UiPath Community 2021.10 Stable Release - Studio

UiPath Community 2021.10 Stable Release - Studio

This topic goes in-depth about the improvements in Studio. To read about other products, please navigate to the main topic here.

New installer

We now have a new installer for the UiPath Studio/Robot/Assistant.
Your typical Community installation is now available under the Quick option.

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What makes it shine though is the fact that you can now install the Robot in Service Mode and therefore fully utilize the Unattended Robot on a free license. For that, follow the steps below:
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Auto-update

With this installer you will get a brand new update mechanism that will help you stay on the latest release. Although we know all of you are waiting for this, we decided to gradually release this content in the next couple of weeks.

Some of you may get multiple updates in the next period of time as we get our new update mechanism released. We really appreciate your patience with this and hope it’s not a big interruption of your RPA flow. We promise that it is for a better auto-update mechanism of the Robot from the Orchestrator.

Known issue: As we are slowly introducing a new method of auto-updating the robots, you will see in Orchestrator under User Sessions your version as being non-compliant. This does not affect functionality in any way and the message will disappear after we release the 21.10 version and you’ll get updated.

.NET workflows and cross-platform

Continuing our journey into the new architecture based on .NET Core, UiPath Studio 2021.10 brings support for .NET based workflows that come with the ability to execute automations on various operating systems.

To benefit from the new functionality, you can select a new compatibility type during the new project dialog. This new architecture can run 64-bit activities and the packages are now compiled before publishing.

To simplify usage and adoption, when attempting to install a new activity package in a cross-platform project, only compatible activities packages and libraries will be shown in Package Manager. Please note that we are still in the process of migrating all activity packs to .Net 5 and not all of them are available today.

Export Workflow Analyzer results

All workflow analyzer executions can now be exported in a json file that is located in the .local folder. To enable this, you need to configure it from Design Settings.

Modern Excel in Studio

We are pleased to introduce the new ‘Modern Excel’ design experience and activities, providing the same functionality of the StudioX business activities by default in Studio. You can have these activities part of the Activities panel using the Show Modern filter. To enable this as your default experience, you can go in the Project settings in the Excel Modern settings and set the Excel Design Experience to UseModern:

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When enabled, this will display the Modern activities within the Excel subcategory of the App Integration. You can still find the classic ones within the Classic category, and you can use the Show Classic filter to toggle them on or off.

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+ Sign Support in Studio for Modern Excel & PowerPoint

You can now use the functionality provided by the + sign in StudioX in Studio for Modern Excel activities and PowerPoint.

When using Excel activities, you can browse for the corresponding contents (e.g. Sheets & Tables) that match the expected input or output types of the property. For example, using the plus sign on a Copy/Paste Range activity allows you to navigate the contents of the selected file when configuring it. Once you select an option, it will help you generate the Excel expression in the activity without having to manually type that in:

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When using a PowerPoint activity, you can now browse contents of your presentations using the plus sign. You can see file contents directly from the design panel and identify placeholders, just like in StudioX. In this example, we’ve taken an Add Text to Slide activity and we’ve configured the Slide number or the Content placeholder directly from the PowerPoint file:

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When you don’t know the file at design time, you can use the Template file option in the Use Excel / PowerPoint File activity. This enables you to use the + sign within your sequence if you provide a file representing the structure of the file you will have at runtime.

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Unified Profile

All the testing capabilities and C# projects are now available in Studio profile. The Studio Pro profile and capabilities have been merged into Studio. All your existing projects can be opened and executed in Studio starting with 21.8. No extra steps or configuration is needed if you previously had Studio or Studio Pro.

Marketplace Templates

We are bringing our Marketplace templates into Studio. Everyone is able to start a project using a template from the dedicated Templates sections in Studio. This brings a lot of exciting ideas for our community.
Learn how to contribute to Marketplace: Introduction for Marketplace Partners

Remote Debugging

You can test and troubleshoot your attended and unattended processes remotely from Studio. We bring the ability to initiate executions on robots installed on remote machines. This works for both Windows and Linux installations. The remote robot and the UiPath Studio computer must have IP connectivity and both must be running version 2021.10.

To allow a robot to accept remote debugging instructions, the UiPath.RemoteDebugging.Agent must be started on the remote machine. This executable is in the installation path and can be started via cmd.

Once Remote Debugging is configured in Studio, all instructions are sent to the remote robot, and execution is performed on the remote machine.

