Use steering parameters

This chapter describes steering parameters for Modules.

Modules contain information a Bot needs to navigate and interact with the controls of your application: buttons, text boxes, drop-down menus, etc.

Steering parameters define the behavior of your Bot when it comes to steering these controls.

Changing the behavior of a Module means that the Bot automatically applies this behavior to all Steps that you create from the Module. If you have already created Steps from a Module, the Bot also applies the behavior to them.

Let's say that you have created a Module by scanning an incident form in your application. Your Bot should fill out this form. After the Bot clicks OK, your application generates an incident number. This can take up to 5 minutes.

You need to perform this process repeatedly and with different Bots.

Rather than manually setting the ActionMode WaitOn for every Step, you can set a steering parameter for the Module that defines a standard wait time for the Bot after clicking the button.

Module vs. ModuleAttribute

Each Module consists of one or more ModuleAttributes. Some steering parameters apply to the entire Module, some need to be set for individual ModuleAttributes.

The list of available steering parameters below contains information on when to apply a steering parameter to a Module and when to apply it to a ModuleAttribute.

Change a steering parameter

Some Modules already contain steering parameters. In this case, you can change the value of the parameter.

To do so, select the respective Module or ModuleAttribute and change the parameter Value in the Properties tab.

Changed value of the steering parameter HeaderRow

Create a new steering parameter

To create a new steering parameter, follow the steps below:

  1. Right-click a Module or ModuleAttribute and select Create Steering Param from the mini toolbar, or press CTRL + N, CTRL + S.

Create a parameter for Example Module

  1. In the Properties tab, enter the respective name and value for the newly created steering parameter. These inputs are case-sensitive.

Newly created steering parameter

List of available steering parameters

RPA Studio supports the following steering parameters:

Parameter name

Possible values

Description

Set it for:

BringToFront

  • True (default)

  • False

When you test your Bot, RPA Studio automatically brings the window that contains the control to the foreground.

If you don't want this, set the value to False.

Module

FocusOnActivate

  • true or True

  • false or False(default)

This parameter applies to steering Microsoft Edge.

It specifies that the Bot should focus the currently loaded page after activating the browser window. To do so, enter the value true.

Alternatively, you can create the special task configuration parameter FocusOnActivate for a specific Bot or folder.

Module

HeaderColumn

  • any integer

Defines a header column where the Bot searches for the name of a row.

In the Excel Modules of the RPA subset, the default value is 0, i.e. RPA Studio assumes that the table has no header column (see "Specify table headers").

ModuleAttribute

(table element)

HeaderRow

  • 1 (default)

  • any integer

Defines a header row where the Bot searches for the name of a column (see "Specify table headers").

ModuleAttribute

(table element)

IgnoreInvisibleTableContent

  • True

  • False (default)

By default, RPA Studio includes invisible cells when you scan or steer a table. If you don't want this, set the value to true.

ModuleAttribute

(table element)

LoadStrategy

  • IgnoreSpans

 

By default, RPA Studio considers the HTML table attributes rowspan and colspan when scanning a table. This slows down table loading.

If you want to speed up table loading, set the value to IgnoreSpans. For Modules created with the SAP Engine 3.0, this is already the default.

ModuleAttribute

(table element)

ScrollingBehavior

  • Top

  • Bottom

  • Center (default)

  • None

If the Bot needs to scroll to get to the control you want to steer, you can define when to stop scrolling: when the control is at the top, the center, or the bottom of the screen.

ModuleAttribute

SendKeysDelay

  • 0 (default)

  • any positive integer

Defines a delay in milliseconds between SendKeys keyboard commands.

ModuleAttribute

SiebelBusyCheck

  • true (default)

  • false

By default, the Bot always checks whether a Siebel page is busy or not. If you want to deactivate the check, set the value to false.

 Module

UserSimulation

  • true or True

  • false or False (default)

 

If you want your Bot to left-click without using a mouse, you can enter the Step Value X instead of {CLICK} (see "Click operations").

To disregard any Xs in the Step Value and use a mouse click instead, set this parameter to true.

In this case, the Bot also uses keystrokes to enter text into a textbox instead of pasting the string.

ModuleAttribute

WaitAfter

  • 0 (default)

  • any other positive integer

Defines a wait time in milliseconds after the Bot has steered a particular control.

ModuleAttribute

WaitBefore

  • 0 (default)

  • any other positive integer

Defines a wait time in milliseconds before the Bot interacts with a control.

ModuleAttribute

WaitIntermediate

  • 130 (default)

  • any other positive integer

This steering parameter applies to Modules that you create with the JavaFX Engine 3.0.

It defines a wait time in milliseconds for scrolling in tables.

 ModuleAttribute
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Tricentis RPA Studio Manual 2020.2 © Tricentis GmbH