked in the trial version. The following additional features become available when you register Automation Anywhere: o Unlimited use of the software. o Option to password protect tasks so that only you can run and edit them. o Access to extended template set. o Convert tasks to .exe (Premier and Enterprise versions). o Deploy tasks on remote machines (Enterprise Version). o Access to product support resources. o Free or discounted upgrades. o Receive news of new features and upgrades. 2. How to Buy? To purchase the software, visit the Tethys Solutions home page (www.tethyssolutions.com) and click Buy Now. When registration is complete, you will receive your registration key and username by email (usually within 2-3 minutes). To run the full version of Automation Anywhere, see “How to Register” below. 3. How to Register After you purchase Automation Anywhere, you will receive an email with your registration key and username. Start Automation Anywhere, and in the first screen, click Enter Key. Enter your username and registration key. Features that were locked in the trial version will now be available. Page 7
- 9. Getting Started Recording and running simple tasks takes just three steps: Record Save Run The detailed steps are: 1. Click Record to begin recording your activity (keystrokes, mouse clicks, or both). The Automation Anywhere window “goes away,” and a Stop window appears in the bottom right corner of your screen. 2. Perform the activities you want to automate. 3. Click Stop to stop recording the task. 4. In the Save Task dialogue, type the name of the directory where you want to save the task, or accept the default directory (My Tasks). 5. Type a filename for your task and click Save. If you have a purchased version, you can type a password to protect the task. 6. To create a shortcut to the task on the Windows desktop, select Create Shortcut on Desktop. 7. When you want to repeat the actions you recorded, choose the task in the Task List in the Automation Anywhere window List, and click Run. (Or double-click the task.) Automation Anywhere performs the actions you recorded. To abort the operation while it runs, press the ESC key for 2-3 seconds. Adding features to a task You can add the following features to any task. For details, follow the supplied link to the appropriate section. 1. Properties. You can have Automation Anywhere repeat a task a specified number of times, or repeat the task for a specified number of hours, minutes, and seconds. You can specify how quickly or slowly the task should run, and you can have Automation Anywhere send an email to an address that you specify after it runs the task. You can assign the task to a keystroke and secure the task by telling Automation Anywhere to require the user to type a password before the task runs. You can run the task without displaying the actions on the screen during playback, and you can disable the keyboard and mouse while the task runs. For more information, see Task Properties. 2. Schedule: You can tell Automation Anywhere to run the task at a specific time. For example, you can schedule the task to run once a day, once a week, once a month, only on specified days of the week, etc. For more information, see Scheduling Tasks. 3. Trigger: To automatically run a task in response to events that occur on your computer, click Page 8
- 10. the Trigger tab. Here you can tell Automation Anywhere to run the task when, for example, a new window opens, or a specific file is created or deleted, etc. For details, see Triggers. Click Edit to change, optimize, or customize your tasks without re-recording them. For more information, see Task Editor. 4. Click New to create a new task using any one of three methods: with the Record feature, the Web Recorder, or based on a Template. For more information, see Creating Tasks. The following special keys are available when recording and playing simple tasks: To abort a running task, press and hold the ESC key for 2-3 seconds. The next time you run the task, Automation Anywhere starts the task from the beginning. To pause a task during playback, press the Pause/Break key. While you pause a task, a Resume button appears at the bottom right corner of the screen. To continue the task, click the Resume button. Note: This feature is handy for long tasks, when you need to interrupt a task to use your computer. To create an icon on the Windows desktop that you can click to run the task quickly, first select the task in the Task List in the Automation Anywhere window, then right-click the task and choose Send To -4> Desktop (Create Shortcut). Page 9
- 11. Compare Versions of Automation Anywhere To read about the features of the different Automation Anywhere versions, see: http://www.tethyssolutions.com/compare-automation-anywhere.htm. Page 10
- 12. Create a Task Automation Anywhere gives you four easy ways to create a task: 1. Record (Click for details.) Record offers the easiest way to create simple tasks. After you record a task, you can make changes using the Edit feature. In most cases, recording and editing a task is much faster than creating the task from scratch in the Task Editor. 2. Templates (Click for details.) Automation Anywhere includes sample templates for common computer tasks: data backup, auto-shutdown, FTP, data transfer, Web data extraction, and so on. To customize a template, or to create a new template, choose New > Templates in the Automation Anywhere window, choose a category and template, and follow the wizard to create the new task. See complete list of templates. 3. Task Editor (Click for details.) To create a task manually, choose New > Task Editor, and add actions to the task using the commands available in the Editor. 4. Web Recorder (Click for details.) For Web-only tasks, choose New > Web Recorder. The Web Recorder understands all Web controls. If a website changes and the controls on a page move, Automation Anywhere can find the correct controls and adjust the task so that it will continue to work. Page 11
- 13. Recording Tasks Recording a task is usually the easiest way to create a new task. Follow these steps: 1. Click Record to begin recording keystrokes and mouse movements. 2. Perform the activities you want to automate. 3. Click Stop (the small window in lower right corner of the screen) to stop recording your activity. The Save Task dialog appears. 4. Type a Filename for the task and click Save. If you have the purchased version, you can specify a password that Automation Anywhere will require the user to type before it runs the task. 5. When you want to repeat the actions you recorded, double-click the task in the Task List in the Automation Anywhere window, or highlight the task and click Run. Note: To abort a task while it runs, press and hold the ESC key for 2-3 seconds. Page 12
- 14. Using Templates Automation Anywhere provides templates for automating a number of common tasks on your computer, including data backups, FTP functions, data transfers, Web data extraction, and so on. For descriptions of the templates, see the complete list of templates Using templates is easy: 1. Click New > Templates to open the list of available templates. 2. Select a template from the list and click OK. 3. Follow the wizard and answer the questions. Automation Anywhere will create a new task for you, based on the supplied template. Tip: After you create a new task from a template, you can make changes to it manually. Choose the task in the Task List and click Edit. The task opens in the Task Editor, where you can make your changes, using dozens of convenient, click-to-enter commands. To read more about Automation Anywhere templates, see Template Marketplace. Page 13
- 15. List Of Automation Templates When you purchase Automation Anywhere, you receive the following professional templates: Auto Shutdown, Restart, Logoff This template can automatically shut down, restart, or log off your computer at a predefined time. You can configure it to run at any time, for example, every night, once a week, on specific days of the week or month, etc. Here are some uses for this template: Have Automation Anywhere shut down and restart your PC at specified intervals. Automatically shut down your PC at night to save power and spare the environment. Note: Actions in Automation Anywhere that save energy and spare the environment are indicated with the following Go Green icon: Automate Data Backups Use this template to specify the data that you would like to back up, and where and how often you would like Automation Anywhere to save backup files. When you answer the questions in the template wizard, Automation Anywhere creates a backup task that saves your data in a Zip file to minimize storage space. Automation Anywhere can perform incremental backups – that is, it can back up only those files that have changed since the last backup. You can tell Automation Anywhere to save the backup file on a local computer, a network computer, or an FTP site. Here are some uses for this template: Back up critical files at a regular interval that you choose. Protect your data from computer crashes, viruses, accidental deletions, disk failures, etc. Have Automation Anywhere back up your data automatically, on a regular schedule. You’ll never need to worry about remembering to back up your critical files again. Automate File Operations Use this template to schedule file tasks to execute automatically at the times you specify; for example, copying, renaming, deleting, or printing files. Here are some uses for this template: Delete unwanted files (for example, temporary files) every day to keep your machine clean and conserve disk space. Print all documents in a folder with a single click. Rename all files created on a specific date by inserting a timestamp in the filename. Automate FTP Tasks This template lets you automate FTP tasks such as uploading, downloading, and deleting files from a website or FTP file storage site. This template supports anonymous logins for guest access. Here are some uses for this template: Download large files overnight, to avoid slow downloading during peak-traffic hours. Page 14
- 16. Schedule website backups once a week, or at any other interval you choose. Auto-run Disk Cleaner This template frees disk space by launching the Windows Disk Cleaner at a time you specify. For example: Schedule Disk Cleaner to run late at night once a month to free disk space and optimize your computer’s performance. Auto-run Disk Defragmenter This template defragments your hard disk(s). For example: Schedule defragmentation to run once a month, to improve your computer’s performance. Auto-Run the Registry Cleaner This template cleans your Windows registry using registry cleaner software installed on your machine. The template can identify and integrate with any leading third-party registry cleaner application. For example: Schedule a registry cleaning to run once a month at midnight to clean your system registry and improve your computer’s startup time and performance. Auto-run Spyware/Adware Removers This template creates a task that launches spyware cleaner software and starts a spyware/adware scan. The template is designed to identify and integrate with several leading third-party spyware/adware remover applications. For example: Schedule this task to scan your computer for malware once a month. Download Files From Internet This template automates downloading files from the Internet. For example: Perform routine tasks such as downloading stock data, customer data, log files, or software patches. Extract Tabular Data From Webpage This template can extract a table from any Web page and save it to a CSV file. (CSV is a standard comma-delimited file format that you can open in Excel, Access, and other spreadsheet or database applications.). For example: Use this template to extract data from a website. Transfer data from an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Web page to an application such as Excel. Find Broken Web Links Use this template to check all the links on a specific Web page or an entire website. Automation Anywhere stores the results in a CSV (comma-delimited) data file that you can open in Excel, Access, or other spreadsheet and database applications. After the task runs, you can open the CSV file to identify broken links. For example: Use this template to routinely check your website for broken links. Internet Cleanup Page 15
- 17. This template creates a task that erases your Internet and computer “data trail” and frees disk space. It can clear your Internet history, delete cookies, delete temporary Internet files, and empty the Recycle Bin. For example: Schedule this task to run once a month, or at any interval you choose, to improve your computer ’s performance and prevent others from tracing your Web browsing history. Super Task (Create Task Chain) This template creates a “super-task” that can run multiple tasks in a row. For example: Chain several smaller tasks together in a single super-task and run it with a single mouse click. Break down long, complex tasks into smaller tasks that are easier to edit and manage. You can reuse the smaller tasks in new tasks. Transfer Data From Database Use this template to automate data transfers or migrations from an SQL database. For example: Query an SQL database to pull out selected data and transfer it to another application, e.g., a spreadsheet, database, or Web design application. Transfer Data From Excel Use this template to create a task that copies data from Excel to another application using Copy and Paste. For example: Automatically transfer data from a column or row containing thousands of values. Automate data transfers from Excel, where the data is formatted in a non-standard way (e.g., in alternate rows or columns). Page 16
- 18. Using Task Editor to Create Tasks Advanced and intermediate users will enjoy the powerful features of the Automation Anywhere Task Editor. The Editor offers more than 150 convenient command wizards for creating and editing tasks – no programming required. Just select a command from a list, choose the properties to apply to the command, and save the command in the current task. To learn more, see Task Editor. Page 17
- 19. Using Web Recorder Examples Automation Anywhere can automate any tasks that you perform in a Web browser. The Web Recorder tool understands all Web controls (e.g., Forward, Back, selecting buttons, filling in and saving forms, etc.). If the layout of a Web page changes and the Web controls move to a different location on the page, Automation Anywhere will locate the relocated controls and run the task correctly. You can use the Web Recorder to automate any Web tasks, including logging in to a website, searching, submitting forms, updating database records, using a Web-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) program, extracting Web data, testing an online application, etc. Follow these steps to create a new task using the Web Recorder: 1. In the Automation Anywhere window, click New, then click Web Recorder, or choose Tools > Web Recorder. The Enter Website URL dialog appears. 2. In the URL: text box, type the address of a website, and click Start. 3. Automation Anywhere opens the website in Internet Explorer and displays the Web Recorder toolbar. 4. If the tasks will include extracting tabular data, click Extract Table. Many websites have data organized in HTML tables. Extract Table makes it easy to save tabular data in a CSV (comma-delimited) file that you can open in most spreadsheet and database applications, including Excel and Access. For examples, click here. If your actions will include extracting or copying other data, such as paragraphs of text, etc., click Extract Data. For examples, click here. 5. To stop recording keyboard and mouse actions, click Stop Recording in the toolbar. 6. Type a name for the task and click Save to save the task. If you have a purchased version of Automation Anywhere, you can type a password to prevent the task from being run by unauthorized users. 7. When you want to run the task, double-click the task, or select it and click RUN. Automation Anywhere will perform the actions in the task. Note: To abort a running task, press Page 18
- 20. and hold the ESC key for 2-3 seconds. Tips: 1. When you open a task in the Task Editor that you created with Web Recorder, Automation Anywhere shows you the Web Recorder commands related to the controls you worked with while recording the task – for example, tasks that work with links, text boxes, drop-down menus, etc. To enter other commands that require keystrokes or mouse clicks, choose the appropriate command from the Commands list in the Task Editor. 2. You can create a task that includes both Web and standard commands. For example, to transfer data from Internet Explorer to Excel, begin by recording the task in Internet Explorer using Web Recorder, then edit the task and insert actions that transfer the data to Excel. (You can use the same procedure to transfer data from Excel to Internet Explorer.) Page 19
- 21. Editing Tasks The Automation Anywhere Task Editor includes more than 270 commands that you can insert in tasks by clicking the command’s name and following a wizard. Features that you can add to tasks include: adjusting playback delays, inserting new actions (or keystrokes), removing mouse moves, optimizing tasks, and creating new tasks from scratch. See all commands. Page 20
- 22. Commands The Task Editor offers the following commands which you can insert in tasks by clicking the command’s name and following the wizard. Page 21
- 23. Keystrokes/Mouse Insert Keystrokes Insert Mouse Click Insert Mouse Move Page 22
- 24. Insert Keystrokes Examples Use this command to tell a task to insert keystrokes in a window. 1. In Automation Anywhere, select a task in the Task List and choose Edit. 2. In the Task Editor, double-click the Insert Keystrokes task. The Insert Keystrokes dialog appears. 3. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the Select Window text box, and select the title of a currently open window. Tip: Windows that you already included in the task appear at the top of the list. The currently open windows appear below the dotted line in the list. Before you begin inserting keystrokes in a window, make sure the window is open. If the correct window doesn’t appear in the Select Window drop-down list, open the window, and in the Insert Keystrokes dialog, click Refresh. 4. In the Select Window text box, you can type a wildcard character (*) at the start or end of the window title. This is helpful, for example, if you expect the window title to change over time. For example, you can type “Microsoft Excel*” or “*Excel” or “*Excel*,” so that the window will still be selected when the task runs, even if the window title has changed to reflect the name of an open document. However, if you know the exact title of the window, we recommend that you type the complete window title to ensure that the actions will always performed only in that window. 5. In the Keystrokes text box, type (or cut and paste) any text you want Automation Anywhere to insert. 6. To insert special keystrokes such as Control, Shift, or Tab, click the appropriate button in the Special Keystrokes box. For example, if you want Automation Anywhere to type Ctrl + C in a window, first click Ctrl Down, then type “c,” and click Ctrl Up. You should now see the following commands and text in the Keystrokes window: [CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP]. Similarly, if you want to type Ctrl + Shift + a, first click Ctrl Down and Shift Down, type “a,” and click Shift Up and Ctrl Up. 7. You can insert many system variables in the Keystrokes window. You can also insert your own, user-defined variables. For example, to insert today’s date, in the Insert Variable list double-click Date, or choose Date, then click Insert. If you don’t want your keystrokes to be visible while you edit a task, select Encrypt Keystrokes (above the Keystrokes box). Page 23
- 25. Page 24
- 26. Insert Keystrokes Command Examples How to use? Example 1: Insert keystrokes in a Microsoft Word document titled news.doc. Open a document named news.doc in Microsoft Word. 1. In Automation Anywhere, click New, and in the Create New Task dialog, click Task Editor. 2. In the Commands list, double-click Insert Keystrokes. 3. Click the downward-pointing arrow to the right of the Select Window text box, and in the drop-down list select news.doc - Microsoft Word. 4. Insert the required keystrokes. For example, type “Today's tasks are complete” and under Special Keystrokes choose Enter. 5. Click Save. Example 2: Copy a cell from an Excel document titled data.xls. 1. Open a document named data.xls in Microsoft Excel. 2. In Automation Anywhere, click New, and in the Create New Task dialog, click Task Editor. 3. In the Commands list, double-click Insert Keystrokes. 4. Click the downward-pointing arrow at the right of the Select Window text box, and in the drop-down list click Microsoft Excel - data.xls. Follow these steps to perform a copy operation by inserting a Ctrl+C command in the Keystrokes window: 5. In the Special Keystrokes section, click Ctrl Down, then type “c” in the Keystrokes window, and under Special Keystrokes click Ctrl Up. The Keystrokes window now displays: [CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP]. 6. Click Save. Example 3: Insert the current date and time. For example, to include the date and time in filenames, so that you can identify the files that were created when you ran the task. Automation Anywhere provides system variables that you can use to insert the current date and time and other useful data. The date system variables are: $Date$, $Year$, $Month$, $Day$, $Hour$, $Minute$, and $Second$. You can configure the $Date$ variable to print the date in your preferred format. 1. In the Task Editor, choose Tools > Variable Manager > System Variables > Date. Click the “...” button to the right of the Date variable, and in the Date format text box, edit the format, or click the down-arrow to the right of the Date format text box and select a standard format from the drop-down list. 2. For example, to name an Excel file MyExcelResults plus the current date and time, open the File Save dialog in Excel, then follow steps 1 and 2 above to insert the following in the Keystrokes text box: MyExcelResults-$Year$-$Month$-$Day$-$Hour$-$Minute$- $Second$.xls. To configure your own date and time format, using the System variables $Year$, $Month$, Page 25
- 27. $Day$, $Hour$, $Minute$, $Second$, follow these steps: 1. In the Task Editor, double-click Insert Keystrokes in the Commands list. 2. Click the down-arrow to the right of the Select Window text box, and from the drop-down list select the window where you want to insert the date and time. 3. From the Insert Variable list, select a system variable (e.g., Date) and click Insert. The variable appears in the Keystrokes text box. Example 4: Insert keystrokes in any currently active window. 1. Open the window of the application where you want to enter keystrokes. 2. In the Task Editor, double-click Insert Keystrokes in the Commands list. 3. From the Select Window drop-down list, select Currently Active Window. 4. Enter keystrokes and commands in the Keystrokes text box, as described in Example 1 above. 5. Click Save. When you run the task, Automation Anywhere will insert your keystrokes. Page 26
