Cannot distinguish variable from string literal

Feedback Activities
, , ,
1

The two activities below are the same in appearance, but different in content.

type A: Folder path is variable. It was created in Text Builder using “use variable”.
Clipboard01

type B: Folder path is string literal. It was entered in Text Builder.
Clipboard02

When I look at the activity, I cannot recognize at a glance it is type A (my intension) or type B (wrong one).
Or am I missing something ?

If I am correct, I would like to request UiPath to add some visual cue to distinguish varialble.

StudioX 2023.6.1 community edition

3

Hi @corgy

what is the issue you are facing? Is there any problem while passing the Variable in the Folder exists activity.

4

I edited the post and made the issue clear.

5

I really agree on this.
I had a junior developer stuck for hours cause she couldnt understand why her queue couldnt be found and it was simply because she had entered the variable as a string literal and wasn’t reading the error messages properly.

There needs to be a much clearer way to tell the difference as hiding the quotation marks is making it much more confusing for anyone that uses variables are arguably only helping super basic users who only ever use literals.

This is not just a StudioX issue but for activities in Studio aswell.

1 Like
8

Thank you for reporting this @corgy. I double-checked on the latest Studio 23.10 and it does seem that if your variable is the only input provided via the Text input option, then it doesn’t get the grey overlay.

It does work correctly if you add more than just the standalone variable name:
image

I will forward my findings to our team to improve the experience.

EDIT. @Jon_Smith
Could you please point me to some similar examples of this behaviour in Studio Desktop?

10

Sure,

If you see here, one is a variable, one is a literal string, you can tell, I guess, from the symbol on the right hand side, but I have seen people get completely stumped by this when it tells them it cannot find their queue and I think many wouldn’t notice or understand the nuances there.

I think the grey box behaviour from Studio X could go quite some way to being a clear difference between them.

image
image417×505 12.4 KB

1 Like