Data Scraping a table using an Element instead of a selector

Help
1

Hello everyone,

I wanted to report what seems to be an issue but I don’t have the privileges to create a topic on the Bug report page. Or maybe it’s no issue and I am missing something, please feel free to comment.

Usually any activity that interacts with a ui element can be identified using an Element object or a Selector (dynamic or static). The same appears to be for the ExtractStructuredData activity. So far so good.

There seems to be an issue when I use data scraping using an element to identify the table and I have a NextLinkSelector defined. The result is that only the first page is extracted. Selector for the next page is dynamic enough - using a selector for the activity instead of the Element property navigates through the pages.

I’ve used ACME System 1 WorkItems table to confirm the issue, please feel free to do the same.

About the bug:

Scenario: Table with several pages
Steps to reproduce: Scrape the data table in System 1 Workitems, extract the whole table and select the next page button. Use a find element to identify the table (copy the selector from the ExtractStructuredData activity), then pass the output UiElement to the Element property in ExtractStructuredData activity.
Current Behavior: Only the current page is extracted.
Expected Behavior: All pages should be extracted.

Version of the software with the bug:

Studio/Robot/Orchestrator Version: 2019.5.0
Activity Package Version (when relevant): n/a
Sample process (packaged as a zip file): Bug.zip (1.7 KB)
Last stable behaviour: Unknown
Last stable version: n/a

Versions of the software relevant to the bug:

OS Version: Windows 10
Others if Relevant: (workflow, logs, .net version, service pack, etc): n/a

2

@sergiu_nicolae

Is it Navigating to all the pages but you are getting first page data right ?

3

No, using the ordinary data scraping, it extracts all pages and all rows. If we use the FoundElement instead of the selector, it extracts only the first page and does not navigate to the second page.

4

@sergiu_nicolae

Use Element Exists Activity instead of Find Element Activity and make selector dynamic by passing variable into it.

Please go through Level-3 adavanced training assignment 2 in Academy and you will get clear idea on how to do this.

5

I don’t think that is the issue. If you really believe it is, please explain why you think changing the Find Element activity to Element Exists activity will make a difference on NextLinkSelector.

Please check the attached xaml file to confirm the issue.

PS: I did go through the Level-3 advanced training.

6

Bumping up this topic. Can someone give me a second opinion?

7

Guys?

8

@qateam