- 28. Keystroke Encryption To prevent your Automation Anywhere tasks from being altered by unauthorized persons, you can protect them with strong encryption. You can also hide sensitive information or passwords that you type on the screen, to prevent prying eyes from seeing them. (If you turn off this option, you will be able to see the data normally as you type.) To prevent unauthorized persons from turning this option off, see Additional Security below. Additional Security If you protect your tasks with keystroke encryption, it is strongly recommended that you also password-protect them to prevent unauthorized persons from turning off keystroke encryption and gaining access to your tasks. Page 27
- 29. Keystroke Encryption To prevent your Automation Anywhere tasks from being altered by unauthorized persons, you can protect them with strong encryption. You can also hide sensitive information or passwords that you type on the screen, to prevent prying eyes from seeing them. (If you turn off this option, you will be able to see the data normally as you type.) To prevent unauthorized persons from turning this option off, see Additional Security below. Additional Security If you protect your tasks with keystroke encryption, it is strongly recommended that you also password-protect them to prevent unauthorized persons from turning off keystroke encryption and gaining access to your tasks. Page 28
- 30. Insert Mouse Clicks Examples To insert a mouse click in any window when a task runs, follow these steps: 1. Open the window in the application where you want to enter a mouse click. 2. In Automation Anywhere, in the Task List, select a task and choose Edit. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click the Insert Mouse Click command. The Insert Mouse Click dialog appears. 4. In the Select the Window... drop-down list, select the title of the window where you want to enter a mouse click. The Insert Mouse click dialog displays a small graphic image of the window you selected. Tip: In the Select the Window... drop-down list, Automation Anywhere places windows currently being used by the task at the top. Below the dotted line it lists windows currently open on the desktop. If you don’t see your window in the list, click Refresh. 5. If you expect that the name of the window where you want to enter a mouse click will change over time, perhaps depending on the content of the window, you can type a wildcard character (*) at the start or end of the window title. For example, you can type “Microsoft Excel*” or “*Excel” or “*Excel*”. However, if the title of the window will never change, we recommend that you type its exact name, to ensure that the actions will be performed only in the correct Page 29
- 31. window. 6. Click Capture. Automation Anywhere activates the window you selected in step 3. Click in the window where you want your task to insert the mouse click. Optionally, you can click Advanced View and choose the following: o The mouse button you want to insert a click with: Left Button, Middle Button, or Right Button. o The type of click: Click, Double Click, etc. o Under Relative To, the Window option is useful when you are working in different screen resolutions (for example, in a dual-monitor setup) but the relative location of the click remains the same. 7. In the Insert Mouse Click dialog, click Save. Page 30
- 32. Insert Mouse Click - Example How to use? Example 1: Perform a mouse click at the Yahoo! sign-in dialog. 1. Open mail.yahoo.com in your Web browser. 2. In Automation Anywhere, click New > Task Editor, or Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Commands list, double-click the Insert Mouse Click command. 4. Click Refresh. 5. From the Select the Window... drop-down, select “Sign in to Yahoo! - Microsoft Internet Explorer”. 6. Click Capture and hold the left mouse button. Automation Anywhere activates the “Sign in to Yahoo! - Microsoft Internet Explorer” window. 7. Click the Yahoo! “Sign In” button, and release the mouse button. 8. In the Insert Mouse Click dialog, click Save. Note: To insert other types of clicks (double-click, right-click, etc.), click Advanced View and select the appropriate options. Page 31
- 33. Insert Mouse Move - How to use Examples The Insert Mouse Move command lets you insert a command that tells a task to move the mouse from one location to another. Tip: If you want to insert a mouse click, moving the mouse to the click location is NOT required. The Mouse Move command is useful in menus like the Windows Start menu, where moving the mouse cursor over an item may display a new sub-menu. 1. Open the application and window where you want to insert a mouse move. 2. In Automation Anywhere, select a task in the Task List and click Edit. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Task Actions List, select the action after which you want to insert a mouse move. 4. In the Commands list, double-click Insert Mouse Move. The Insert Mouse Move dialog appears. 5. Select Mouse Position (From), and click Capture. 6. Automation Anywhere switches to the active window in the application. 7. In the active window, left-click the mouse and drag the cursor to the location where you want the mouse move to begin. Release the mouse button. This step automatically captures the required information about the point where the mouse move should begin. 8. In the Insert Mouse Move dialog, select Mouse Position (To) and click Capture. Automation Anywhere switches to the active window in your application. 9. Left-click with the mouse and drag the mouse cursor to the location where you want the mouse move to end. Release the mouse button. 10. In the Insert Mouse Move dialog, click Save. Page 32
- 34. Insert Mouse Move - Example How to use? Example 1: Insert a mouse move command that moves the mouse cursor from position (200,300) to (400,500) in the active application window. 1. In Automation Anywhere, click New Task, Task Editor, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Insert Mouse Move. 3. Select Mouse Position (From). 4. Click Capture. Automation Anywhere switches to the active application window. 5. Left-click and drag the mouse to location (200,300) and release the mouse button. 6. In the Insert Mouse Move dialog, select Mouse Position (To). 7. Click Capture. Automation Anywhere switches to the active application window. 8. Left-click and drag the mouse to location (400,500) and release the mouse button. 9. In the Insert Mouse Move dialog, click Save. Page 33
- 35. Programs/Files/Windows Open Program/File Files/Folders Window Actions Log to File System Manage Windows Controls Page 34
- 36. Open Program/File - How to use Examples Use this command in a task to launch a program or open a file. The following are some actions you can insert in a task with the Open Program/File command. (Click Examples above for details on using Open Program/File.) 1. If your program requires command line parameters, you can optionally provide the parameters in the Parameters text box. 2. You can also optionally have Automation Anywhere test whether the path you entered is correct. 3. You can insert the current window title in a task. 4. You can enter variables in a file path. Page 35
- 37. Open Program/File - Examples How to use? Example 1: Open Notepad.exe. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Open Program/File. The Open Program/File dialog appears. 3. In the Program/File Path text box, type “notepad.exe”. 4. Click Save. 5. Optionally, if you want to open a file in Notepad called mynotes.txt, then type the path and filename in the Parameters text box, for example, C:wordscorrespondencemynotes.txt. Example 2: Run a batch file from Automation Anywhere. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Open Program/File. Automation Anywhere opens the Open Program/File dialog. 3. In the Program/File Path text box, type the path and name of the batch file; e.g., C:My-Batch-File.bat. 4. Click Save. Example 3: Open a Microsoft Word document. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Open Program/File. Automation Anywhere opens the Open Program/File dialog. 3. In the Program/File Path text box, type the path and name of the batch file; e.g., C:My Documentssmithletter.doc. 4. Click Save. Tip: If you use the Record feature in Automation Anywhere to create a task that opens an application or a file, you can make the task run faster by opening the task in the Task Editor and replacing the multiple keystrokes that you recorded with single Open Program/File commands, as described in the examples above. Page 36
- 38. Files/Folders - How to use Examples This Files/Folders command lets you automate the following common operations with files and folders. (To learn more, click Examples above.) The Files/Folder command also offers advanced operations for working with files and folders based on their size and/or created/modified date. 1. Open File 2. Open Folder 3. Copy Files 4. Copy Folder 5. Rename Files 6. Rename Folder 7. Delete Files 8. Delete Folder 9. Create File 10. Create Folder 11. Zip Files 12. Unzip Files 13. Print Files 14. Print Files in a Folder 15. Create File Shortcut 16. Create Folder Shortcut Page 37
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- 40. Files/Folders - Examples How to use? Example 1: Copy files from one folder to another that were created within the last 180 days, and that are 50 Kb or larger. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Files/Folders. A list of Files/Folders actions appears. 3. Double-click Copy Files. The Files/Folders dialog appears, with the Copy Files option selected. 4. In the Source Files text box, type the path and name of a source file to copy; or click Browse and select a file. 5. In the Destination Folder text box, type the name of a destination folder where you want to copy the file. 6. Click Advanced View. The Command Options appear on the right side of the Files/Folder dialog. 7. In the Select Size drop-down, select “atleast”, and in the KB text box type 50. 8. In the Date drop-down, select “created date”. 9. Select “in last” and type 180 in the “days” text box. 10. Click Save. Example 2: Rename all .dat files to .bak 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Files/Folders. A list of Files/Folders actions appears. 3. Double-click Rename Files. The Files/Folders dialog appears, with the Rename Files option selected. 4. In the File(s) text box, type the path to the folder that contains the .dat files you want to rename, and specify all .dat files by inserting the “*” wildcard character. For example: C:MyFolder*.dat. Or click Browse and select a folder, and add “*.dat” to the folder path. 5. In the New File Name text box, type the filename extension for the renamed files; for example: *.bak. 6. Click Save. Example 3: Back up your work at the end of the day in a Zip file. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Files/Folders. A list of Files/Folders actions appears. 3. Double-click Zip Files. The Files/Folders dialog appears, with the Zip Files option selected. 4. In the Specify File(s) to Compress text box, type the path to the folder that contains the files you Page 39
- 41. want to compress. For example: C:MyWork. Or click Browse and choose a folder. 5. Optionally, in the File Type text box, type the filename extensions for the file types you want Automation Anywhere to compress. Separate the filespecs with commas; for example: *doc, *.txt, *rtf. 6. In the Specify Destination Zip File text box, type a name for the Zip file that will hold the compressed files. 7. To choose advanced options, click Advanced View. The advanced options appear on the right side of the Files/Folder dialog. Here you can tell Automation Anywhere whether to overwrite or move existing files; specify a compression speed; and/or password-protect the resulting Zip file, etc. 8. Click Save. Example 4: Delete all *.tmp files at the end of the day. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Files/Folders. A list of Files/Folders actions appears. 3. Double-click Delete Files. The Files/Folders dialog appears, with the Delete Files option selected. 4. In the File(s) Name text box, type the path to the file(s) you want Automation Anywhere to delete. For example, to delete all temporary files with a .tmp filename extension in the C:Temp folder, type: C:Temp*.tmp 5. Click Save. Example 5: Print all of the Microsoft Word documents in the folder C:My Documents. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Files/Folders. A list of Files/Folders actions appears. 3. Double-click Print Files. The Files/Folders dialog appears, with the Print Files in a Folder option selected. 4. In the Folder Name text box, type the path to the folder; for example: C:My Documents. 5. Optionally, in the File Type text box, type the filename extensions of the file types you want to print. For example, to print all “doc,” “docx,” and “rtf” files, type the filename extensions with a leading wildcard character (*) and period, separated by commas: *.doc, *.docx, *.rtf. 6. Click Save. Example 6: Create a shortcut to open a file by clicking an icon on the desktop. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Files/Folders. A list of Files/Folders actions appears. 3. Double-click Zip Files. The Files/Folders dialog appears, with the Zip Files option selected. 4. Select the Create File Shortcut option. Page 40
- 42. 5. Specify the location of the file for which you want to create a shortcut. e.g. C:TempDailyPlan.xls. 6. Specify the destination folder where you want to create the shortcut, e.g., C:Documents and SettingsAdministratorDesktop. 7. Click Advanced View to specify which files to print by size and/or date; for example, print only files larger than 50 KB, created in the last 7 days. 8. Click Save. Page 41
- 43. Window Actions - How to use Examples Use the Windows Actions command to perform the following actions in tasks. (To learn more, click Examples above.) 1. Activate Window 2. Close Window 3. Maximize Window 4. Minimize Window 5. Resize Window 6. Get Active Window Title Page 42
- 44. Window Actions - Examples How to use? Example 1: Close the window “Untitled – Notepad” in Microsoft Windows Notepad. 1. Start Microsoft Notepad. Notice that the title bar says “Untitled – Notepad.” 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Window Actions. A submenu appears. 4. Double-click Close Window. The Window Actions dialog appears. 5. In the Select Window drop-down, select “Untitled – Notepad.” 6. Click Save. Example 2: Close all open windows. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Window Actions. A submenu appears. 3. Double-click Close Window. The Window Actions dialog appears. 4. From the Select Window drop-down, select “Close All Open Windows.” 5. Click Save. Example 3: Resize a browser window 1. Open a Web page in a browser. 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Window Actions. A submenu appears. 4. Double-click Resize Window. The Window Actions dialog appears. 5. From the Select Window drop-down, select the browser window title that you want to resize. 6. Click Capture, and draw a rectangle of the desired size to retrieve coordinates for the resized window. 7. Click Save. Example 4: Maximize a Microsoft Excel file named Microsoft Excel-Book1. 1. Open the file Book1.xls in Microsoft Excel. 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Window Actions. A submenu appears. 4. Double-click Maximize Window. The Window Actions dialog appears. 5. From the Select Window drop-down, select the window titled Microsoft Excel-Book1.xls. 6. Click Save. Example 5: Activate a Microsoft Word document titled Document1. Page 43
- 45. 1. In Microsoft Word, open a new document – Word automatically names it Document 1. 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Window Actions. A submenu appears. 4. Double-click Close Window. The Window Actions dialog appears. 5. From the Select Window drop-down, select Document1-Microsoft Word. 6. Click Save. Page 44
- 46. Log to File - How to use Examples Use the Log to File command to have Automation Anywhere create a log file to store information while a task executes. The following are some uses and features of Log to File. (To learn more, click Examples, above.) 1. It can help you verify that a task has executed properly, especially if the task has complex conditional and looping commands. 2. Automation Anywhere will create a new log file if it does not already exist. 3. You can specify custom text to be included in the log file. 4. You can optionally add a timestamp to the log file. 5. You can tell Automation Anywhere to use a log file as a variable. Page 45
- 47. Log to File - Examples How to use? Example 1: Monitor the performance of a task by inserting a Log to File command in the task. When task playback reaches the Log to File command, Automation Anywhere creates a timestamp in a log file. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools -> Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Log to File. The Log to File dialog appears. 3. In the Log File text box, type a path and name for the log file, or click Browse to choose an existing file. 4. Optionally, in the text box, type any text that Automation Anywhere should add to the log file each time it creates an entry in the file. 5. Optionally, select Add Timestamp. Each time the task runs, Automation Anywhere will insert the current date and time. After the task runs, you can open the log file (a simple text file) and check the actions that Automation Anywhere has played back. Log files can help you measure the performance and accuracy of your tasks. Example 2: Log the clipboard contents to help debug a task that copies data. 1. Let's say you are using loops within your tasks, and you want to check the text in the clipboard variable during each pass of the loop. 2. Automation Anywhere provides system variables called $Counter$ and $Clipboard$. You can log these variables, for example, by including a $Counter$-$Clipboard$ variables in a Log to File command. For complete information on using variables, see the Using Variables help section. Page 46
- 48. Manage Windows Controls - How to use Examples ( Available only in Premier and Enterprise versions) Use the Manage Windows Controls command to have Automation Anywhere perform the following control actions in an active window. (To learn more, click Examples above.) Get Text: Use this option to have Automation Anywhere extract text that cannot be selected and copied using standard clipboard operations such as Ctrl+C to copy text. 1. Drop Down: Use this option to perform the following actions on a drop-down list in an application: 1. Get Total Items 2. Get Selected Item 3. Get Selected Index 4. Select Item by Index 5. Select Item by Text 2. Text Box: Perform the following actions in a text box: 1. Get Text 2. Set Text 3. Append Text 3. Check Box: Have Automation Anywhere save the status of a checkbox (checked or unchecked). You can also set the status of the check box (check or un-check the check box). 4. Tree View: Automation Anywhere can perform actions in a tree view, similar to the actions listed under number 1 above for drop-down lists. 5. Command Button: Automation Anywhere can click a button in an application. It can also execute the commands in a toolbar. 6. List Box: Automation Anywhere can perform actions similar to those listed under number 1 above, but in a list box or list view. 7. Radio Button: Get the status of a radio button (selected or non-selected), or select a radio button. 8. Status Bar: Automation Anywhere can “grab” text in the status bar of an application. 9. Tabs: Automation Anywhere can perform actions similar to those listed in number 1 above, but on a tab control. 10. Menu: Automation Anywhere can perform the following actions on a menu in an application: 1. Get Total Items 2. Get Text By Index 3. Get Index By Text 4. Click Item By Index 5. Click Item By Text Note : Automation Anywhere can only execute actions that use standard Windows controls. If your application has customized controls, Automation Anywhere may not be able to capture them. Note that you must use Manage Web Controls (not Manage Windows Controls) to capture controls in Internet Explorer. Page 47
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- 50. Manage Windows Controls - Examples How to use? Example 1: Extract a PC’s event log. 1. Open the event log whose contents you want Automation Anywhere to extract. 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Manage Windows Controls. The Manage Windows Controls dialog appears. 4. From the Select Window drop-down list, select the window that contains the log file data you want to capture. 5. Click and hold Capture and select the text in the log file. 6. In the Manage Windows Controls dialog, select Get Text in the right pane. 7. In the Assign to variable drop-down, select the variable to which you want to assign the log file. (To learn more about variables, see Using Variables.) 8. Click Save. Example 2: Get (or set) the status of a check box. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Manage Windows Control. The Manage Windows Controls dialog appears. 3. Click and hold Capture and drag the mouse to the checkbox whose status you want to capture. Page 49
- 51. 4. From the Select Window drop-down, select the title of the window that contains the checkbox whose status you want to get or set. a. To get the status of the checkbox: In the Manage Windows Controls dialog, select Get Check Box Status in the right pane. b. In the Assign to variable drop-down, choose a variable to assign the checkbox status to. (For detailed information on variables, see Using Variables.) To set the status of the checkbox: 1. In the Manage Windows Controls dialog, select Set Check Box Status in the right pane. 2. In the Assign to variable drop-down, choose a variable to assign the checkbox status to. (For detailed information on variables, see Using Variables.) 3. Click Save. Example 3: Enter data from a comma-separated (CSV) data file into an application. 1. Open the application where you want to enter data. 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Excel. A submenu appears. 4. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command. The Excel dialog appears. 5. In the Excel dialog, fill in the Spreadsheet Path and Specific Sheet Name text boxes, then click Save. Page 50
- 52. 6. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Excel > Get Cells. The Excel dialog appears. 7. In the Excel dialog, select Get Multiple Cells. 8. Fill in the From Specific Cell and To Specific Cell text boxes: type the coordinates of the first and last cells of the data you want to capture. 9. Click Save. 10. In the Task Editor, double-click Loop. A submenu appears. 11. Double-click Each Row In An Excel Dataset. The Loop dialog appears. 12. Type a session name, and click Save. 13. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Manage Windows Controls. The Manage Windows Controls dialog appears. 14. From the Select Window drop-down, select the application window where you want to insert the captured CSV data. 15. Click and hold the Capture button and drag the mouse onto the control you want to select. Then select the required action to set the value of the control to that from the Excel dataset. 16. Click Save 17. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Loop. A submenu appears. 18. Double-click “Each Row In An Excel Dataset.” The Loop dialog appears. 19. Select End Loop. 20. Click Save. 21. In the commands list, double-click Excel. A submenu appears. 22. Double-click Close Spreadsheet. The Excel dialog appears. 23. Click Save. Example 4: Select options to generate a report with an application. 1. Open the application from which you want to generate the report, and open the application’s report-generation options window. 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Manage Windows Controls. The Manage Windows Controls dialog appears. 4. In the Select Window drop-down, select the report generation options window. 5. Click and hold Capture and drag the mouse onto the control you want to select. Page 51
