Background Progress. Huge Confusion here

I just started UiPath like 1 month ago. I planning to create several automations using SAP to do some tasks such as capturing data or changing passwords for users. All these are supposed to run in the background which don’t interfere me while I using my laptop.

I started some projects and went smoothly but I was still confused in background process and foreground process. I have read all the docs found in UiPath and Forum as well as watched youtube videos.

However, what I’m confuse about is the interactivities like Click or Type Into. It was stated in the doc that UIAutomation activities should not be used in these project types.
Background Process Automation (uipath.com)

However, in this doc, it stated the input methods like click and type into for background progress.
Input Methods (uipath.com)

If I don’t install the UiAutomation.activites, there’s no way for me to click or type into the SAP as I need to login and access certain tcode etc. What am I supposed to use to replace those click and type into in a background process?

Hi,

The two “Background” have slightly different meanings.
The former is “Background” that does not involve any interactive operations. So it’s settings of process.
The latter is “Background” that we can manipulate the target element even if it’s not in the foreground. For example, if two windows are overlapping, we can click on a button in behind window even if we can’t see it at all.

Hope this helps you.

Regards,

Hi

Let’s go one by one

There are two types of bot called Attended and Unattended

These bots were early called as Foreground and Background bots

Which means it can have all kind of activity and has no restriction
Usually to develop these bots we will be choosing a normal template Process in studio when we start developing

But there are many other templates in studio where one among them is BACKGROUND PROCESS TEMPLATE which is what you are referring here

In this process template we won’t be able to use any UI Based activities and there should be no UI Interactions
This template was brought for the main reason that if you want to use your machine when the bot is running simultaneously then you can use this background template

And finally

Just enable simulate click or simulate type in those UI based activities and it will help you run in background

But this is not possible unless you have a separate server and a unattended bot

Cheers @Cari

Ahh ok! I believe in this case I’m should be using the latter “background”.
If I using the latter “background”, it is still considered as a foreground process right? Will it interfere the process while I’m using my laptop e.g. I writing an email or using the mouse to click? Will it affect the process activities (click or type into)?

Exactly
Background Process is a template for creating processes that can run in parallel on the same Robot, together with one foreground process. For this reason, background processes must not contain activities that require user interaction.

@Cari

Hi,

Yes. It’s determined in project settings as the following.

Will it interfere the process while I’m using my laptop e.g. I writing an email or using the mouse to click? Will it affect the process activities?

It might works good, however I wouldn’t recommend it.
If you want to work with robot, Pip might help you.

Regards,

Ok… I think I got it.
If I’m using any user interaction such as click or type into without interfere my work, I need another server instead of using in my laptop.

@Yoichi & @Palaniyappan Really thanks a lot! Helped me to clear up this big confusion!

2 Likes

Perfect
@Cari

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