Hello, I just needed a confirmation for the following:
Is it possible to use simulate click or any related activity for running a bot in the background using Community Edition? Or can it be developed using only the Enterprise edition with an appropriate license…?
With the trial license, it is posible?
Because i tried to use simulate click on Community for a Surfaced Automation, but it is not working
It’s working in community edition actually. Did you try that by creating new process? Sometimes processes crash(like cannot indicate). If this doesn’t make a difference, let you try uninstall and reinstall the studio.
These are the things i thought. Hope they work!
Ercan.
@ercanebiler I tried but it does not work. Any suggestions?
I used UiExplorer for Native Citrix for capture and input and I activated the SimulateClick option.
What is the correct way of doing it? Can you please help or guide
Community Edition of studio does have all the capabilities and even more than Enterprise if you consider new things that are not yet available in Enterprise version.
Maybe @loginerror can say something. Its not that hard to set simulate settings. We are just clicking the checkbox as you know 
Hi @jane24
What is your exact scenario in relation to ‘background’ automation.
The typical definition would be running your process from Orchestrator on a machine that has all users logged out. In this scenario, Orchestrator connects with a machine-wide robot service and via this service connects to the specific user via RDP and performs the background automation.
This scenario is a bit tricky to do on the Community Edition, but it is possible.
The tricky part comes from the fact that Community Edition robot process is installed per user, and therefore not active when you log out the user (at which point the robot process is shut down as well).
The easiest way to automate in the ‘background’ on the Community Edition would be to have a remote machine that is turned on with the user logged in. With that, you can easily schedule a process on that machine and Orchestrator will RDP to that active user session without you being connected (it will actually ‘kick you out’ if you happen to be connected at the same time it starts a process).
Now, could you give more details about your Citrix situation? Are you maybe connecting to a remote machine from your desktop and trying to create an automation that will work when you minimize the remote connection window?
I am automating a Transaction on an application where the element cannot be detected. I am developing it on desktop itself, not on RDP.
So i am relying entirely on Clicks, Hotkeys, images. So i need to make it work in background. When i use Simulate type, it considers it as an error.
And also i need to make it work on pc lock too. So basically for pc lock, i need to use functionalities like simulate type right? or are there more to consider when making an automation run on pc lock.
By next week i will be getting my license thats why i am still using the community one to develop.
Grateful to get your guidance
Yes, the general idea is to use either Simulate Click or SendWindowsMessage to do background automation, see here:
As to the locked screen, it can get a bit tricky. If you lock your screen, Windows will open the Start menu that will cover all the other elements on the screen (a quirk of Windows). This can be confirmed by taking a screenshot in your process when/if it fails.
One more comment - please be aware that currently the latest Enterprise edition is 2019.4.4 and it cannot run processes build with the latest Community Edition 2019.9.2 (older version simply don’t understand all the new features).
Yes ,
even you minimize the CITRIX or RDP automations are going well.
@loginerror Normally, if an automation is developed using background methods , then it can run in pc lock, right?
I tried extracting text using Full text since only full text is available for background but it didnt work. The other methods are not reliable right?
Actually, locked screen situation is a bit different than the unattended process scheduled via Orchestrator.
It is tricky to automate, because Windows doesn’t handle it gracefully and when you lock your screen, it opens and keeps the Start menu over all other windows on your screen. This fact can mess with your automations, but not always (this is why this scenario is not advised).
If it throws an exception, it might be worth catching it and making and saving a screenshot of the screen to see what the issue is precisely as well.
Does the bot has to be developed differently using background related activities for Unattended??
Or will it work even if background related activities were not used
@loginerror It’s my first project with uipath and i am a bit confused with the way a uipath bot is designed for background use and pc lock.
Full Text is not working in the application. Any alternative to extract text in background?
In short - you are on the right track, apart from the locked screen (which is not supported).
For example, background automation could also mean automating a web browser that is minimized → please try Full Text activity in such a scenario and it should work.
Apart from this simple example, background automation using an unattended robot means:
With community edition it is a bit tricky to do, because the robot service is only installed for particular users. This means that realistically the easiest to achieve background automation with community edition would be by having a remote machine that you log into, but then disconnect from. Orchestrator will be able to connect to that active session and run your process unattended (=in the background).
Thus, with all that said - I would first try to automate by trying to automate a minimized window of the application. That is typically a good benchmark if specific application is compatible with the activities set to work in the background. It can be that some applications do not work properly with Simulate Click and Send Windows Message properties, or do not let you extract the text when they are not in focus and visible.
@loginerror That means if i intend to make it work with pc locked, its better to use it on a virtual machine?
What about computer vision for applications that rely mostly on images, clicks?
I believe image automation is not compatible with background automation.
I believe having a remote VM that you turn on and then leave open so that Orchestrator can connect to it is the easiest option to automate in background on Community Edition.
@loginerror Thank you very much for clarifying about image automation in background.
Just to confirm: That means its of no use taking an unattended license for an image automatiom right? since i will nt be able to use it on pc lock nor in background.
Even using a virtual machine will not benefit me right?
So as per what i have understood now, its better i take an attended license and run the bot in foreground.
Yes @loginerror
I currently use CE edition orchestrator and run jobs in a VM, jobs scheduled through orchestrator cannot take screenshots when the RDP to VM is in disconnected state.
Reading all the above my understaning is,
Though we purchase a unattended robot it cannot perform Image automation/ Take screenshots when the RDP is in disconnected state. Is that correct?
Hi @RajaniG
To run unattended process, you need to have the machine wide robot service installed. This can be done with the MSI installer that you can request from our technical support.
Your scenario also involves using the CE Orchestrator for production, so you should double check if you are compliant with the ToS.