- 53. 6. In the Manage Windows Controls dialog, in the right pane under Select Action, select the action to set the value of the control. 7. Click Save. 8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 for each of the options required to generate the report. 9. In the Manage Windows Controls dialog, click and hold Capture and drag the mouse in the application onto the button to be clicked to save the options you entered and begin processing the report. 10. In the Manage Windows Controls dialog, click Save. Example 5: Extract a table from a Web page. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Web Recorder and double-click Open Browser. The Web Recorder dialog appears. 3. In the URL to Open text box, type the URL of the page you want Automation Anywhere to open. 4. Click Save. 5. In the Commands list, double-click Manage Windows Controls. The Manage Windows Controls dialog appears. 6. In Internet Explorer, open the page that contains the table you want to extract. 7. In the Manage Windows Controls dialog, in the select Window drop-down, select the Internet Explorer window. 8. Click and hold Capture and drag the mouse onto the Internet Explorer status bar. 9. In the right pane of the Manage Windows Controls dialog, in the Select Action list, select the variable to which you want to assign the value of the status bar. 10. Click Save. 11. In the Commands list, double-click If/Else. A submenu appears. 12. Double-click Variable. The If dialog appears. 13. Click Edit. The If Variable dialog appears. 14. In the Variable text box, type the name of the variable you specified above. 15. In the Operator drop-down, select Equal To (=). 16. Select Fix, and in the Fix text box, type a value. 17. Click Save. Page 52
- 54. 18. In the Commands list, double-click Web Recorder. A submenu appears. 19. Double-click Extract Table. The Web Recorder dialog appears. 20. In the Step 1 text box, type the URL of the Web page where you want to capture the table. 21. In the Step 3 text box, type the name of a CSV file where you want to save the table data. Note: The Extract Table command above should be within the If and End If actions. 22. Click Save. 23. In the Commands list, double-click Web Recorder, and in the submenu double-click Close Browser. The Web Recorder dialog appears, with Close Browser selected. 24. Click Save. Tip: Using Wildcards (*) 1. You can use wildcards (*) when you specify a window title in any Manage Windows Controls dialog. 2. For example, if you want to perform any operation in any window that contains the word “Untitled,” insert the “*” wildcard character to indicate any number of characters before and/or after “Untitled”: “*Untitled*”. 3. Automation Anywhere will first search for a window titled “Untitled,” and if it does not find it, it will look for other windows whose names include the word “Untitled.” 4. You can insert the wildcard character (*) at the beginning or end of the window title. Page 53
- 55. System - How to use Examples Use the System command to perform any of the following actions as part of a task: 1. Lock the computer 2. Log off 3. Shutdown the computer 4. Restart the computer Note: If you include a shutdown or restart action in a task, any actions after shutdown or restart will obviously not be executed, so you must only include these commands at the end of a task. Some actions in Automation Anywhere can actually save energy and spare the environment, Shutdown being a good example. You can create a task that turns off your computer at the end of the workday. To increase environmental awareness, energy-saving actions in dialog boxes are marked with a green icon: . Page 54
- 56. System - Examples How to use? Example 1: Lock the computer. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click System. A submenu appears. 3. Double-click Lock Computer. The System dialog appears. Note the green symbol indicating that the Shutdown command can help save energy and spare the environment. 4. Click Save. Example 2: Shut down the computer. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click System. A submenu appears. 3. Double-click Shutdown. The System dialog appears. Note the green symbol, indicating that the Shutdown command can help save energy and spare the environment. 4. Click Save. Example 3: Restart the computer. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click System. A submenu appears. 3. Double-click Restart. 4. Click Save. Tip: You can have Automation Anywhere perform an auto-login, so that when your computer restarts, Automation Anywhere will enter your username and password. To learn more about auto-login, click here. Note: Always put System commands last in tasks, since actions entered after the System command will not be executed. Page 55
- 58. If-Else-Endif - How to use Examples This is one of Automation Anywhere’s most powerful commands. Use it to perform actions only if certain conditions are true or false. With most of these conditional commands, you can specify how long to wait for the condition to be true. Here are some of the many ways you can use If-Else-Endif commands: 1. If File exist / If File doesn’t exist: Use this command when you want to perform an action based on whether a file exists. For example, if a data file exists, then you can have Automation Anywhere format the file and upload it to a database. 2. If Folder exist / If Folder doesn’t exist: This command is similar to number 1, but it checks if a folder exists. 3. If Window exist / If Window doesn’t exist: This is one of the most frequently used commands in Automation Anywhere. You can use it to check if a specific application is open (by checking for the application’s window name), or if an error condition have occurred (by checking for an error window), or if a file download has finished (by checking for a file download window), etc. 4. If Application running / If Application not running: If an application is running but is not open (for example, because it is minimized to the system tray), or an application doesn’t have a window but runs behind the scenes, you can still perform actions with the application by using this command. 5. If Script successful / If Script not successful: This command lets you integrate third-party scripts with Automation Anywhere. It runs the script and, depending on the return code, decides if it ran successfully. If you have already developed scripts, you can use this command to integrate them with Automation Anywhere. 6. If Task successful / If Task not successful With this command you can run several Automation Anywhere tasks, one after another. The command runs the first task, and depending on the return code, decides if it ran successfully. For example, if a script that monitors your website runs successfully, it means that your website is up and no action is required. But if the script is unsuccessful, it means that the website is down and you need to take action. 7. If Ping successful / If Ping not successful Use this command to check if a machine or server is running, and take appropriate actions based on the result. 8. If Variable This command, though it looks simple, is perhaps the most powerful conditional command. It is actually many commands in one. With an If variable, you can perform hundreds of checks – for example, you can use this command if you copy data from an application or website, and want to check if what you copied matches a specific text, or if it is a number, or if it is greater than or less than some another or fixed number. 9. If Web Control Use this command to check if a specific Web control exists on a Web page, e.g., a link, text box, drop-down, etc. You would normally use this command to edit tasks created with the Web Recorder. Page 57
- 59. 10. If File Size You can use this command to check if a file is exactly a certain size, or larger or smaller, etc. 11. If File Date This command checks if a specific file was created or modified on, before, or after a certain date. 12. If Service running / If Service not running Use this command to check if a particular installed service is running or not. 13. Image Recognition (Available only in Enterprise version) Use this command to check if an image exists within another image. Automation Anywhere can recognize images stored in files or captured from a window when the task runs. You can even specify a minimum “percentage match” for the If command to be true. Image Recognition also provides a powerful tool that lets you click an image if it is found within the larger image. How long to wait for a condition to be true? Most of the conditional commands let you tell Automation Anywhere how long to wait for a condition. Let’s say you want to perform an action only if a specific window exists. You know that it might take from 5 seconds to 5 minutes for the window to open. Obviously, you don’t want to wait 5 minutes when the window comes up in just 30 seconds. Automation Anywhere takes care of this for you. Here’s how: 1. In the If dialog, you can choose If and “Window does not exist,” and type the maximum time in seconds that Automation Anywhere should wait for the window to appear. (In this case, 5 minutes, or 300 seconds.) 2. Automation Anywhere will keep checking for the window to appear. If it appears in 30 seconds, Automation Anywhere will immediately begin executing the actions you specified within the conditional If. 3. If you leave the “How long would you like to wait...?” text box empty, or enter 0, Automation Anywhere will check for the condition immediately and execute the actions. If the condition doesn’t exist, it will skip those actions and proceed to the actions that follow the Endif. Page 58
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- 61. If-Else-Endif - Examples How to use? Example 1: Close the Windows Notepad window (if open). 1. Open Windows Notepad. Note that a new file opens automatically, titled “Untitled – Notepad.” 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click If/Else. A submenu appears. 4. Double-click Window Exists. The If dialog appears, with Window exists selected. 5. In the Select Title drop-down, select Untitled – Notepad. 6. Click Save. Note: You should insert the Close Window command between If and End if statements in the task. Example 2: Search for a record. If found, then perform a different set of actions. Automation Anywhere can search for an item, a word, or a record in an application, and if found, perform a set of actions that you specify; and if not found, perform a different set of actions. The following example shows how to search for an item, word, or record that doesn’t exist, so that you see the standard application window that says “Not Found” (or equivalent wording). 1. Open the application, and display a “Not Found” (or equivalent) page by searching for nonexistent data. 2. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 3. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click If/Else. A submenu appears. 4. Double-click Window Exists. The If dialog appears. 5. In the Select Title drop-down, select the “Not Found” window in the application. 6. Click Save. Note: You would perform steps 1 to 6 to create a new condition within If and End If statements. Example 3: Make a copy of the log file named mylog.txt, if it exists. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click If/Else. A submenu appears. 3. Double-click File Exists. The If dialog appears, with Window exists selected. 4. In the Select File text box, type (or click Browse to browse to) the path and filename of the mylog.txt file. 5. Click Save. Automation Anywhere inserts If File Exists and End if commands in the task. Page 60
- 62. 6. In the Task Editor, in the Task Actions List, click the last action before the End If statement. 7. In the Commands list, double-click Files/Folders. A submenu appears. 8. Double-click Copy Files. The Files/Folders dialog appears. 9. In the Source File(s) and Destination Folder text boxes, type or browse to the path and filename of the file you want to copy, and the folder that you want to copy it to. 10. Click Save. Note that Automation Anywhere has inserted the Copy Files action immediately above the End If statement. When you run the task, Automation Anywhere will check if the file exists, and if it does, it will copy the file to the folder you specified. Example 4: Create a task that prompts the user for a value, and if the user types “STOP,” the task stops. 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Prompt. A submenu appears. 3. Double-click Prompt For Value. The Prompt dialog appears. 4. Click “Assign the value to an existing variable.” (Note: this example uses variables for illustration purposes only; to learn how to create and use variables, see Using Variables.) 5. In the Select Variable pull-down, select a variable that you previously created (for example, $User-Input$). 6. Insert an IF condition that compares the value of the $User-Input$ variable with the text “Stop.” In the IF command, select the option “Variable”. Click Edit. Specify the variable $USerUser-Input$ in the first text box, select Includes, and under Fix, type “STOP”. 7. Insert a Stop task command within the IF-End if commands. 8. Set the Repeat property of the task to “Repeat Until I Stop.” 9. This task will continue to repeat until the user enters “STOP” when prompted. Example 4: To open a downloaded file, if it exists (if not, prompt for another file before proceeding). 1. In Automation Anywhere, open the Task Editor. To open an existing task, select the task in the Task List, and click Edit. To create a new task, click New, or choose Tools > Task Editor. 2. In the Task Editor, in the Commands list, double-click Prompt. A submenu appears. 3. Double-click Prompt For Value. The Prompt dialog appears. 4. Select “If-File Exists” and type the path to the file in the Select File text box, e.g., C:Documents and Settings...DesktopDownloadfile.txt. 5. Click Save. Page 61
- 63. 6. In the Commands list, double-click Open Program/File. 7. Type the program/file path. 8. Click Save. 9. In the Commands list, double-click If-Else, then click End if in the submenu. 10. Select Else and click Save. 11. Double-click Prompt for File/Folder. 12. Type a custom caption and message. 13. Under Select File/Folder, select File. 14. Assign it to a list variable from the list. 15. Click Save. 16. Double-click Open Program/File again. 17. In the program/file path, press F2 and insert the list variable that was used in Prompt for File/Folder. 18. Click Save. Example 5: Create a task that checks if a specific Web server in a cluster is up and running. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click If-Else, then EndIf in the submenu. 3. Select If-Ping-Successful and type the IP address or the hostname of the first Web server in the cluster. 4. Click Save. 5. Select Else If from the If/Else menu. Then select If-Ping-Successful and type the IP address or the hostname of the next Web server in the cluster. 6. Click Save. 7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for all Web servers in the cluster. 8. Select Else from the If/Else menu. 9. Double-click Run Task and select a task that you want to run if all Web servers are down. 10. Click Save. Page 62
- 64. Tip: Using Wildcards (*) 1. For the options Window Exists, Window Does Not Exist, and Image Recognition, you can specify wildcards (*). 2. For example, if you want to perform an operation if any window has the word “Microsoft” in the title, you can use wildcards to indicate any string before or after “Microsoft”. 3. For example, you can specify: IF Window Exists *Microsoft*. 4. Automation Anywhere will first search for the exact window title (“Microsoft”), and if it does not find it, it will look for windows with the word Microsoft anywhere in the title. Page 63
- 65. Loop - How to use Examples Loop is one of Automation Anywhere’s most powerful commands. There are four types of loop commands: Start Loop End Loop Exit Loop Continue Loop Start Loop Automation Anywhere provides eight Start Loop commands: 1. Loop For N times: Loops the actions between the Start Loop and End Loop commands the number of times you specify. If you want to repeat the action 10 times, place the actions between Start Loop and End Loop commands and specify 10. (For details, click Examples above.) 2. Loop For List variable: You don’t know how many times a task needs to loop, but let’s say you have a list variable with many values in it. Sometimes the value will be 10, sometimes 100. Using this command you can repeat the actions within the Start Loop/End Loop block as many times as there are items in the list variable. You can access the list variable values within the loop; for example, the first time the loop runs you can get the first value of the list variable, the second time you get the second value of the list variable, and so on. 3. Loop For Each file in a Folder: If you want to perform an action for all files in a folder, use this command. Often, the number of files in a folder will change. You can specify a folder, and the loop will run as many times as there are files in the folder. You can get the name of a file by using the system variable $FileName$. Similarly, to get the extension of the file, you can use the system variable $Extension$; finally, to get the path of the folder where the file is stored use the system variable $CurrentDirectory$. All of these system variables will return an empty value when used outside the looping command. 4. Loop For Each folder in a folder: This is similar to Loop For Each File in a Folder, except that it loops for folders, not files. To access the folder name within the loop, use the system variable $FolderName$. 5. Loop For Condition: You can use this loop command for several conditions; for example, if you want to repeat a set of actions if a file exists. 6. Loop For Each Row in an SQL Query Dataset: You must use this looping command in conjunction with the Database commands. Whenever you issue an SQL query using an Automation Anywhere Database SQL Query command, the results set of the SQL query is stored in the system variable $Dataset Column$. Let’s say you issued an SQL query to the database and you queried for five columns. You can access the five columns of the result set in the query by calling $Dataset Column(1)$, $Dataset Column(2)$, $Dataset Column(3)$, $Dataset Column(4)$, $Dataset Column(5)$. This command is extremely powerful for transferring data from a database to other applications such as a Web page or Excel, etc. Page 64
- 66. 7. Loop For Each row in an Internet Explorer Table: You must use this looping command in conjunction with the Extract Table option of the Web Recorder command. When you extract a table using the Automation Anywhere Web Recorder > Extract Table command, the rows and columns of the table are stored in the System Variable $Table Column$. Let’s say you extracted a table with five columns. You can access the five columns by calling $Table Column(1)$, $Table Column(2)$, $Table Column(3)$, $Table Column(4)$, $Table Column(5)$. This command is extremely powerful for transferring data from a Web page table to other applications such as Web pages or Excel, etc. 8. Loop For Each Row in an Excel Dataset: You must use this looping command in conjunction with the Get Multiple Cells option of the Excel command. When you have retrieved a range of cells from Excel using Excel > Get Cells > Get Multiple Cells, the rows and columns of the range are stored in the system variable $Excel Column$. Let’s say you retrieved a range of cells from Excel that has five columns. You can access the five columns of the table by calling $Excel Column(1)$, $Excel Column(2)$, $Excel Column(3)$, $Excel Column(4)$, $Excel Column(5)$. This command is extremely powerful for transferring data from one Excel spreadsheet to another, or to any other application. End Loop Use this command to end the loop. The commands that appear between the Start Loop and End Loop statements will repeat based on the type of loop you selected (see descriptions above). The End Loop command is always inserted every time you insert a Start Loop. If it gets deleted, you can insert it again. Exit Loop Use this command to break from a loop if you do not want to execute the loop when certain conditions are met. The Exit Loop command can appear only between Start Loop and End Loop commands. Continue Loop You can use this option to continue the next iteration of a loop if a particular condition is fulfilled. As soon as Automation Anywhere encounters a Continue Loop command, it skips the commands up to End Page 65
- 67. Loop and goes to the next iteration of the loop. Page 66
- 68. Loop - Examples How to use? Tips Example 1: Open five Internet Explorer windows with one click. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Loop command and select the option Times, then type 5 in the text box. 3. Save the command. It automatically inserts an End Loop command. 4. Insert an Open Progam/File command to open IEXPLORE.exe within the Start and End Loop commands. Example 2: Loop through a list and insert one value at a time in an already-open Excel document. 1. Create a list variable from Tools > Variable Manager (we’ll call it $my-list$). 2. Specify an option to have the variable read from a text file. 3. Let’s say you have filled the values of the list variable. 4. Double-click the Loop command. 5. Select List and select $my-list$ from the drop-down list. 6. This inserts Start and End Loop commands in the editor. 7. Insert a Keystroke action $my-list$[ENTER in the Excel window. It will type the next value of the list variable each time it loops. Example 3: Monitor an application and send email to the administrator if the application shuts down. 1. Double-click the Loop command. 2. Select Condition. 3. Select Application Running and specify the path of the application that you want to monitor for (e.g., C:My-Application.exe). 4. Save the command. It inserts Loop and End Loop commands. 5. Insert a Send Email command after the End Loop command. 6. When you run the task, it loops as long as the application is running. As soon as the application crashes or shuts down, it leaves the loop and sends an email alert. Example 4: Query for all contacts in the database that have last name beginning with “R” and print the names in an Excel document. 1. Using database commands, connect to a database and issue an SQL query to fetch your records. Insert a Connect command first, then an SQL Query command. 2. Double-click the Loop command. 3. Select “Each row in a SQL Query dataset.” 4. To access the result returned by the SQL query, use the $Dataset Column$ system variable provided by Automation Anywhere. Use the “Loop for Each row in a SQL query dataset” option to loop through all rows of the SQL query result. To access each column, use $Dataset Column(index)$; for example, to get the first column use $Dataset Column(1)$, and so on. Page 67