If you don’t want to interact with your robots, remote debugging can also be initiated on Unattended Robots connected to the same Orchestrator tenant. You only need to use our latest 2021.10 Orchestrator version and you can start a remote execution on any available robots.

Edit Properties During Debug

Input arguments and properties for the current activity can be edited to test and validate new values. Whenever an error is encountered during debugging or a breakpoint is hit, the current activity can be edited in the Locals panel. When execution is resumed, the new values are applied at runtime.

Git improvements

Login via GitHub account

You can now connect to a GitHub repository using SAML single sign-on, which offers increased security and a better user experience. For this integration to work properly, the UiPath GitHub App must be installed in your organization or account.

Governance for Git Repositories

The list of accepted Git URLs can be governed starting with this release. This can be enforced via Automation Ops or Governance File.

Continuous Improvements

  • AI-based suggestions for the next activity in Command Palette

  • Feed selection is persisted between publishing to Orchestrator operations

  • Ability to link your project to an Automation Hub idea URL

  • Expression Editor will remember layout and zoom level between sessions;

  • Ability to Copy Repository URL from Project Panel when the current project is stored under source control;

  • Recent section from Start page will display tag information about language, compatibility, and source control.

System Activities

Else If Activity

We are releasing a new activity that is useful when multiple conditions must be evaluated. This can also be achieved with multiple nested Ifs, but the Else If is a much cleaner solution.

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Continuous Improvements

Ability to reorder entries in Multiple Assign.

Message Box has a maximum timeout. When it expires, the message is automatically dismissed. By default, this is set to 0 so that older workflows are still compatible.

22 Likes

Great move in merging Studio and Studio Pro! TBH never saw the necessity of the split

New release looks promising with more debugging options, Modern Excel activities

Need background color (with palette tool) for every activity to easly manage complex project/process!

4 Likes

Else IF activity is going to be very useful. Thanks team. Great work.

2 Likes

@Nando_Piscopo thanks for your suggestion. I have added your feedback to our tracking tools. This is something we are investigating and might be able to bring in a future version.

Great improvements to the Multiple Assign activity and the new Else If activity will be very useful. Also the improved debug mode looks promising.

“AI-based suggestions for the next activity in Command Palette” This feature is very good because sometimes even very easy activity doesn’t click in mind.

I can say this is a Crown Jewel for this release from a Developer perspective!!! :star_struck:

Thanks, team for this awesome new release!

Loving the else if activity. I’d like to throw in my vote for colour coding (including in flow charts).

Also, the ability to display pick branches or parallel activities sequentially rather than side by side, that would be a Godsend!

The If…Else…If…Else is a gift!

I was not a great fan of the horizontal stretch of the original If…Else.

The vertical nature of the new activity will keep the project from falling out the edge of our monitors! :slight_smile:

1 Like

Hi Team,

@alexandru @loginerror
So I explored one of the feature that I was eagerly waiting for Exporting Workflow Analyzer Results

Now, when I enabled feature and was trying to understand the JSON Results I observe that all the workflow rules are getting exported in the JSON file.

Example:
In this image we can see that rules having no errors are also available here
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whereas I believe there should only be the rules that have errors like this:image

Please do let me know if that is the default functioning of the new feature or some other setting are required.

Also, the .locals folder which is created is a hidden one any specific reasons for that because in the documentation it is not mentioned that it is a hidden folder.

Docs Link: About Workflow Analyzer

Waiting for the reply

Thanks Team

1 Like

@Parth_Doshi all the executed rules are saved in the results file as they are kept as evidence for audit (if needed) that the rule was executed (and successful).

Thanks for the feedback regarding .local being a hidden folder. Will add this to the documentation.

1 Like

Thank you @alexandru for your reply.

Now, I get that we are going to have all the executed rules in the json even though if it has errors or not.

Yes adding to docs could help.

Thanks again!

Hello everyone!
@loginerror @alexandru

Here’s a video tutorial on Export Workflow Analyzer Results: Export Workflow Analyzer Results | UiPath Studio 2021.10.0 Update | Video #1 - YouTube

Cheers,
Parth

1 Like

EDIT: I think the activity release notes pages was updated before the changes came live.

Hello, has anyone encountered the issue where the new List activities are not found even though I have the latest Studio version (21.10.4) as well as the latest system activity package (21.10.3)?

Sorry if it’s a known issue :slight_smile:

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Hi @danielctin14

I can confirm that there was an issue with those activities and they were disabled in the the latest release of Studio.

They will come back in the next major release, sorry for that.

2 Likes