Creating custom libraries: UiPath Studio vs Visual Studio

Creating activities using the UiPath Activity Creator extension for Visual Studio looks great in terms of usability and and code quality, however since we don’t have Visual Studio in our company, I need to have good reasons if I will try to push having it since we will have to pay license. (I think we can’t use Community edition based on VS terms and conditions)

So what I really wanted to ask is: What are we missing out if we don’t use Visual Studio and Activity Creator extension, and create Library from UiPath Studio instead?

Thank you!

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I think flexibility? Uipath library is just referencing on the available activities while visual studio gives control on the code behind.

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Hi @Emman_Pelayo, thanks for the reply.
Good point. But since UiPath has the Invoke Code activity, I think that could give us enough control? Although I hate to have one workflow that just has one invoke code activity and the entire process is implemented inside that. :neutral_face:

I really want to urge us to have the Visual Studio but this doesn’t look like enough reason to pay for it.

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@kaydine.santuyo - Creating Library in UiPath with use of the existing activities and there is no option to extend or customize the existing uipath activity based on your requirements.
You can download the Visual Studio Community version - build your own Library ( extend/ create a new activity) and check the feasibility ( like a POC). Based on that - you can request/suggest your company for the required licensing part.

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It will also based on your project lineup. There are a lot of activities available already. And I think there’s still a lot to be released by UiPath. :smiley:

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@kaydine.santuyo, One of the biggest advantage is, VS will allow you to create UI for your activity which I believe is not possible through UiPath. If you create library through UiPath, it will show you all the property in Property window but if you want to add let say textbox within activity itself then it’s not possible without VS.
E.g. in Write Line activity you have option to assign value to Text property from Property window as well as within activity as well.

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Cheers

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I think the question is (and I don’t know the answer), what are the limitations of UIPath Library v. Visual Studio custom activity? With the new UIPath feature to use C# in Invoke Code blocks, are there still things you can’t do in a Library? Can a class be define in a C# Invoke Code block that can be used elsewhere (e.g., to serialization/deserialize JSON or XML)? I would like to see clear documentation on the limit of a Library.

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One current issue I am having with a Library: when passed a relative filename, it uses the install cache path of the Library instead of the project directory. This simple example shows that. A Library is passed a text file to read (“project.json”) and instead of reading the one in the project directory, it reads the one in the Library directory. Does anyone know how to make the library use the project directory as the starting point for relative file paths?project.json (991 Bytes) ReadFileLibrary.xaml (4.3 KB) Main.xaml (4.0 KB) project.json (976 Bytes)

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