Screenscraping Error buffer

Help
1

Hi guys,

I’m wondering about this for a while now. But when i use screen scraping or any other methode to get values from a site or program. It fails from time to time cause of a small change or cause of a user event interupting it.

Now is there a way when something fails within a process to recieve a variable (e,x. boolean that goes to true) so i can buffer this out and continue the process.

Example scenario:
I needed to create a map structure in documentum with info retrieved from excel. Every folder i created had to be right clicked and opened in outlook to retrieve a link to this specific folder and continue the process in an other program. But from time to time it woudn’t open outlook. I tryd to buffer it out with a if loop and even to do everything twice. but it was some sort of mechanisme that prevented me to do it.

If in this case i could get a variable returned that the next element coudn’t proceed i could interact with it and go one step back. Which would had of worked. But i could only continue which was a problem for the entire process.

Kind Regards

2

Are you using State Machines in your workflow? these would allow you to loop back a retry certain parts to your process based on the conditions you are required to adhere to

3

But in order to do this alot of parts would need to work like this. Wont it slow a oarge program down alot. Cause it take already up to 36min.

4

Ah, so you want to step in as a user, click the button yourself manually and allow the bot to continue?

That’s not really ideal as it goes against the idea of automation. You should dig deeper into the behaviour of the application and develop automated steps around it.

However, if you need to, you could possibly use an Element Exists activity on the element you are trying to select.

Then in an IF activity use a message box to halt the process until you click the element manually:

IF ElementExists = False

THEN

MessageBox = “Please click the element manually then click ok on this message”

ELSE will be empty

Then the next step will be the step that always occurs after the element has been selected (whether manually or automated).

5

Ye not manually. More like if the element exists function. But that wont work for the bug i have. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. Guess il have to use state machines which I’m not a fan of in a large program. Thanks for your insight though

6

[quote=“Joeri_Rethy, post:1, topic:107362”]
Now is there a way when something fails within a process
[/quote]yt

State Machines combined with Try Catch scenarios will be the best practice way to go. Basically if the bug occurs, figure out the error that needs caught. Then in the Try Catch activity for that set a variable (elementerror = true). then in the wider StateMachine you can control the behaviour using the state of that variable

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7

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