IE Save As not repeating under for each item

Good afternoon,
I have a loop of file extractions to save from our BI system (MicroStrategy). To accomplish this, I’ve created a variable to express each quarter of the year to extract (ex.: Q2 of 2021) and basically intend in running a For Each activity to run the extraction report and Save As to a specific path.
The problem: all works well during the 1st file extraction: Run report → Extract to Excel → Save button (bottom screen prompt) → choose Save As → enter path + File Name → Record → close “completed” prompt → close IE tab (opened from the extraction job).

However, during 2nd and 3rd file extractions the SAVE button (specifically the drop-down menu to select “Save as”) is not being clicked.

When I stop the execution, the selector does recognize the button. But I can’t see why it doesn’t seem to click-it!! Can anyone help with this one?!?

Your selector for the Save operation is changing for each file that you are downloading.

You have to make a generic selector that is independent of the attributes that change between each file.

One way to confirm this is to manually try and download a different file. When the download dialog opens up, go into UiPath Studio and generate a new selector for the button.

Comparing it with your screen shot above will reveal what is changing. Here is an idea on what might be likely causing the problems.

I would suggest to use the SendHotkey activity Ctrl+S, this will save the file automatically in your Downloads folder. Then you just need to loop files in that folder and find which file has been downloaded (you migth use the Get text activity in order to get the filename that appears in the IE buttons window). The last step would be to use the Move File activity for setting the name and path of the file you want.

I hope this help.

I need “Save As” because the file name changes at every iteration (for each item…)

Yes, with the Move File activity you can rename the file…

Hi!
I’ve repeated the process 3-4 times and always get back the same selector attributes (see round 1,2 and 3 screen shots). So I’ve cleaned up the selectors so they’re coherent between the “Attach Window” and Click activites. Id actually worked a bit better yesterday on my last try but again, failed 2 out of 3 times this morning.
This interesting aspect is… When it fails, the pointer is shown systematically right at the correct spot pointing to the drop-down button (next screen shot) where you can see the “Enregistrer” (Save) button lightly coloered in blue; as if it’s hovering over just not clicking.
Can you tell me if I’m doin anything wron with my Parameters?
I’ve been trying different things at the same time just trying to get this right. Maybe I’ve clicked too many parameters at the same time. Could there be a right combination that can ensure the click and perhaps slow down the activites to ensure it works?
…see last screenshot on parameters for click.Selector Round 3 Selector Round 2 Selector Round 1

ClickDropDownParameters

I don’t know how I can replicate this on my end. But the last time we used this on our end, it wasn’t having any issues.

Is it a must that you need that confirmation dialog in your process?

I’m asking for two reasons:

First, if I recall, there is a way to configure IE to download files without a confirmation dialog. We have a process that does this in Chrome. Instead of automating the buttons, we wait for a file to exist with “path exists” activity. If you are using IE on a dedicated Robot machine, you can configure the Browser on that machine to download files to a “non-default” folder.

Second, Internet Explorer support will end in August 2021. And I’m not very sure if it’s a good idea to work with IE that is not patched after the support ends. This is true unless you continue to use IE even after support ends and performed all security due-diligence.

thanks

You can try to use Hotkeys on that download dialog.

Good morning
Thanks for your questions and feedback. Your last mention of support on IE support ending in August raised a good flag. Unfortunately chrome is not allowed at our company and our BI (MicroStrategy) doesm’t work well with Firefox. However, I switched to EDGE as my browser for the program. The SAVE AS function (activated in the settings) does a much better job for saving files (specific file naming) to specific path. Much more stable! :slight_smile:

So we never solved the IE part. But EDGE is the way to go!

Consider this issue SOLVED. Thanks for your support!

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Hello @CRETE_Thierry

I’m glad that you were able to solve the problem.

Cheers :+1:

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