- 69. 5. You can use the Insert Keystrokes commands with the $Dataset Column$ variable to type the results in the Excel document. 6. Disconnect from the database. Example 4: Print prices extracted from a pricing table on a Web page. 1. Use the Web Recorder “Extract Table” command to extract the tabular data from the Web page. 2. After you call the Extract Table command, Automation Anywhere stores all of the tabular data in a system variable called $Table Column(index)$. You can use this variable to get all the rows and columns of the table you extracted. 3. Double-click the Loop command. 4. Select “Each row in an Internet Explorer Table.” 5. To access each row and column in the $Table Column$ system variable, use the “Loop for Each row in an Internet Explorer table” option to loop through the rows of the table. To access each column, use $Table Column(index)$; for example, to get the first column, use $Dataset Column(1)$, and so on. 6. You can use the Insert Keystrokes command with the $Table Column$ variable to type the results in the Excel document. Example 5: Insert an Exit Loop command to break out of the loop. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Loop command and select Exit Loop, and move it to the appropriate location between the Start and End Loop commands. 3. The Exit Loop command can appear only between Start Loop and End Loop statements. Tips for Using Nested Loop Let’s say you are using a nested loop as follows: 1 Start Loop "List Variable my-list-variable" 2 Variable Operation: $my-list-variable$ To $Income$ 3 Start Loop "5" Times 4 Keystrokes: $Income$[ENTER] in "Untitled - Notepad" 5 End Loop 6 End Loop You should assign the value of the list variable to a value type variable before the nested loop starts, and use the value type variable inside the nested loop. You can apply the same tip when you are using Loop for each row in an Internet Explorer Table, Loop for each row in a SQL Table, or Loop for each row in an Excel dataset. Page 68
- 71. Pause When you want a task to pause after certain actions, you can insert a Pause command. Example: Insert a pause so that you can enter or modify information when the task runs. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Pause command. Automation Anywhere inserts a Pause statement in the task, below the row where the cursor was when you double-clicked Pause. Page 70
- 72. Delay/Wait - How to use Examples Delay Wait For Window Wait For Screen Change Delay If you want a task to wait before it performs the next action, you can insert a delay. You can insert a specific delay in milliseconds or seconds, or you can insert a random delay by providing a range of numbers within which Automation Anywhere will generate a random number. Wait For Window You can use the Wait For Window command to wait for a specified window to open or close before the task performs the next action. Page 71
- 73. Wait For Screen Change Page 72
- 74. You can use this option to wait until a rectangular image on the screen changes before proceeding. Let’s say that when you run a task, you want to wait for the contents of a portion of your screen or an area within your application to change before performing the next set of actions (e.g., mouse clicks or keystrokes). This is useful in many windows where the text is not in a selectable format that you can use to verify the window’s state. In this case, you can mark the area using the capture button. A picture will appear in the preview image square so that you can verify that you have captured the correct image. The sample image is not used for comparing during task playback; it is only used to verify that the image was captured correctly. When the task runs and it reaches this command, Automation Anywhere takes a screenshot of the area you marked, using the coordinates relative to the screen or window. Let's call the image “imageA.” Automation Anywhere waits the number of seconds you specified, then begins comparing the images on the page to imageA. It continues to compare the image in the marked rectangular section to imageA, and as soon as imageA and the current image differ, it stops comparing and proceeds to the next command. However, if the images never differ within the specified time, it either stops the task or proceeds to the next command. Page 73
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- 76. Delay/Wait - Examples How to use? Example 1: Insert a delay of 5 seconds 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click Delay/Wait. 3. Select Delay. 4. Type 5 in the Delay text box. 5. Select Delay in Seconds. 6. Click Save. Example 2: Generate random delays to simulate user behavior in a testing scenario. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Delay/Wait command. 3. Select Delay. 4. Select the Random Delay. 5. Type 5 in the From text box. 6. Type 500 in the To text box. 7. Select Delay in Seconds. 8. Click Save. Tip: When the task runs and Automation Anywhere comes to the random delay command, it generates a random number in the range you specified. Example 3: Wait for a window titled “Untitled – Notepad” to open 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Delay/Wait command. 3. Select Wait For. 4. Select Wait For Window To Open, and type the window title: “Untitled – Notepad”. 5. Type how long you want Automation Anywhere to wait for the condition to be true, i.e., for Notepad to open. 6. You can specify the task to continue or stop if the Notepad window doesn’t open with the specified time. Tip: Using Wildcards (*) 1. You can use wildcards (*) in the following options: Wait For Window To Open, Wait For Window To Close, and Wait for Screen Change (relative to Window). 2. For example, if you want to perform an operation in any window with the word “Untitled” anywhere in the title, you can insert a * wildcard character before and after “Untitled”. In this case, you can specify Wait For Window To Open *Untitled*. 3. Automation Anywhere will first search for the exact window named “Untitled,” and if it does not find it, it will look for windows with “Untitled” anywhere in the title. Page 75
- 77. 4. You can insert the wildcard character (*) at the beginning or end of the window title. Example 4: Wait for a submitted query to return successfully on the Web. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Click the Delay/Wait command. 3. Double-click Wait For Screen Change. 4. Keep the Web page open to the page where the result of the query will be displayed. 5. Select the relevant option based on whether you want to capture the image relative to the screen, or a particular window. If you select Window, you will be required to select a window from the list. 6. Click Capture and capture a rectangular selection around the area that will change when the query returns. 7. Specify 1 second in the box titled “How long you want to wait before comparing the screen.” 8. Specify the maximum number of seconds you want the task to wait, and whether you want Automation Anywhere to stop the task or proceed to next command. 9. Save the command. Page 76
- 78. Internet Web Recorder Launch Website FTP Send Email Internet Connection Page 77
- 79. Web Recorder - How to use Examples You can use the Web Recorder to automate many Web tasks: 1. Open Browser Specify a URL that you want Internet Explorer to display before Automation Anywhere performs other actions. Generally, this is the first command in the task, to be followed by other Manage Controls commands. 2. Close Browser This command partners with the Open Browser command – it closes the browser opened by the Open Browser command. 3. Manage Web Controls This is the most powerful Web Recorder command. Actually, it is many commands in one. You can use it to select various controls on an Internet Explorer page – for example, links, check boxes, radio buttons, drop-downs, etc. You simply specify the URL and capture the control by selecting it. 4. Download File Using this command, you can download any HTTP file. This command doesn’t require a browser. It works on its own. Use it, for example, to download stock data, log files, patches, or other files you need to download routinely. 5. Extract Table Using this command, you can select any table in an IE browser window and import its data to a CSV file. A CSV file is a comma-separated file that will open in Excel as rows and columns. You can use this command to extract data from any website. It is also very effective when you need to transfer data from an ERP Web front-end to another application such as Excel. 6. Find Broken Links Using this command option, you can test whether all links in a website or a Web page are working. The results are stored in a CSV (comma-separated) file that will open in Excel as rows and columns. Once the task is complete, you can open the CSV file to identify broken links. 7. Extract Data With this very handy command you can extract text data from a website or Web page. Its versatility allows you to specify the range of text you want to copy, using Before and After keywords. For example, in the text string “= Price: $249 xyz,” if you want to copy only “$249” you can specify “= Price:” in the “Before Keyword” space and “xyz” in the “After Keyword” space. 8. Navigate URL You can use this command to navigate to a URL in an already-open browser window. Page 78
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- 81. Web Recorder - Examples How to use? Example 1: Extract tabular data from a Web page. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Web Recorder command and select Extract Table. 3. Specify a URL, e.g., http://www.yourserver.com. 4. Launch the URL. 5. Click Capture and click the table you want to extract. 6. Specify the path of the CSV file where you want the table data to be saved when the task runs. 7. Save the command. 8. After you call the Extract Table command, Automation Anywhere stores all the tabular data in a system variable called $Table Column(index)$. You can use this variable to get the rows and columns of the table that you extracted. 9. Double-click the Loop command. 10. Select “Each row in an Internet Explorer Table”. 11. To access each row and column in the $Table Column$ system variable provided by Automation Anywhere, use “Loop for Each row in an Internet Explorer table” to loop through all the rows of the table. To access each column, use $Table Column(index)$; for example, to get the first column, use $Dataset Column(1)$, and so on. 12. You can use Insert Keystrokes commands with the $Table Column$ variable to type the results into the Excel document. Example 2: Click a link that changes its location in Internet Explorer. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Web Recorder command, and select Open Browser. 3. Specify the URL (e.g., http://www.yourserver.com). 4. Save the command. 5. Double-click the Web Recorder command again and select Manage Controls. 6. Specify the URL where the link is present; in this case, the same page you specified in Open Browser. 7. Click Launch. Click Capture and leave the mouse on the link you want to click. 8. The link information will be captured. 9. Save the command 10. Save the task. 11. When you run the task, it will open the URL and click the link you specified. Example 3: Download an http file. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Web Recorder, and select Download File. 3. Specify the download file URL (e.g., http://www.yourserver.com/myfile.exe). Page 80
- 82. 4. Save the command. 5. Specify a local filename to store on your machine. 6. Save the command. Example 4: Check all links in a Web page. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Web Recorder command and select Find Broken Links. 3. Specify the URL (e.g., http://www.yourwebpage.com). 4. Select Test Specified Webpage Only. 5. Specify the local path for the CSV file to store the results of the command. 6. Save the command. 7. When you run the command, it will test all links in the Web page you specified, and store the results in the CSV file you named. Example 5: Check all links in a website. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Web Recorder command, and select Find Broken Links. 3. Specify the website address (e.g, http://www.yourwebsite.com). 4. Select Test Entire Website. 5. Specify a local file path for the CSV file to store the results of the command. 6. Save the command. 7. When you run the command, it will test all the links in the website you specified, and the results will be stored in the CSV file you named. Example 6: Always click the third link in the CNN Headlines. 1. Click Tools > Web Recorder. 2. Type http://www.cnn.com and click Start 3. Click the third link, then click Stop recording. 4. Open the task in the Task Editor. 5. Edit the Click command. 6. Uncheck the Name check box, and check the Index check box. Now, every time Automation Anywhere reaches this command it will search the link by its index (and not the name or URL it points to). Thus, even if the name of the link changes, it will click the third link. Example 7: Extract data from a website and paste it into a blank Word document 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Web Recorder command. 3. Double-click Extract Data. 4. Type a website URL and click Launch (e.g., http://www.tethyssolutions.com/automation-software.htm). 5. Once the site is open, you are redirected to the Extract Data dialog box. Page 81
- 83. 6. Click Capture. 7. The mouse appears as yellow background text indicating “Please click on the data you want to extract.” 8. Move the mouse over the text you want to copy, and click anywhere in the text. (If the text background of the mouse changes to red, it means the text is not available for copying.) 9. Assign the copied text value to a variable from the list; e.g., $my-variable$. 10. Click Save. 11. Make sure a blank Word document is open. 12. Double-click Insert Keystrokes. 13. Select the window title from the list. 14. Insert the variable from the list on the right side of the dialog box, i.e., $my-variable$. 15. Click Save. Tip: You can specify keywords that determine the range of your text. For example, from the text “Your reference no. is 245698 for today,” if you want to copy only the number and avoid the extra text, you can specify “is” as the “Before Keyword” and “for” as the “After Keyword.” Note: The Manage Controls command has an Advanced option for Links and Buttons. For Links, it has three check boxes: Name, URL, Index: Name: While running the task, it searches for the link by the name recorded. For example, while recording at www.tethyssolutions.com you clicked a link called “Automation Anywhere.” When the task plays, if the box is checked (default behavior), Automation Anywhere will search for a link called “Automation Anywhere” on www.tethyssolutions.com. If it doesn’t find a link with this name it returns an error. URL: Similar to the Name checkbox, but instead of searching the link by name, it searches by the URL it points to. For example, if you recorded a click on a link called “Automation Anywhere 3.0” that points to http://www.tethyssolutions.com/automation-software.htm, and tomorrow you expect the link to change to “Automation Anywhere 4.0” but it still points to the same URL, then you can check this box. Index: This option searches the link by its location index. Every link in a Web page has a location index. For example, if you click a link whose index number is 2, and you always want to click that link when the task runs, no matter what the name or URL of that link is, then you can keep this option checked. For Buttons, it has three check boxes: Name, Caption, Index: Name: While running the task, it searches for the button by the name that was recorded. For example, if while recording on http://www.tethyssolutions.com/automation-software.htm you clicked a button labeled “Go” with the name “button1” then while the task plays, if this box is checked (default behavior) it will search for a button named button1 on the page, even though the caption may have changed from “Go” to “Search.” If it doesn’t find a button with this name, it returns an error. Caption : Similar to Name, but instead of searching for the button by name, it searches by caption. For example, if you record a click on a button labeled “Go” with the name “button1” on http://www.tethyssolutions.com/automation-software.htm, and tomorrow the button’s name changes to “button2,” it will still look for the button with the caption “Go” if this box is checked. Page 82
- 84. Index: This option searches for the button by its location index. Every button in a Web page has a location index. For example, if you click a button whose index number is 2, and you always want to click on this button when the task runs, no matter what the name or caption of that button is, then you can keep this option checked. Page 83
- 85. Launch Website - How to use Examples You can use this command to launch websites in a task: 1. Specify the URL of the website. 2. Click Launch. 3. Select the title of the website. (If you don’t find the window, click Refresh.) 4. Save the command. . Page 84
- 86. Launch Website - Examples How to use? Example 1: Open the website www.cnn.com. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Launch Website command. 3. Type “www.cnn.com” in the “Enter a URL and click Launch” text box. 4. Click Launch. 5. Click Refresh. 6. Select the title “CNN.com - Microsoft Internet Explorer” in the drop-down. 7. Click Save. Page 85
- 87. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - How to use Examples You can use the Automation Anywhere FTP command to automate any FTP task; for example, FTP uploads/downloads, backing up a website, etc. The FTP command provides the following features: 1. Connect to FTP server : Specify the FTP server name, username, and password to connect. Anonymous login to FTP servers is supported. Click the Advanced button to set advanced connection options. 2. Disconnect from FTP server Terminates the connection to an FTP server. 3. Put Folder Automation Anywhere can upload an entire folder from a local machine to an FTP server. You can specify filters using wildcard characters to restrict uploads to specific types of files. 4. Get Folder You can download an entire folder from an FTP server to a local machine. You can specify filters using wildcard characters to download only specific types of files. 5. Put File(s) This feature can upload one or more files from a folder. 6. Get File(s) With this feature you can download one or more files to a local machine from an FTP folder. 7. Delete File(s) You can delete one or more files from an FTP folder. 8. Rename File(s) You can rename one or more files in an FTP folder. 9. Create Folder You can create a folder on an FTP server. 10. Delete Folder You can delete a folder (including its subfolders and files) from an FTP server. 11. Change Folder You can move to any folder on an FTP server. You would generally use this feature when you want to download or upload files in more than one directory on your FTP server. Page 86
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- 89. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - Examples How to use? Example 1: Download a file routinely from an FTP server 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the FTP command. Select the Connect option. 3. Specify the server address, e.g., ftp://yourserver.com, and the username/password, and click Save. 4. Double-click the FTP command and select the Get File option. 5. In Remote File specify the name of the file on the FTP server that you want to download, e.g., Folder1/Folder2/myfile.doc. 6. In Local file, select the folder name by clicking the “...” button. 7. If your document is HTML, plain text, or any other ASCII format, select ASCII format, otherwise select binary. 8. Click Save. 9. Double-click the FTP command and select Disconnect. Example 2: Download your Website. 1. Insert an FTP > Connect command. 2. Insert an FTP > Get Folder command. Specify the folder you want to download from your Web server. 3. Specify the Local Folder where you want to download the FTP folder. 4. Optionally, specify *.htm File Type to download only .htm files. 5. Insert an FTP > Disconnect command. Example 3: Upload your Website. 1. Insert an FTP > Connect command. 2. Insert an FTP > Put Folder command. Specify the folder you want to upload to your Web server. 3. Specify the File Type that you want to upload, e.g., *.htm. 4. Insert an FTP > Disconnect command. Example 4: Periodically clean your FTP folder. 1. Insert an FTP > Connect command. 2. Insert an FTP > Delete File(s) command. 3. Specify the File Types you want to delete, e.g., abc.htm, or *.htm, or abc*.atmn, or *.*, etc. 4. Insert an FTP > Disconnect command. Example 5: Rename files in your FTP folder before you upload the new ones. 1. Insert an FTP > Connect command. 2. Insert an FTP > Rename File(s) command. Page 88
- 90. 3. Specify the file names you want to rename, e.g., abc.htm, or *.htm, or abc*.atmn, or *.*, etc. 4. Specify the filename that you want to give to the files, e.g., OLD*.htm or OLD*.*, etc. 5. Insert an FTP > Disconnect command. Page 89
- 91. Send Email - How to use Examples Use this command when you want to send an email as part of a task. (You can include attachments with the email as well as format the message in HTML.) For this command to work, you need to set the following parameters under Tools > Options > Email Settings: Host The SMTP Host allows you to send email from Automation Anywhere. You can obtain this information from your email provider, or from the configuration settings in your email program. Port This setting defines the TCP/IP port that Automation Anywhere will use to send email. (The default is port 25.) Page 90
- 92. Send Email - Examples How to use? Example 1: Send an email to a list of contacts, and attach a document with details about a new product. 1. Create a List variable for your list of contacts. You can enter all of the list values in the Variable Manager, or you can read the data from a text file. 2. Open the Task Editor. 3. Insert a Loop for List variable action from the Loop command. Select the list variable that you created in step 1. 4. Double-click the Send Email command. 5. Specify the appropriate From address. 6. In the To text box, type the list variable you created in step 1. 7. Specify the path and name of the document you want to attach. 8. Type the email message you want to send. 9. You can use the following keywords to send specific information about the task: <taskname>, <desc>, <repeat>, <status>, <lastruntime>. 10. Save the command. 11. Place the Send Email command within the Start and End loop. 12. When you run the task, it loops through the list and sends an individual email to each contact, with the attached document. Page 91
- 93. Internet Connection - How to use Examples As part of a task (for example, downloading emails), you can have the task connect to the Internet using a dial-up connection. 1. Select your dial-up connection from the drop-down list. 2. Specify if you would like to try again if the attempt to connect fails. 3. You can specify how many times to attempt the connection, and the time interval between connection attempts. 4. You can insert a disconnect command in the task to disconnect the dial-up connection. Page 92
- 94. Internet Connection - Examples How to use? Example 1: Connect to “myDialUp.” 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Internet Connection command. 3. Select the Connect option in the “Internet Connection” category. 4. Select your dialup connection from the drop-down list. 5. Click Save. Page 93
- 95. Tasks/Scripts Run Task Run Script Stop Task Page 94
- 96. Run Task - How to use Examples Use this command to: 1. Run small tasks from a big task. 2. Create a single task, and within the task run other tasks, one after the other, and schedule only the single task. (This spares you from having to schedule each smaller task.) Page 95
- 97. Run Task - Examples How to use? Example 1: Create a workflow (Task Chain) that calls several smaller tasks. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Run Task command. 3. Click Browse, and select the path to notepad.atmn. 4. You can select repeat and speed properties for the task. 5. Click Save. 6. Insert Run Task commands to call the remaining tasks. Note: You can run as many tasks as you want from a single task. You can also chain tasks, e.g., call Task2 from Task1, and call Task3 from Task2, etc. You can even call tasks conditionally; for example, you can call the Run Task command within an IF condition. Page 96
- 98. Stop Task You can stop a task anytime you want. For example, you can stop the task if a specific condition is met (e.g., Automation Anywhere finds a file larger than 100 MB). 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Stop Task command Automation Anywhere inserts a Stop Task statement above the line in the Task Actions List where you double-clicked Stop Task. Page 97
- 99. Run Script - How to use Examples Use this command when you want to: 1. Run VB Scripts (*.vbs) or JScripts (*.js) from a task. 2. You can pass parameters to your scripts. 3. There is an option to specify the return value in your scripts. Page 98
- 100. Run Script - Examples How to use? Example 1: Loop through all files in a folder, and pass each filename as a parameter to a VBScript that checks the size of the file and prompts the user. 1. Double-click the Loop command. 2. Select “Loop for each file in a folder.” 3. Specify the path of the folder from which you want to pass all the files as a parameter to the VBScript. 4. Call the VBScript within the loop and pass the following system variables as a parameter to the script: $CurrentDirectory$, $FileName$.$Extension$. 5. Save the task. Page 99
- 102. Database - How to use Examples Use this command to connect to a database and issue SQL queries or INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE statements. You can also run any procedure that you’ve created and stored in your database. If you want to transfer data from a database to another application, you can use the Database commands and loop for each row in an SQL Query dataset command. You can also use this command to read a comma- or tab-delimited CSV file. The following code snippet shows how your task should loop if you want to transfer data from the database to the target application. Tip: When you use the database connect command to select a target database, we suggest clicking the “Test Connection” button to ensure that the database connection is working. Page 101
- 103. Database - Examples How to use? Example 1: Connect to a database and update the records based on user input. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Database command. 3. Select Connect. 4. Specify the database you want to connect to. 5. Test the connection before you save the command. 6. Similarly, insert a Database > Insert/Update/Delete command with the appropriate SQL statement. 7. Insert a Database > Disconnect command. Tip: The Insert/Update/Delete statement can include variables, and the values of the variables can be taken from the user with the Prompt command. Example 2: Query all accounts with revenue over $1 million and print the account names to an Excel file. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Database command. 3. Select Connect. 4. Specify the database you want to connect to. 5. Test the connection before you save the command. 6. Similarly, insert a Database > Select Query command with the appropriate SQL statement to get all required accounts. 7. Insert a Database > Disconnect command. 8. To access the result returned by the SQL Query, use the $Dataset Column$ system variable. Use “Loop for Each row in a SQL query dataset” to loop through the rows of the SQL Query result. To access each column, use $Dataset Column(index)$; for example, to get the first column, use $Dataset Column(1)$. Example 3: Connect to a database and create tables, drop tables, or alter tables. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Database command. 3. Select Connect. 4. Specify the database you want to connect to. 5. Test the connection before you save the command. 6. Similarly, insert a Database > Insert/Update/Delete command with the appropriate SQL statement to create, drop, or alter tables, etc. 7. Insert a Database > Disconnect command. Example 4: Connect to a database and call a procedure stored in the database to update records based on user input. 1. Open the Task Editor. Page 102
- 104. 2. Double-click the Database command. 3. Select Connect. 4. Specify the database you want to connect to. 5. Test the connection before you save the command. 6. Similarly, insert a Database > Run Stored Procedure command with the procedure name and parameters, if any. The procedure you specify should have already been created in the database. 7. Insert a Database > Disconnect command. Tip: The procedure name and parameters can have variables, and the values of the variables can be taken from the user with the Prompt command. Example 5: Read values from a tab-delimited CSV file and transfer the values to another application. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Database command. 3. Select Read From CSV File. 4. Specify the name of the CSV file you want to read. 5. Select Tab as the delimiter, and check the Header check box if your CSV file has headers. 6. Click Save. 7. To access the values returned by the command, use the $Dataset Column$ system variable. Use the “Loop for Each row in a SQL query dataset” option to loop through the rows of the result. To access each column, use $Dataset Column(index)$; for example, to get the first column, use $Dataset Column(1)$. 8. Within the loop, insert Manage Windows Controls commands to set the value of the controls in the target application. Examples of SQL Queries 1. To query all columns from a table called Table1, use the query Select * From Table1. 2. To query FirstName and LastName from a table called Names, use the query Select FirstName, LastName from Names. 3. To query FirstName and LastName from a table called Names, where FirstName is John, use the query Select FirstName, LastName from Names WHERE FirstName=John. Page 103
- 105. Excel - How to use Examples Use this command to transfer data to and from Excel spreadsheets. (Note: This feature is supported only in Microsoft Office 2000 and later.) The Excel command provides the following features: 1. Open Spreadsheet Use this command to open an Excel spreadsheet. You can specify the session name and/or the sheet name if your task involves working with many sheets and workbooks. 2. Close Spreadsheet This command complements the Open Spreadsheet command. It closes a spreadsheet opened with the Open Spreadsheet command. It identifies the spreadsheet by the session name provided with the Open Spreadsheet command. 3. Activate Sheet This command activates the specified sheet. 4. Get Cells Use this command to fetch the value(s) of the active/specific cell, as well as a range of cells from the spreadsheet opened by the Open Spreadsheet command. When you fetch values for an active/specific cell, you can assign the cell’s value to a variable from the list. However, when fetching values for multiple cells, the value is assigned to the system variable $Excel Column (index)$ which you can use in “Loop for each row in an Excel Dataset”. 5. Set Cells Using this command, you can set the value for the active cell or a specific cell in an Excel spreadsheet opened with the Open Spreadsheet command. You can also input the value of a variable into the sheet. 6. Go to Cell Using this command, you can go to a specific cell, or one cell left/right/above/below the active cell, or at the beginning/end of the row/column in an Excel spreadsheet opened with the Open Spreadsheet command. 7. Run Excel Macro Using this command option, you can run an Excel macro stored in an Excel spreadsheet opened with the Open Spreadsheet command. 8. Delete Cells Use this command to delete values in an active cell or a specific cell in an Excel spreadsheet opened with the Open Spreadsheet command. 9. Activate Sheet Use this command to activate a specific sheet in an open workbook. Page 104
- 106. Page 105
- 107. Excel - Examples How to use? Example 1: Copy the values in a column in an Excel sheet to another sheet. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command. 3. Specify a session name, e.g., “copy cells.” 4. Click “...” and select the Excel spreadsheet from which you want to copy. 5. Click Save. 6. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command. 7. Specify a session name, e.g., “paste cells.” 8. Click “...” and select the Excel spreadsheet where you want to paste. 9. Click Save. 10. Double-click the Get Cells command. 11. Specify a session name, e.g., “copy cells.” 12. Select Get Multiple Cells and insert the range, e.g., if the range is from cell C6 to C18, insert C6 in From Specific Cell and C18 in To Specific Cell. 13. Choose Loop for Each row in an Excel Dataset and set the session name as “copy cells.” 14. Double-click the Set Cells command. 15. Set the session name as “paste cells.” 16. In the cell value, select the variable Excel Column and select the column number as 1, since you are retrieving values for one column. 17. Click Save. 18. Double-click the Go to Cells command. 19. Set the session name as “paste cells.” 20. Select one cell below. 21. Click Save. Example 2: To copy from Excel into Notepad. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command. 3. Click “...” and select the Excel spreadsheet that you want to copy from. 4. Click Save. 5. Click Get Cells. 6. Select Get Multiple Cells and insert the range, e.g., if your range is from cell C6 to C18, insert C6 in From Specific Cell and C18 in To Specific Cell. 7. Start a Loop for Each row in an Excel Dataset. 8. Make sure Notepad is open. 9. Double-click the Insert Keystrokes command. Page 106
- 108. 10. Select the Notepad window title from the drop-down list. 11. Select the variable Excel Column from the list on the right, and insert the column number as 1, since you are retrieving values for one column. 12. Insert a special keystroke of [ENTER] after the $ExcelColumn(1)$ variable. 13. Click Save. Example 3: Run an Excel macro in an Excel spreadsheet. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command. 3. Click “...” and select the Excel spreadsheet that contains the macro. 4. Click Save. 5. Double-click the Run Excel Macro command. 6. Type the macro name, e.g., Macro1. 7. Click Save. Example 4: Delete an entire row in an Excel spreadsheet. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Open Spreadsheet command. 3. Click “...” and select the Excel spreadsheet. 4. Click Save. 5. Double-click the Delete Cells command. 6. Specify a cell in the row you want to delete. 7. Select Entire Row from the Delete options. 8. Click Save. Page 107
- 109. Interactive Prompt Prompt for File/Folder Message Box Page 108
- 110. Prompt - How to use Examples Use the Prompt command to include any of the following actions as part of a task: 1. Prompt for value: Use this command in tasks where the values change frequently, for example while filling out online forms. The value you enter during task playback can be assigned to a variable. You can therefore use the variable in other places in the task, instead of prompting again. 2. Prompt for file: Use this command to prompt for one or more files from a single folder. The value of the files selected can be assigned to a list variable. You can also configure a caption for the prompt window. 3. Prompt for folder: Use this command to prompt for a single folder only. The value of the folder selected can be assigned to a value variable. You can configure a caption for the prompt window. 4. Prompt for Yes/No: Use this command to prompt the user for a response (Yes/No) to a question during playback. The value selected during playback can be assigned to a value variable. Page 109
- 111. Prompt - Examples How to use? Example 1: Prompt the user for Start and End dates and generate a sales report for the date range. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Prompt command and double-click Prompt For Value. 3. Select Don’t Write In Any Window from the drop-down list. 4. Type a message to prompt the user for the Start date. 5. Assign the value the user enters to a variable, by selecting the variable from the variable list. 6. Similarly, assign the End date entered by the user to a variable. 7. You can use the two variables in place of start and end dates in the task that generates the sales report. 8. When the task runs, the two variables will be assigned the values entered by the user. Example 2: Create a task that prompts the user for data and automates the installation of an application. 1. Click Record in Automation Anywhere. 2. Perform the steps to install the application. 3. If you plan to run the task on different computers with different resolutions, we suggest using the keyboard instead of the mouse while recording the installation process. 4. After you finish recording and save the task, select it in the Task List and click Edit. 5. Review your keystroke actions, such as the actions where you specified an installation folder, etc. 6. Right-click an action and select Convert to Prompt (or select it and click the Actions button). 7. This converts your recorded keystrokes to a Prompt command that prompts the user when the task runs. 8. In this manner, you can create a generic task to automate the application and not depend on the values you entered while recording. Page 110
- 112. Example 3: Prompt for a file that will be used in a loop to enter data. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Prompt command and double-click Prompt for File. 3. Type the caption text. 4. Enter a custom message for the user to specify the file. 5. Assign the value to a list variable from the list. 6. Expand the Loop command and double-click the list. 7. Select the list variable you assigned to the file. 8. Double-click the Insert Keystrokes command. 9. Select the window title from the list of files where the data will be entered. 10. Type the data you want to insert into the file. 11. Click Save. Note: This is a procedure for a single file. You can do the same for multiple files; you will have to check “Enable this task to run with similar window titles/files” under the General Tab, in the Properties menu. Example 4: Prompt for the folder that contains a setup file (setup.exe). 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double click the Prompt command and double-click Prompt for Folder. 3. Type a caption. 4. Type a message for the user to select the folder. 5. Assign the value to a value variable from the list. 6. Click Save. 7. Double-click the Open Program/File command. 8. In the Program/File path, type the variable to which you assigned the value of the folder, followed by “setup.exe”. 9. Click Save. Example 5: Prompt the user for confirmation before deleting a record from a database. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Insert the command to connect to a database. 3. Double-click the Prompt command and double-click Prompt For Yes/No. 4. Type a caption. 5. Type a custom message asking the user to select the desired option (Yes/No). 6. Assign the value to a value variable from the list. 7. Click Save. 8. Double-click the Loop command and double-click Condition. 9. In the If dialog, choose File exists. 10. Insert an If - Variable condition to check whether the variable to which the value assigned has the Page 111
- 113. value Yes. 11. Click Save. 12. Double-click the Database command and double-click Insert/Update/Delete. 13. In the Database dialog, in the Enter Insert/Update/Delete Statement text box, type the delete statement to delete a record from a particular table. 14. Click Save. 15. In the Program/File path, type the variable to which the value of the folder was assigned, followed by setup.exe. 16. Double-click the Database command and double-click Disconnect. 17. Click Save. Page 112
- 114. Message Box - How to use Examples You can insert a Message Box command in a task when you want to show the user a message when the task runs. You can also specify a custom caption for the message box. Page 113
- 115. Message Box - Examples How to use? Example 1: Insert Message Box commands to instruct the user how to change the screensaver on a PC. 1. Insert a Message Box command that says “Click on Start button and then click on Control Panel.” 2. Insert a Delay of 2 seconds. 3. Insert another Message Box command that says “Double-click on the Display.” 4. Insert another Message Box command that says “Select the Screen Saver Tab.” 5. Insert another Message Box command that says “Select your Screen Saver and click on Apply, then click OK.” Example 2: Create an automated interactive task that tells the user how to perform the next action. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Create a task and insert a Message Box command at appropriate locations to tell the user which actions to take. 3. Insert a Pause command after the Message Box command. Sometimes users may hit OK without reading the complete message. This ensures that the task does not proceed but pauses until the user manually resumes it. Page 114
- 116. Miscellaneous Clipboard Comment Get Text Play Sound Variable Operation String Manipulation Image Recognition Page 115
- 117. Clipboard - How to use Examples When you copy text using Ctrl + C, the text is copied to the Windows Clipboard. Automation Anywhere provides a system variable called $Clipboard$ that you can use to retrieve text that has been copied to the Clipboard, etc. Using this command you can do the following: 1. Clear Clipboard: You can clear the contents of the Clipboard. 2. Assign To Clipboard: You can assign the value of any variable created with the Variable Manager to the Clipboard. You can then access the value with the $Clipboard$ system variable. 3. Assign From Clipboard: You can assign the value of the Clipboard to any Value type of variable created with the Variable Manager. Page 116
- 118. Clipboard - Examples How to use? Example 1: During a data transfer task, use the Clear Clipboard command before each iteration. 1. Before the End Loop command, insert a Clear Clipboard command. 2. This command is useful when you are transferring data using Ctrl + C (copying) from one application and Ctrl + V (pasting) into another application; or when you are performing these operations within a loop. Sometimes there is empty data in an application (e.g., Excel cells), and the copied data needs to be cleared after the previous iteration. Example 2: Assign the value of a variable to the Clipboard so that the value can be directly pasted using Ctrl + V after the task completes. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Clipboard command. 3. Double-click Assign To Clipboard. 4. Select the variable from the drop-down list whose value you want to assign to the Clipboard. 5. Click Save. 6. At the end of the task, if you want to move some data into the Clipboard, you can use this command so that as soon as the task finishes you can simply use Ctrl + V to paste the data into the desired application (e.g., an email client). Example 3: Compare two cells of an Excel document by assigning the value of the Clipboard to a variable. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Clipboard command. 3. Double-click Assign From Clipboard. 4. Select the variable Cell1 from the drop-down list. 5. You can assign values from the Clipboard only to Value type variables, not to List or Random type variables. 6. Click Save. 7. Similarly, assign the value of the Clipboard (after performing a Ctrl + C operation) to another variable, Cell2. 8. Perform the comparison operations on variables Cell1 and Cell2 as needed. Page 117
- 119. Comment You can insert comments in a task for your own reference. Comments are ignored when the task runs. Example 1: Insert a comment in a task. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Comments command, type a comment, and click Save. Page 118
- 120. Play Sound - How to use Examples You can insert a Play Sound command in the task if you want the task to beep after it executes a particular command. You can also have the Play Sound command play a media file. When the task plays the media file, it will not proceed to the next action until the media file finishes playing. Page 119
- 121. Play Sound - How to use Examples You can insert a Play Sound command in the task if you want the task to beep after it executes a particular command. You can also have the Play Sound command play a media file. When the task plays the media file, it will not proceed to the next action until the media file finishes playing. Page 120
- 122. Play Sound - Examples How to use? Example 1: Insert a Play Sound command to beep when the task finishes. 1. Open the task in the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Play Sound command and double-click Play Beep 3. Click Save. 4. Move the Play Beep action to the last position in the task. Example 2: Play a recorded file. 1. Open the task in the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Play Sound command and double-click Play Media File 3. Select the media file to play, and click Save. Page 121
- 123. Variable Operation - How to use Examples Use this command to work with variable assignment. For example, you can assign a value to a variable. The right side of the “equal to” operator can be a regular operation; for example, you can specify something like: $var1$ = ($var2$ + $var5$ - 10) / 5. Which operands are supported? This command supports the (, ), /, *, + and - operands. The left and right parentheses take precedence, and the operation within them is evaluated from left to right. In the expression ($Var1$ + 5) * ($Var2$ -10), the first calculation – ($Var1$ + 5) – will be evaluated first, then ($Var2$ -10), and the result of both will be multiplied and assigned to the variable specified on the left side of the equals sign. Page 122
- 124. Variable Operation - Examples How to use? Example 1: Use yesterday’s date as a variable. 1. Open the Variable Manager (Tools > Variable Manager) 2. Click Add new variable. 3. Set the variable type as Value, type a name for the variable (e.g., yesterday), and enter 1 as a value. (This will be the temporary value.) 4. Open the Task Editor. 5. Double-click Variable Operations. 6. On the left side of the = sign, press F2 and select the variable you created from the list. 7. On the right side of the = sign, press F2 and select the system variable date and click insert. 8. Type -1 after $Date$. 9. Click Save. Example 2: Convert the value of a variable to thousands. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click Variable Operations. 3. On the left side of the = sign, press F2 and insert the variable whose value you want to convert into thousands. 4. On the right side of the = sign, press F2 and again insert the variable whose value you want to convert to thousands. 5. Type / 1000 after the variable 6. Click Save. Example 3: Increment the value of a variable by 1 without using $Counter$. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click Variable Operations. 3. On the left side of the = sign, press F2 and insert the variable whose value you want to increment by 1. 4. On the right side of the = sign, press F2 and again insert the variable whose value you want to increment by 1. 5. Type +1 after the variable 6. Click Save. Page 123
- 125. String Manipulation - How to use Examples You can use this command to manipulate any string or extract part of a string to a variable. You can specify the range of the text you want to extract, by using Before and After keywords. For example, in the text string “Name of Applicant James Smith Applicant Location,” if you want to copy only “James Smith,” you can specify “Applicant” as the Before keyword and “1” as Occurrence. Also, specify “Applicant” in the After keyword and “1” in “Occurrence” (i.e., the first occurrence after the Before keyword, although it is the second occurrence from the beginning of the string). You can also specify the number of characters to be extracted, starting from the first character after the Before keyword. The extracted string can be trimmed to remove leading or trailing spaces, and you can then save the string in a variable. Page 124
- 126. String Manipulation - Examples How to use? Example 1: Extract the price of a product from a product literature document. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Open Program/File command. 3. Specify the location and name of the product literature document in the Program/File Path. 4. Click Launch Program/File. 5. Click Save. 6. Double-click the Insert Keystrokes command. 7. Select the window in which the document is open. 8. Specify [CTRL DOWN]a[CTRL UP][CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP] as the keystrokes. 9. Double-click the String Manipulation command. 10. Press F2 and select Clipboard variable from the list, as the source string. 11. Specify the Before keyword, i.e., the word before the product price, e.g., $. 12. Specify the occurrence of the Before keyword in the string. 13. Specify the After keyword, i.e., the word after the product price, e.g., A. 14. Specify the occurrence of the After keyword in the string. 15. Select a variable from the list to assign the extracted price to. 16. Click Save. Example 2: Extract an account number from a text file. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Open Program/File command. 3. Specify the location and name of the text file in Program/File Path. 4. Click Save. 5. Double-click the Insert Keystrokes command 6. Select the window in which the text file is open. 7. Specify [CTRL DOWN]a[CTRL UP][CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP] as the keystrokes. 8. Double-click the String Manipulation command. 9. Press F2 and select Clipboard variable from the list, as the source string. 10. Specify the Before keyword, i.e., the word before the account number, e.g., No. 11. Specify the occurrence of the Before keyword in the string. 12. Specify the length of the account number in “Number of characters to be extracted,” e.g., 8. 13. Select a variable from the list to assign the extracted account number to. 14. Click Save. Page 125
- 128. Printers - How to use Examples This command lets you automate the following: 1. Get Default Printer 2. Set Default Printer 3. Remove Printer Page 127
- 129. Printers - Examples How to use? Example 1: Change the default printer. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Set Default Printer command. 3. Select a printer from the list of installed printers. 4. Click Save. Example 2: Remove a printer. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Remove Printer command. 3. Select a printer from the list of installed printers. 4. Click Save. Page 128
- 130. Services - How to use Examples This command lets you automate the following: 1. Get Service Status 2. Start Service 3. Stop Service 4. Pause Service 5. Resume Service Page 129
- 131. Services - Examples How to use? Example 1: Start a user-defined or Windows service, if it is not already running, before running an application that requires the service to be running. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Get Service Status command. 3. Select the service from the list of available installed services. 4. Select the variable from the list to assign the value to. 5. Click Save. 6. Insert an IF condition that checks whether the value of the variable selected in step 4 is not equal to Started. In the IF command, select the option Variable. Click Edit. Type the variable in the first text box, select the operator Not equal To (<>), and in the Fix option, type Started. 7. Double-click the Start Service command and insert the same actions within the If-Endif commands. 8. Select the service from the list of available installed services. 9. Click Save. 10. Double-click the Open Program/File command. 11. Specify the name of the application you want to run. 12. Click Save. Example 2: Pause a service before performing an action, then resume it. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Pause Service command. 3. Select the service from the list of available installed services. 4. Click Save. 5. Insert the commands for the actions you want to perform. 6. Double-click the Resume Service command. 7. Select the service from the list of available installed services. 8. Click Save. Page 130
- 133. Error Handling (Available only in Enterprise version) Begin Error Handling End Error Handling Page 132
- 134. Error Handling - How to use Examples (Available only in Enterprise version) You can use this command to handle errors when a task runs. You can continue the task after the block where the error occurs, or stop the task. When an error occurs, Automation Anywhere can take the following actions: Take a snapshot of the screen. Run another task. Log data in a file. For example, you can log the Error Line No. and Description, then use the system variable $Error Line Number$ and $Error Description$. Send an email when the error occurs, optionally with a snapshot of the screen attached. All four options can be performed together or in combination. For example, you can run a task and log data into a file. Page 133
- 135. Error Handling - Examples How to use? Example 1: To continue extraction of all tables from a website after a table is not found. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Web Recorder command. 3. Double-click the Extract Table command. 4. Type the website URL and click Launch. 5. Once the site is open, you will be redirected to the Extract Table command dialog box. Click Capture. 6. The mouse will appear as a yellow background text indicating “Please click on the table you want to extract.” 7. Move the mouse over the table you want to extract and click anywhere in the table. (If the text background of the mouse changes to red, it means the table cannot be extracted.) 8. Specify the local file path for the CSV file where you want to store the results of the command. 9. Click Save. 10. Double-click the Loop command. 11. Double-click Times. 12. For example, if you want to extract all tables with table number between 1 and 50, specify the loop to run 50 times. 13. Click Save. 14. You need to place the Extract Table command within the above loop. 15. Double-click the Error Handling command. 16. Double-click the Begin Error Handling command. 17. Select the Continue option. 18. Select the Log Data into File check box. 19. Type the local file path for the log file, and the text you want to log. 20. Click Save. 21. The Extract Table command should be within the Begin Error Handling and End Error Handling commands. 22. When you run this command, it extracts all tables with table number from 1 to 50 in the Web page you specified, and stores the results in the CSV file you specified. If a table is not found, the error is logged in the specified log file but the task continues to extract the next table. Page 134
- 136. Image Recognition - How to use Examples (Available only in Enterprise version) Use this command to find an image saved in a file or captured from a window at runtime, within another image which is captured dynamically at runtime from a specified window. Specify the minimum percentage match for which you want the command to return true. It also provides a powerful feature that allows you to click, right-click or double-click the image if it is found within the larger image. Page 135
- 137. Image Recognition - Examples How to use? Example 1: Search for an image in a website and click it if found. 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the Launch Website command. 3. Specify the URL of the website where you want to search for the image. 4. Click Launch. 5. Click Refresh. 6. Select the window where the website has been launched. 7. Click Save. 8. Double-click the Image Recognition command. 9. Select the same window as in step 6. 10. Click Capture and capture the rectangular area (Image 1) where you want to search for the image. 11. Select Window. 12. Select the same window as in steps 6 and 9. 13. Click Capture and capture the image you want to find (Image 2). 14. Select Left Click. 15. Specify the minimum percentage match as 100%. 16. Click Save. 17. When you run the task, it will launch the website and click Image 2 if it is found within Image 1. Tip: Using Wildcards (*) 1. You can specify cards (*) in the window title. 2. For example, you want to perform an operation only if a window has the word “Microsoft” in the title. The window title can have any string before or after the word “Microsoft.” 3. In this case, you can specify: IF Window Exists *Microsoft*. 4. Automation Anywhere will first search for a window with the exact title “Microsoft,” and if it does not find it, it looks for windows with the word “Microsoft” anywhere in the title. 5. You can place the wildcard character (*) at the beginning and/or end of the window title. Page 136
- 139. App Integration - How to use Examples ( Available only in Integration Pack ) Use this command to capture text data from any window. Its versatility lets you specify a range of text to capture, using Before and After keywords. For example, in the text string "Name: ABC Inc. Location:", if you only want to copy "ABC Inc.", you can specify "Location" plus Before Keyword, and "Name:" plus After Keyword. You can also tell Automation Anywhere to trim the captured text to remove leading and/or trailing spaces. You can also use this command to capture text that you couldn't otherwise copy for a task. Non-standard Windows controls are supported. Page 138
- 140. App Integration - Examples How to use? Example 1: Capture the text from any control in an application and set the status of a check box depending on the captured text. 1. Open the application where you want to capture text data. 2. Open the Task Editor in Automation Anywhere. 3. Double-click the App Integration command. 4. Double-click Window Application. 5. Select the application window from the dropdown list. 6. Click View Captured Text. This will generate the image preview on the right side, together with the captured text. 7. If you need to filter the captured text, check the "Filter the captured text" checkbox and specify Before and After keywords. 8. Assign the value to a variable from the list. 9. Click Save. 10. Double-click the Conditions/Loops -> If/Else command, and double-click Variable. Click Edit and select the variable you specified in Step 6. Select Equal To(= ), select Fix, and specify the value you want to check. 11. Double-click the Manage Windows Controls command, and double-click Check Box. Select the application window from the drop-down list. Click Capture and hold and drag the mouse on the check box control. Then set the check box status to Checked. 12. Click Save. 13. Save the task. Tip: Using Wildcards (*) 1. You can specify wildcards (*) in a window title. 2. For example, use this command to perform an operation in any window that has the word "Untitled" anywhere in its title. 3. To tell Automation Anywhere to perform the operation in a window with any text string before or after the word "Untitled" in the window title, simply specify *Untitled* for the window title. 4. Automation Anywhere will first search for the exact window ("Untitled"), and if it doesn't find it, it will look for windows with the word "Untitled" anywhere in the title. 5. You can put the wildcard character (*) at the beginning or end of the window title. Page 139
- 141. OCR - How to use Examples ( Available only in Integration Pack ) Use this very handy command to capture text data from any window, or even from any image. You can capture the text in any one these four ways: 1) Capture Window: Specify the window title, and Automation Anywhere will capture the window as an image 2) Capture Area: Specify a specific area of the window to capture 3) Capture Image By Path: If the text you want to extract is contained in an image stored on your local or network drive, you can tell Automation Anywhere where to find the file by typing or browsing to the path. (Note: the drive must be accessible when you run the task.) 4) Capture Image by URL: You can specify a URL where Automation Anywhere can access the image. You can further define the captured text by specifying Before and After keywords. For example in the text string "Name: ABC Inc. Location:", if you want to copy only "ABC Inc.," you can specify "Location" in the "Before Keyword" text box and "Name:" in the "After Keyword" text box. You can also trim the captured text to remove leading or trailing spaces. Finally, you can use this feature to capture text that you wouldn't otherwise be able to copy; and non-standard Windows controls are supported. Page 140
- 142. OCR - Examples How to use? Example 1: Capture the text from a remote desktop software window 1. Open the Task Editor. 2. Double-click the OCR command. 3. Double click Capture Window. 4. Select the application window from the dropdown list. 5. Click View Captured Text. This will generate the image preview on the right side, together with the captured text. 6. If the captured text needs filtering, check the "Filter the captured text" checkbox and specify the Before and After keywords. 7. Assign the value to a variable from the list. 8. Click Save. 9. Save the task. Tip: Using Wildcards (*) 1. You can specify wildcards (*) in a window title. 2. For example, use wildcards to perform an operation in any window that has the word "Untitled" anywhere in the title. You can place the wildcard character before and/or after "Untitled" to capture variations such as "Window 1: Untitled" or "Untitled - Text Document", etc. 3. To capture all variations of "Untitled," simply specify *Untitled*. 4. Automation Anywhere will first search for a window titled exactly "Untitled" and if it does not find it, it will look for windows with the word Untitled anywhere in the title. Page 141
- 143. Filter The Automation Anywhere Task Editor includes useful task action filters. Filters do not modify a task; rather, they allow you to focus on specific aspects of a task without modifying it. For example: If you want to see only keystrokes in the Editor, check the Keystrokes filter. If you do not want to see mouse moves in the Editor, uncheck the Mouse Moves filter. The Group by Window filter is very useful when a task involves two or more applications. Usually, a task will show all actions in chronological order (sorted by time). But if you want to see which actions are performed in which application, use the Group by Window filter. The Visualize filter is useful for viewing images captured when you specify the snappoints option in debug mode. (The snappoints tool is available only in the Enterprise version of Automation Anywhere.) Use the Find Text box to search within a task for text strings or variable names, etc. This can be helpful when creating and editing long tasks. Tip: If you want to delete all mouse moves, select all mouse moves and use the DEL key to delete them. Simply un-checking the filter will not delete it. Group by windows Group all your actions by windows for easy editing. Mouse Moves Display or hide all Mouse Moves actions from the editor. Keystroke s Display or hide all Keystrokes actions from the editor. Mouse Clicks Display or hide all Mouse Clicks actions from the editor. Delay Display or hide all Delay actions from the editor. Others Display or hide all commands from the editor that are not mouse moves, keystrokes, mouse clicks, or delays. Page 142
- 145. General After you create a task, you can view and edit the task’s properties. The General property tab shows properties such as the task name, status, last run time, etc. It allows you to type a description or notes related to a task. The table below gives a detailed description of each property. File Name Name of the task. Created at The date and time of task creation. Status The last time the task was run. Click View Log to see historic and detailed status of the task. If the task has failed, View Log shows the line number where the task failed. Last Run Time The last time the task was run. Mouse Clicks The total mouse clicks recorded in a task, automatically calculated based on the task. Keystrokes Total keystrokes recorded in the task, automatically calculated based on the task. Total Clicks Total clicks (Mouse Clicks + Keystrokes) recorded in the task. (Every time you run a task, you save this many clicks and keystrokes.) Automatically calculated based on the task. Priority (for queuing) You can specify a priority for the task, which will decide the precedence of the task when it is in a queue. Enable this task to run with other similar files or window titles By default, the task recorded will only run on the specific file(s) it was recorded on. However, SMART Automation Technology includes an option for running the recorded task on any file within the application it was recorded in. For example, you record a task to run on the file abc.xls. By enabling this option, you can run the task on def.xls, xyz.xls, or any other *.xls file, without editing the task. Page 144
- 146. Description/N otes Add descriptions and notes for a task in the Description/Notes window. Page 145
- 147. Task Priority (Available only in Enterprise version) Automation Anywhere Enterprise features advanced task-queuing technology. This technology ensures that every task will complete based on its priority, regardless of how many other tasks interrupt the running task. Let’s say that the task demo.atmn is running. While the task runs, another task called demo1.atmn begins based on a trigger condition. Soon after, demo2.atmn, which was scheduled to run at the same time, starts as well. Advanced task queuing technology ensures that all three tasks finish one after the other, based on their priority and category. Priority: You can assign each task one of the following priorities: 1. High 2. Medium 3. Low Category: The Task category is automatically determined based on how the task is launched. A task can have one of the following three categories: 1. Triggered 2. Scheduled 3. Manual The order is of execution is decided by the priority. If two tasks in a queue have the same priority, the precedence is decided by the category of the tasks. Thus, if the two tasks have the same priority, a triggered task has higher precedence, followed by scheduled tasks, then manual tasks. Examples: 1. The task demo.atmn is running and has priority High. When a triggered task demo1.atmn with a Low priority starts, the triggered task waits for the first task to finish, then the triggered task runs. 2. The task demo.atmn with Low priority has been launched manually, and a triggered task demo1.atmn with Low priority starts. The triggered task has precedence. In this case, both tasks have the same priority, so the precedence is defined by the category, and the triggered task has higher precedence, so demo.atmn pauses while demo1.atmn runs. When demo1.atmn finishes, demo.atmn resumes. Page 146
- 148. Repeat You can repeat a task using repeat properties. Automation Anywhere offers many repeat options, as shown in the figure and table below, including “repeat for X number of times,” “repeat for certain duration,” “repeat until I stop it,” etc. You can specify advanced repeat options such as “time between repeats” and tell Automation Anywhere what to do when an error occurs. For detailed descriptions of the repeat options, see the table below. Do not repeat The default – the task runs once. Repeat N times Automation Anywhere repeats the task N times; for example, to send an email 15 times. Repeat until I Stop it Automation Anywhere repeats the task until you stop it with by pressing the ESC key. The task will also stop if an error occurs. Use this option when you don’t know how many times the task needs to repeat. Repeat for hh:mm:ss time Automation Anywhere repeats the task for a time period that you enter. You can enter up to 99 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds, i.e., a repeat duration of more than 4 days. Tip: This option is ideal for running maintenance tasks. For example, you can set a task to begin when you leave office on Friday evening, and stop on Monday morning. Time between replays Use this option with the repeat options. Automation Anywhere waits for the time you specify before repeating the task. Upon error, continue with next repeat By default, Automation Anywhere stops if there is an error, e.g., if task replay fails. However, if you choose this option, Automation Anywhere will proceed to the next repeat. Note: Use this feature to test tasks, or for operations where you want a task to repeat despite failed replays. Page 147
- 149. Speed Speed allows you to set the speed at which a task runs. For detailed descriptions of the speed options, see the table below. Duration of the task run (hh:mm:ss) Displays the time it took a task to run. Replay speed Automation Anywhere provides the following options to speed-up task execution: Standard Replay (as recorded): the task replays at the speed it was recorded. High Speed Replay (faster): the task replays at a high speed. SMART Automation Technology ensures that even if you increase the replay speed, accuracy and reliability will not be compromised. Turbo-Action Replay (faster, no mouse moves): the task runs even faster by omitting mouse moves. Note: In some rare cases, certain pauses during recording have implicit application-specific meanings. In these cases, set the replay speed to the recorded speed for the most accurate replay. Page 148
- 150. Notification Use this property when you want Automation Anywhere to notify you of the status of a task when it runs. When you check this option, Automation Anywhere will send a task status notification email to the email address you specify. If you check this option, but don’t specify anything under the Email property, Automation Anywhere uses the email address you specified in the To field under Tools > Options > Email Notification. If you have only one email address that you want to notify, it is easier to set it under Tools > Options > Email Notification just once. However, if you want various tasks to send status emails to different addresses, you should specify the email addresses for each task. Before setting up email notification, be sure to set up the email settings: Page 149
- 151. Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) Host The SMTP Host allows you to send email from Automation Anywhere over the Internet. You can obtain this information from your Internet email provider, or from the configuration section of your email program. Port This setting defines the TCP/IP port that Automation Anywhere will use to send emails. The default is port 25, the Internet standard for sending SMTP emails. Username If your outgoing mail server requires a username and password, specify your username in this field. Password If your outgoing mail server requires a username and password, specify your password in this field. Other Automation Anywhere cares about the environment and wants to spread the message as well. As part of the Green Campaign, a message is included at the end of each email sent out by Automation Anywhere. You can uncheck this option if you don't want your outgoing emails to carry that message at the end. Page 150
- 152. Hotkeys You can assign a task to hotkey (a keyboard shortcut) so that you can run the task by pressing the hotkey (even when Automation Anywhere is not running). To select a hotkey, simply press the key combination you would like to use, or select it from a list. Page 151
- 153. Security (This feature is available only in PURCHASED versions of Automation Anywhere.) Automation Anywhere offers advanced task security. You can password-protect your tasks. Password-protected tasks are encrypted with strong, industry-standard encryption. When you specify a password, you can choose whether you want Automation Anywhere to prompt for and verify the password “While editing the task” and/or “While running the task.” Auto Login Advanced Settings You can specify advanced settings for Auto Login, such as whether you want the window where your keystrokes and mouse clicks will be played to be hidden, and/or whether to disable mouse and keyboard access while your task runs. (Available only in Premier and Enterprise versions.) Running tasks in stealth mode: This feature allows you to hide the windows and programs running on your screen, to prevent unauthorized persons from seeing them. This feature significantly increases security, because it hides sensitive information from prying eyes. Disabling of mouse and keyboard: This feature allows you to disable mouse and keyboard access to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining control of the computer while the task runs in auto-login mode. This feature significantly increases security, as it denies access to your machine by unauthorized persons. Page 152
- 154. Add Schedule Automation Anywhere lets you schedule tasks to run at predefined times, unattended. You can also schedule your workflows to run at predefined times. Scheduling a task is easy: 1. Select the task you want to schedule. 2. Click the Schedule tab. 3. Set scheduling options and click Save. 4. Provide your Windows username and password. Why do I need to provide a Windows username/password? 5. You can define multiple schedules for a single task. To add another scheduled time, click Add. 6. To unlock the computer when the scheduled task runs, click Auto Login Settings Automation Anywhere offers many scheduling options: Daily (e.g., every day, only weekdays, or every 2 days) Weekly (certain days of the week, e.g., every Monday) Monthly (certain days of month, e.g., January 1 and October 5) One time only When the computer starts When you log on When the computer is idle Note: Scheduling functionality is not available on Windows NT 4.x. Page 153
- 155. Why must I enter a Windows username and password? For security reason, Windows XP requires that you enter your Windows username/password if you want to run a scheduled task. The username/password ensures that only you can schedule tasks. What if I don't have a username and password? Many home users do not have passwords set up for their PC. Often, home users don’t want the inconvenience of having to type a password each time the computer starts. There is an easy solution. You can create a password so that you can schedule tasks, but then set auto-login ON so you won’t need to type the password every time you start your computer. 1. Create a password: Click Start, Control Panel, and double-click User Accounts. Click the user account you want to add a password to, and click Create a Password. Follow the instructions on the screen to create a password. Note that any valid password is acceptable, but it cannot be a blank password, and you must log off and log on again before you can schedule a task. 2. Set auto-login On. You can configure Windows XP to automatically log you in every time it restarts. Click Start, Run, and type control userpasswords2. Uncheck the “Users must enter a username and password to use this computer” check box. Click Apply. Enter the user name and password you wish to automatically log on with, and click OK. Click OK again and you're done. This feature allows users to start the computer and use the account you established to automatically log on. Enabling auto logon makes your computer more convenient to use, but can pose a security risk since anyone can simply turn on the machine and access your files. Page 154
- 156. Why doesn’t a scheduled task run? If your scheduled task doesn’t run, follow the steps in the checklist below to fix the problem. 1. Ensure that you have provided the username/password: For security reasons, Windows XP requires your Windows XP username and password to run a scheduled task. For more information on what to do if you don't have password, read Why username/password? On any other Windows operating system, if your account requires a password to log on, then you will need to provide the password while scheduling tasks, otherwise you don’t need to provide a password. 2. If you have multiple accounts, ensure that you have provided the correct username/password: If you have multiple accounts on the same computer, e.g., a domain account and a local account, make sure the username you provided is the same username you used to log in to the computer. The scheduled tasks will not work if you scheduled the task using one user account but are logged on as another user. Automation Anywhere automatically fills the username that you used to log in. 3. Check Status in Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks: Go to Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks. Select the task corresponding to your task (it starts with your task name) and right-click it and choose Run. See if it runs. If it does not run, check the Status column. 4. Schedule Calculator Application: If your task still doesn’t run, go to Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks and click Add Scheduled Task. From the list of applications, select Calculator (see figure below). If the calculator doesn’t run, then the scheduler service is not installed correctly on your computer. 5. Make sure Task Scheduler Service is started: By default, Scheduler service is started on all Windows XP machines. To make sure, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. Verify that the status of the Task Scheduler service reads “Started.” If it is not running, right-click it and select Start. Also, ensure that the Page 155
- 157. “Startup type” is set to “Automatic” so that the next time your computer starts the service will start automatically. 6. Restart Task Scheduler: If it still doesn't work, go to Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks. In the Advanced Menu, click “Stop using Task Scheduler.” Wait 10 minutes and click “Start using Task Scheduler.” 7. Contact Technical Support: If you are not able to run your task at the scheduled time even after following all of the above steps, then most likely the scheduler service is not installed correctly on your computer. Please contact us: http://www.tethyssolutions.com/support_form.htm. Page 156
- 158. Adding Triggers Examples You can run a task in response to some other activity on your computer. For example, you can run a task when a new file is created in a specific folder, or when a specific window opens, etc. Automation Anywhere supports six types of auto-response triggers: 1. Window 2. File 3. Folder 4. Performance 5. Process 6. Service 1. Window Trigger Two types of actions are supported in the Window trigger: o When window opens o When window closes 2. File Trigger Three types of actions are supported in the File trigger: o When file is created o When file is deleted o When file is renamed 3. Folder Trigger Six types of folder triggers are supported: o When any file is created in that folder o When any file is deleted in that folder o When any file is renamed in that folder o When folder is created o When folder is deleted o When folder is renamed 4. Performance Trigger Three different types of performance triggers are supported: o CPU Usage o Free disk space o Process count 5. Process Trigger You can specify two types of triggers for each executable running on your computer: o When process starts o When process stops 6. Service Trigger You can specify four types of triggers for each service installed on your computer: o When service starts o When service stops o When service resumes o When service pauses Page 157
- 159. To unlock the computer when the triggered task runs, click Auto Login Settings. Note: You can also use triggers to execute a workflow. Example 1: Running an Automation Anywhere task every time an “Adobe Photoshop” window opens. 1. Select the Type as Window. 2. From the Window Title drop-down, specify the Title as “Adobe Photoshop.” If you do not see the title, then open the application and click Refresh. 3. Under Action, select “When window opens” and save the trigger. 4. Your task will run each time the Adobe Photoshop window opens. Example 2: Run an Automation Anywhere task to send you an email every time a file is deleted from a critical work folder. 1. Select the Type as Folder. 2. Click “...”next to Folder Name and select the folder you want to monitor. 3. Under Action, select “When any file is deleted” and save the trigger. 4. Every time a file is deleted from your critical folder, your task will run and send you a notification email. Page 158
- 160. Trigger Manager The Trigger Manager shows you all triggers in your system. For example, you could have five different tasks run at five different triggers. The Trigger Manager lets you add, modify, delete, enable, and disable triggers. Page 159
- 161. Variables in Automation Anywhere Variables Overview Automation Anywhere provides powerful options for using variables in tasks. A variable is simply a “holder” that you can assign a value to. Using variables in tasks lets you run the same task repeatedly with different values, without re-recording tasks. How to create new variables? To create new variables, use Tools > Variable Manager. Automation Anywhere provides predefined variables, called system variables. You can also create your own variables (under User Variables) and optionally assign their values. You can then use the variables in any number of tasks. What are the different types of variables? Automation Anywhere can create three types of variables: 1. Value (Single Value): A Value type variable can hold text data. For example, you can assign your email address to an email variable. Example: email=contact@tethyssolutions.com 2. List (Multiple Values): With variables of the List type, you can assign multiple values to a single variable. List variables are very useful when you use them inside the Loops command. For example, you can assign 10 different product names to a single list variable and place the variable inside a Loop command. Then, each time the Loop runs, it reads and applies the next variable in the list. 3. Random (Random Value): You can define Random type variables to hold two types of values: a string or a number. For a Random variable of type String, Automation Anywhere will generate a random string value of a length you specify. For a Random variable of type Number, Automation Anywhere will generate a random number within a range you specify. The values for Random variables are generated at the time the task runs. Page 160
- 162. How can I use variables? You can use variables in many actions, e.g., Keystrokes, Open Programs/Files, Files/Folders, Insert Prompt, etc. Automation Anywhere always formats variables between “$” signs, e.g., $Your-Variable$. The $ sign before and after the variable name tells Automation Anywhere to treat the text between the $ signs as a variable, and not as plain text. When the task runs, Automation Anywhere replaces the variable name with the actual value of the variable. The following screenshot illustrates how to insert a variable with the Keystroke Action. Page 161
- 163. How to convert a keystroke to a variable? Automation Anywhere can quickly convert an existing keystroke action to a variable. Simply right-click keystroke action and select Convert to Variable. Page 162
- 164. Reading variables from a text file: Automation Anywhere lets you define the values of your variables in an external text file. You can declare the variable as a Value or List type variable using the Variable Manager. If you don’t want to specify the value of the variable at the time you create the variable, but you want the task to read the values from the text file, you can select the option “Read from text file.” When the task runs and comes to the variable, it reads the value of the variable from the file you specified in the Variable Manager. Follow these guidelines to format the text file so that Automation Anywhere will successfully read the values of the variables: 1. One text file can have multiple <variable>=<value> pairs in different lines, separated by the ENTER key. 2. If the variable is a Value type, it should have only one value, for example “myvar=value1” (without quotes) where myvar is the name of the variable you defined in Automation Anywhere. 3. If it is a List type variable, you can define the comma-separated values for the variable, for example my-list-var =value1,value2,value3. 4. Variable names are not case-sensitive. Following is an example of a text file with different <variable>=<value> pairs: Age=12,13,16,21 Games=Football,Soccer,Rugby username=my-username password=my-password Page 163
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- 166. Convert a task to an .exe (executable) file If you want to distribute and deploy automated tasks on computers other than your own, use Automation Anywhere Premier or Automation Anywhere Enterprise. These versions allow you to convert tasks to standalone programs (.exe files). An .exe file can run on any machine* without other software. Automation Anywhere .exes are intelligent .exes that have a SMART Automation agent embedded inside them. The SMART Automation agent provides the same intelligent automation and auto-sensing technology contained in Automation Anywhere. When you run the .exes on other computers, the SMART automation technology adjusts for more than 40 possible hardware differences, such as window size, position changes, CPU load, desktop icon location changes, etc. It also replaces system variables such as dates and user-defined variables, etc., to ensure easy task compatibility across computers. With Automation Anywhere Premier and Enterprise, businesses and IT departments can generate .exes to manage and configure software, alter software behavior, create interactive scripts that accept user input, and much more. To make an .exe from a task, select the task and click Create EXE. Tip: To improve accuracy while running .exe files across multiple machines, use keyboard shortcuts and keystrokes instead of mouse clicks while recording tasks. *See licensing options for more information Example 1: Automate Installation 1. Create a task that automates installation of an application. 2. To automate installation of the application on 100 machines, create an executable of the task using Create EXE. 3. Deploy the executable on the 100 machines. 4. The executables are standalone and do not require Automation Anywhere to be installed on the local machine. Example 2: Distributed Load Testing 1. Record or create a task to log in to the website to be tested and perform the actions. 2. Create an executable of the task and distribute it to various computers within the LAN, or to different geographical locations. 3. You can now run the executables simultaneously from different computers to load-test your application. Page 165
- 167. Deploying tasks on remote machines Automation Anywhere Enterprise offers single-click Remote Deployment and Remote Task Administration features and a Deployment Manager to track deployment status. You do not need to install Automation Anywhere software on a remote PC. You can schedule a task deployed on a remote PC. The Deployment Manager lets you create groups and initiate, maintain, and monitor old and new tasks to a particular group or individual computer on the network. You can schedule the remote tasks, get the status of remote tasks that have run, receive email notifications, and clean up tasks on the remote machines. 1. Prerequisites 2. How do I Deploy? 3. Deployment Manager Prerequisites The default admin$ sharing should be available on the PCs where you want to deploy tasks using Automation Anywhere. Follow these steps to enable admin$ sharing: 1. Log in as administrator (or as a user with administrative privileges) on the PC where you want to deploy the task. 2. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel. 3. Open Administrative Tools. 4. Open Local Security Policy. 5. Open the Local Policies folder. 6. Open the Security Options folder. 7. Scroll down and double-click Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts. 8. If the dialog says “Guest only - local users authenticate as guest,” change it to “Classic - local users authenticate as themselves” and click OK. Page 166
- 168. How do I Deploy? Deploying a task is an easy wizard-driven process. Choose a task from the Automation Anywhere Task List, click Deploy, and follow the wizard. The wizard has four steps: 1. Step 1: Select Network Computers 2. Step 2: Select Deployment Actions 3. Step 3: Select Optional Actions 4. Step 4: Deploy Step 1: Select Network Computers Page 167
- 169. In this step, you can add all of the remote machines where you want to deploy your task. Simply select a group (or create a new group) and click Add to add the computers. Remote Machine Name: This is the name of the machine where you want to deploy the task, for example, PC1. You can either type it or click “...” and select it from the network. Administrator username: This is the username with administrative privileges on the remote machine. Administrator password: This is the password for the administrator username. Remember password for next deployment: Check this box if you want Automation Anywhere to remember the password for this machine so that when you select the same machine next time, it will connect automatically. Also, this checkbox is useful for automatic retrieval of status from remote machines. You can view the Status in Tools > Deployment Manager. Is your remote operating system Microsoft Vista?: If the operating system of your remote PC is Microsoft Vista, check this box and provide the username and password of the user under which you want to deploy the task. This username and password need not be the administrator’s username and password. Once you have added all your remote PCs, click Select Deployment Actions to go to the next step. Step 2: Select Deployment Actions Page 168
- 170. You can apply the following three deployment actions to a task: Execute Task, Schedule Task, and Copy Files. Execute Task: Select this action and click Add if you want to run the task immediately upon deployment. The only parameter you need to specify in this action is where you want the task to be copied on the remote PC. It will be the same location on all of the remote PCs. The default location is C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataAutomation Anywhere (C:ProgramDataAutomation Anywhere on Vista). You also specify another folder, e.g., D:Remote folder name. If you want to copy the task to the system32 folder, use the variable % System32%. Note: you cannot include a folder name after the %System32% variable. For example, you can specify %System32%. Note: You can have only one Execute Task action in this step. Schedule Task: Select this action and click Add if you want to schedule the task on the remote PCs. Simply select the schedule you want and click Save. You can add multiple schedules in this step. All of the schedules are applied to all the remote PCs. Copy Files: Select this action and click Add if you want to copy additional files along with your task to the remote PCs. You can add multiple copy files actions. All of the copy files actions are applied to all the remote PCs. Once you have added all your deployment actions, click Select Optional Actions to go to the next step. Step 3: Select Optional Actions Page 169
- 171. If you want the task to send email after it runs on the remote PC, check this option. Use the Email Notification Template and Email Settings button to configure your email server and email template. If you have deployed the task on 10 PCs, emails will be sent from all 10 PCs after the task runs. Step 4: Deploy Page 170
- 172. This is the last step. It displays the summary of your deployment, e.g., the machines you selected, the deployment actions you specified, etc. When you click Deploy, Automation Anywhere begins deploying to the remote PCs, one at a time. You can choose an option not to deploy but save the configuration to a file. You can then later retrieve the deployment descriptor file from Tools > Deployment Manager and deploy it. Deployment Manager Page 171
- 173. You can also deploy the task using the Deployment Manager. Besides deploying the task, you can get the status of your deployment and clean up all deployed files from the remote PCs. Page 172
- 174. SnapPoints 1. Capture images while recording tasks 2. Visualize the graphical view of the task 3. Set SnapPoints to refresh or capture new images 4. What commands support SnapPoints? Capture images while recording tasks Automation Anywhere offers state-of-the-art technology for capturing and displaying screenshot images while you record tasks. To capture screenshots, choose Tools > Options > Advanced Settings > Capture Screenshots While recording. You can resize and move the images within the Task Editor to place them at a desired location. The captured image will be the active window during recording, and it will tell you exactly where your mouse cursor was. For example, in the following screenshot, notice line number 16 in the task, “Mouse Click: Left Button on ‘9’ in “Calculator,” and the corresponding image which shows the Windows calculator. Visualize With the Visualize tab in the Task Editor, you can see a complete graphical view of the current task. The screenshot below shows a task after clicking the Visualize tab. The example shows that you clicked Start, then Run, then OK in the Run window, then number “9” in the calculator. Page 173
- 175. Set SnapPoints to refresh the images When you create a task manually in the Task Editor and insert new commands, or if you modify recorded actions in a task, the images that you captured during recording may no longer be accurate. Automation Anywhere provides a convenient way to refresh the images, called SnapPoints. To set SnapPoints, click the Set SnapPoint button. You can now set SnapPoints in the column to the left of the line numbers, as shown below. When you run a task after setting SnapPoints, Automation Anywhere re-captures the images for the commands where you set SnapPoints. The images are captured after the command executes. Which commands support SnapPoints? The following commands support SnapPoints: Insert Keystrokes Page 174
- 176. Insert Mouse Click Prompt Excel Web Recorder Window Actions MessageBox Page 175
- 177. Workflow Designer (Available only in Enterprise version) 1. What is Workflow? 2. How do I create a Workflow? 3. How does a Workflow run? 4. Properties of Workflow 5. Can I trigger a Workflow? 6. Can I schedule a Workflow? What is Workflow? Automation Anywhere Enterprise provides flow diagrams that are very helpful for automating IT processes. The following are some Workflow features: Workflow shows a graphical representation of conditional logic, task initiation, etc. Workflow is a high-level graphical view of your business process. You can create graphical representations for business or IT processes, or for simple and complex task processing. Use the intuitive drag-and-drop tool to design workflows. How do I create a Workflow? Choose Tools > Workflow Designer. The Workflow Designer provides five design objects: 1. Start 2. Run Task 3. Conditional (If) 4. End 5. Arrows Page 176
- 178. Start: Every Workflow may have only one Start object. Run Task: Using Run Task, you can call any previously configured task (.atmn). Before proceeding to the next step, Workflow stops until the Run Task command is completely executed. When you drag and drop the Run Task object, it displays one Successful and one Unsuccessful arrow. It must have these two arrows. If one arrow is deleted, you can move the mouse over the Run Task object and pull another arrow and connect it to the desired object. Conditional (If): This object determines the condition specified. Based on the result (True or False), it takes the appropriate path in the workflow. When you drag and drop the Conditional object, it displays one True and one False arrow. It must have these two arrows. If one arrow is deleted, you can simply move the mouse over the object and pull another arrow and connect it to the desired object. End: When the workflow reaches this object, it stops execution. Arrows: To draw an arrow from any object, simply move the mouse over the object until Page 177
- 179. the mouse icon changes to a hand, as shown in the figure: Tip: Always validate the Workflow before running or exiting the Workflow designer. Validation ensures that your Workflow objects will be connected correctly and run as expected. How does a Workflow run? Running a workflow is simple. To run the workflow, click on Run in the Workflow Designer, or double-click the workflow file in the Automation Anywhere Task List. When you run the workflow in the designer, it tells you the path that it follows, e.g., it tells you if it took the True or False option, etc. Once the workflow has run, it highlights the complete path it has taken. Properties of Workflow You can repeat a Workflow using the Repeat property. Using the Notification property, you can send an email notification when the workflow execution finishes. You can save the workflow as an image by choosing File > Save as Image from the Workflow Designer You can print the workflow by choosing File > Print from the Workflow Designer. Can I trigger a Workflow? Yes. Using Automation Anywhere’s triggers, you can easily set up a workflow to trigger based on specific actions. Can I schedule a Workflow? Yes. Using Automation Anywhere's scheduler, you can easily schedule a workflow to run at specified times. Page 178
- 180. Report Designer (Available only in Enterprise version) 1. What is a Report? 2. How do I run a Report? 3. How do I save a Report? 4. Properties of a Report 5. Can I trigger a Report? 6. Can I schedule a Report? What is a Report? Automation Anywhere Enterprise provides a graphical view that displays the status of tasks and workflows, as well as the ROI against time. You can view the following report types: Task Run: Displays how many times a task has run successfully, and how many times it has failed in the specified period. You can view this report for (a) All Tasks saved in the default location, i.e., My DocumentsAutomation AnywhereAutomation AnywhereMy Tasks, or (b) tasks in a specified folder, or (c) selected tasks. Workflow Run: Displays how many times a workflow has run successfully and how many times it has failed in the specified period. You can view this report for (a) All workflows saved in the default location, i.e., My DocumentsAutomation AnywhereAutomation AnywhereMy Workflow, or (b) workflows in a specified folder, or (c) selected workflows. Task Timeline: It displays the history behind the task(s) in a graphical timeline format. You can select a timeline and a task to find out how many times the task was run or modified during the specified time period. It also tells you if the task was created or deleted during that time. You can view this report for a) All Tasks saved in default location, i.e. My DocumentsAutomation AnywhereAutomation AnywhereMy Tasks or b) tasks in a specified folder or c) selected tasks. Workflow Timeline: It displays the history behind the workflow(s) in a graphical timeline format. You can select a timeline and a workflow to find out how many times the workflow was run or modified during the specified time period. It also tells you if the workflow was created or deleted during that time. You can view this report for a) All Workflow saved in default location, i.e. My DocumentsAutomation AnywhereAutomation AnywhereMy Workflow or b) workflows in a specified folder or c) selected workflows. ROI: Displays how much money you have saved using Automation Anywhere during the specified period. Page 179
- 181. How do I run a report? Running a report is simple. To run the report, simply specify your criteria and click Run Report in the Report Designer. To run a saved report, double-click the report file in the Task List, or select the report in the Task List and click Run. How do I save a report? After specifying the criteria, click Save and Run Report. Automation Anywhere will remember your selection and save it as a template for future use. If you want to save a report as an image, choose File > Save As Image from the Report Designer. Properties of a report Using the Notification property, you can have Automation Anywhere send an email notification once the report has run. The email will include the report as an image, as well as other information. To print the report, in the Report Designer choose File > Print. Can I trigger a report? Yes. Using Automation Anywhere’s triggers, you can easily set up the report to trigger based on certain actions. In the Task List, select the report, select Trigger, and define your trigger. You can use the Notification property to send an email notification after the task runs. Can I schedule a Report? Yes. Using Automation Anywhere's scheduler, you can schedule a report to run at a specified Page 180
- 182. time. In the Task List, select the report, select Schedule, and specify the scheduling parameters. You can use the Notification property to send an email notification after the task runs. Page 181
- 183. Debugging Tasks For advanced users, Automation Anywhere offers the capability to debug tasks. Go to Debug > Enable Debugging and use the toolbar to insert breakpoints in your task, then debug the task action-by-action using the Step Over (F10) functionality. You can also set Snappoints in a task to capture images of the task while it executes. (Snappoints is available only in the Enterprise Version. See Snappoints.) How to Debug: 1. If you want to run your task in debug mode, i.e., one command at a time, insert a breakpoint next to each command where you want the task to pause. 2. To insert a breakpoint, select a command and insert a breakpoint by clicking F9. 3. To remove the breakpoint, select the command and click F9. 4. Select the Step over feature of Debugging to step over one command at a time. 5. To clear all breakpoints, click Clear All Breakpoints. 6. To stop debugging, click Debug > Disable Debugging. Note: The debugging information (breakpoints) is not stored, so when you close the editor window all of the breakpoint information will be lost. Page 182
- 184. System Logs Automation Anywhere Enterprise logs all events that occur in the application – for example: when a task runs, when a task is created, when the properties of a task change, etc. To view the system logs: 1. Go to Tools > System Logs (or press Ctrl + L). 2. Select the Log Type from the drop-down list. 3. Specify the Starting and End dates in the format you specify. 4. Click Generate Logs. To export the logs to a CSV file, specify the name of the CSV file and click Export. To delete an entry, select the check box next to the log and click Delete. Page 183
- 185. ROI (Return On Investment) Calculator (Available only in Enterprise version) The ROI Calculator is a planning tool that calculates the following components: Resource costs for time saved Reduced error rates Automated troubleshooting Automated documentation Resource realignment Training benefits Knowledge capture Automation Anywhere calculates the return on investment as a result of automation. You can also view the ROI as a chart. The ROI is a cumulative amount in dollars that is calculated when you run a task. You can reset the ROI whenever you want. Page 184
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- 187. Options Auto Login Notification Record Tasks using Hotkeys Moved Icons/Menus View Advanced Settings Page 186
- 188. Auto Login Use this setting to tell Automation Anywhere to automatically unlock or log in to your computer when a task runs. With Auto Login, when a task runs, Automation Anywhere checks if the computer is locked or logged off. If it is, Automation Anywhere unlocks the computer, or logs in using the username and password you provided, and begins executing the task. Once the task completes successfully, Automation Anywhere restores the previous state of the computer. Automation Anywhere can also lock or log off the computer if any of the following conditions occur while a task runs: Someone presses the Escape key. Someone hits a pause key. An error occurs while the task runs. Note For Windows XP Users: Auto Login can only work with the classic logon screen. If you are using windows XP, please disable the “Welcome” screen and “Fast User Switching” by following these steps: 1. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel 2. Click User Accounts 3. Click “Change the way users log on or off.” 4. Un-check the check box “Use the Welcome Screen.” 5. Click Apply Options. See the screenshot below to verify that you are on the correct screen. Note for Vista Users: Auto Login is not currently supported in Windows Vista. Page 187
- 189. You can also set this option when you schedule a task. Once you set the Auto Login option, Automation Anywhere will apply it to all your tasks. To turn off Auto Login, go to Tools > Options > Auto Login Settings, and uncheck the Enable Auto Login box. Page 188
- 190. Notification Use this property when you want Automation Anywhere to notify you of the status of a task when it runs. When you check this option, Automation Anywhere will send a task status notification email to the email address you specify. If you check this option, but don’t specify anything under the Email property, Automation Anywhere uses the email address you specified in the To field under Tools > Options > Email Notification. If you have only one email address that you want to notify, it is easier to set it under Tools > Options > Email Notification just once. However, if you want various tasks to send status emails to different addresses, you should specify the email addresses for each task. Before setting up email notification, be sure to set up the email settings: Page 189
- 191. Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) Host The SMTP Host allows you to send email from Automation Anywhere over the Internet. You can obtain this information from your Internet email provider, or from the configuration section of your email program. Port This setting defines the TCP/IP port that Automation Anywhere will use to send emails. The default is port 25, the Internet standard for sending SMTP emails. Username If your outgoing mail server requires a username and password, specify your username in this field. Password If your outgoing mail server requires a username and password, specify your password in this field. Other Automation Anywhere cares about the environment and wants to spread the message as well. As part of the Green Campaign, a message is included at the end of each email sent out by Automation Anywhere. You can uncheck this option if you don't want your outgoing emails to carry that message at the end. Page 190
- 192. Record Tasks using Hotkeys By defining an Automation Anywhere hotkey, you can record a task without leaving your application. To configure hotkeys, choose Tools > Options > Hotkeys. Note: To use a hotkey to record, Automation Anywhere needs to be running in the system tray. Page 191
- 193. When Icons or Menus Move Use this advanced option to ensure proper execution of your tasks when desktop icons, quick launch icons, or Start menu items move. Automation Anywhere’s SMART automation technology will identify the moved items and adjust automatically. After enabling this option, you do not need to re-record your task. This feature works in most cases, except for a handful such as opening the Windows Control Panel and Printers dialog, etc. In such cases, leave this option unchecked. Page 192
- 194. View Show Run Time Window Use this option to show or hide the status window that Automation Anywhere normally displays while it runs a task. Show Errors Use this option to show or hide the errors that Automation Anywhere generates while it runs a task. Show Start Page Use this option to show or hide the Automation Anywhere Start Page at startup. Page 193
- 195. Advanced Settings Automation Anywhere provides the following Advanced Settings: 1. Record Mouse Moves 2. Record Mouse Clicks 3. Record Keystrokes 4. Internet Explorer Timeout 5. Application Path 6. Capture Screenshots While Recording (Available only in Enterprise version) 7. Enable System Logging (Available only in Enterprise version) Record Mouse Moves If you don't want to record mouse moves while recording, uncheck this option. In some rare cases, certain mouse moves have application-specific meanings, e.g., for recording with application menus. In these cases, don’t uncheck this option. Record Mouse Clicks If you don’t want to record mouse clicks while recording, uncheck this option. Record Keystrokes If you don’t want to record keystrokes while recording, uncheck this option. Internet Explorer Timeout While playing tasks in Internet Explorer, you can specify timeout periods based on your Internet connection speed. For example, if you use a dial-up connection and see frequent timeout errors during Page 194
- 196. task playback, you can use this setting to increase the timeout. Application Path The default application path is the Automation Anywhere folder under My Documents. Use this option to can choose a different application path. All of your tasks will then be saved in the specified path. The new path will take effect when you restart Automation Anywhere. Meanwhile, the scheduled tasks will work as-is. The triggered tasks will start working only after Automation Anywhere starts with the new path. Capture Screenshots While Recording (Available only in Enterprise version) To learn more about this feature, see SnapPoints. Enable Logging (Available only in Enterprise version) To learn more, see System Logs. Page 195
- 197. Customize Automation Anywhere Use the View > Columns Displayed feature to customize List View by adding or removing columns. The table below describes the available options. Add >> Select a column from the list of Available Columns and click Add. The newly selected column will be displayed in the List View. <<Remov e Select a column from the list of displayed columns and click Remove. The column is removed from the list of displayed columns and listed under Available Columns. Note: The File Name column is required and cannot be removed from the list. Move Up / Move Down Use these buttons to change the column position in the List View. The Move Up button moves the selected column to the left, and the Move Down button moves it to the right in the List View. Columns listed from top to bottom are displayed from left to right. Save Click Save to save our changes and apply them to the List View. Cancel To abandon your changes, click Cancel. Reset Click Reset to restore the default columns in the List View, i.e., File Name, Type, Repeat, Status, and Last Run Time. Page 196
- 198. Call Automation Anywhere Tasks from any script You can call Automation Anywhere tasks from a batch file, any program, or a script. Note: Automation Anywhere saves all tasks by default in the My DocumentsAutomation AnywhereAutomation Anywhere folder. Example: To call the Automation Anywhere task “download-emails.atmn” from a batch file, add the following line in the batch file: >“C:Program FilesAutomation AnywhereAutomation Anywhere.exe” “C:Documents and Settings<your username>My DocumentsAutomation AnywhereAutomation AnywhereMy Tasksdownload-emails.atmn” /u To call the Automation Anywhere task “download-data.atmn” from an Excel macro, add the following text to the Excel macro: Dim RetVal RetVal = Shell(“C:Program FilesAutomation AnywhereAutomation Anywhere.exe “C:Documents and Settings<your username>My DocumentsAutomation AnywhereAutomation AnywhereMy Tasksdownload-emails.atmn” /u”, 1) If the task is successful, it returns 0 to the calling program, or if it encounters an error it returns 1. Page 197
- 199. Use Hotkeys or Keywords with Launch-n-Go Automation Anywhere is integrated with the popular Launch-n-Go from Tethys Solutions. You can install this product and run your Automation Anywhere tasks using hotkeys or keywords. To download a free trial version of Launch-n-Go, visit http://www.tethyssolutions.com/launch-n-go.htm. Launch-n-Go gives you fast, single-key access to your websites, files, folders, and applications. To use Launch-n-Go with Automation Anywhere, right-click any task file in the List View and click “Add keyword or hotkey to Launch-n-Go.” In the dialog box that appears, enter a keyword or hotkey. To run the task, enter the keyword in the Launch-n-Go desktop toolbar on the right end of the system tray, or press the assigned hotkey. Page 198
- 200. Support 1. Frequently Asked Questions: For quick answers to your questions, see the relevant help sections, or visit the FAQ. 2. Sample Tasks Online:For quick solutions to common automation use cases, visit Sample Tasks Online. 3. Open a Support Case: If the above resources don’t answer your questions, we encourage you to open a support case. Page 199
- 201. Ask the Expert If you have questions about how to automate your tasks, feel free to use our FREE Ask the Expert service Ask the Expert service is perfect for: Simple and direct questions such as "How do I do xyz?" If your application is well known (e.g., Excel, Word, etc.), you can ask how to perform specific tasks. If your application is unique, or your question would require someone to work with you for a longer period, we suggest using our Consulting Services. Page 200
- 202. Consulting Services Unwavering focus on your objectives Leveraging the best automation practices Maximize ROI and minimize risk Tethys Solutions has helped many companies automate their business and IT processes. We’re experts at streamlining execution and maximizing ROI. Our experience and best practices dramatically reduce implementation time while increasing returns. Our engineers are ready to provide expert, efficient hands-on training and knowledge transfer. We offer onsite and offsite implementation. We can help you automate: Business Processes IT Processes Web data extraction Data transfer from one application to another, or from files ERP systems File and data management Tethys Solutions Consulting assigns you a dedicated customer agent who is familiar with your domain, requirements, technologies, and environment. The customer service agent can log in to your computer remotely to automate tasks and guide you through your project. To discuss our consulting services, please submit the Consulting Services Request Form. We’ll be in touch quickly. Page 201
- 203. Limitations Automation Anywhere features advanced SMART Automation Technology that employs sophisticated algorithms to ensure the high reliability of Automation Anywhere tasks. However, some instances may require you to re-record a task file. Future upgrades will focus on eliminating these limitations. Taskbar right-click is not recorded: Automation Anywhere cannot close a window if the user, while recording, closes the window by right-clicking the window icon in the taskbar and selecting Close from the menu. Advanced IE-Plugin works only for IE: If you use Internet Explorer, Automation Anywhere can automatically account for delays in loading a Web page. Automation Anywhere will wait until the page loads and then perform subsequent actions. However, this may not work in all cases for other browsers. Page 202
- 204. Tips 1. How to copy an Excel cell and move to the next cell in the record? 2. How to paste data in your application and move to the next item? 3. How to create timestamps for your files using Automation Anywhere System variables? 4. What is the recommended way to open an application as part of your task? 1. How to copy an Excel cell and move to the next cell in your record? When you highlight the cell and use Ctrl + C to copy a cell in Excel, it copies an extra ENTER keystroke along with the data in the cell. To copy only the cell in the Excel file, use the keystrokes: [F2][HOME][SHIFT DOWN][END][SHIFT UP][CTRL DOWN]c[CTRL UP]. The above keystrokes will copy the data in the cell. Now, if you want to move the cursor to the next cell after copying the current cell, use the following keystrokes: ENTER to move one row down in the same column TAB to move to the next cell to the RIGHT in the same row Shift + ENTER ( [SHIFT DOWN][ENTER][SHIFT UP] ) to move one row up in the same column Shift + TAB ( [SHIFT DOWN][TAB][SHIFT UP] ) to move to the next cell to the LEFT in the same row To skip a cell, you need to use the corresponding key twice. For example, to move RIGHT to alternate cells, you must enter [TAB][TAB] 2. How to paste data in your application and move to the next item? Most applications support the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V to paste data that has been copied to the clipboard. To paste the data using the keyboard, you need to ensure that the focus is at the correct place, e.g., the correct cell in a table, or the correct control in a browser page, etc. You can then perform the Ctrl + V keystroke. To simulate Ctrl + V in Automation Anywhere, you need to write it as [CTRL DOWN]v[CTRL UP]. The above series of keystrokes will paste the data into your application. The following examples illustrate how to move to the next record/cell in your application using the keyboard: Use the TAB key to move from a highlighted link to the next link in an Internet Explorer Web page Use the [RIGHT ARROW] to move to the next cell in the same row in a Microsoft Word table. Some applications also support using the Spacebar to move to the next control or button. 3. How to create timestamps for your files using Automation Anywhere System variables? Automation Anywhere provides the following system variables that you can use to append timestamps: Year Page 203
- 205. Month Day Hour Minute Second Date You can combine these variables to create a timestamp of your own design. Examples To append Year, Month, Day at the end of ABC, you can write: ABC$Year$$Month$$Day$. To create a complete timestamp with date and time, you can write: ABC$Year$$Month$$Day$$Hour$$Minute$$Second$. You can also include text characters between the variables, e.g., ABC$Year$-$Month$-$Day$. You can configure your own format for the Date variable. Choose Tools > Variable Manager > System Variable > Date. If you use the Date variable to append a date to filenames, be sure there are no slashes (/) in your date format, since filenames in Windows may not use the / character. 4. What is the recommended way to open an application as part of a task? When you record a task, you might double-click the icon of an application on the desktop or go to Start > Programs and click the application's icon. It is very likely that the location of these icons will change, resulting in an error when the task runs. However, to prevent these errors, we recommend that you follow the following recommendations: Open the task in the Task Editor. Select the actions that involve going to menu items and clicking. They may involve several mouse moves and mouse clicks. Delete these actions. Replace them with single-line commands that you create by double-clicking the Open Program/File command and specifying the path to the application you want to open. The Open Program/File dialog includes a text box where you can type parameters that Automation Anywhere will pass to the application. The task will now open your application, no matter where the icon is located. Page 204