Keyboard Shortcuts

UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NKeyboardShortcuts

Description

Sends one or more keyboard shortcuts to a UI element.

This activity must be added inside a Use Application/Browser activity.

To use this activity outside a Use Application/Browseractivity, you need to provide an Input element.

This activity is compatible with Object Repository.

Note: Due to the nature of this activity, it cannot be used in background mode.

To learn how to use this activity, see Tutorial: Filling Out PDF Forms in Acrobat Reader with Data from Excel.

Project compatibility

Windows - Legacy | Windows | Cross-platform

Windows - Legacy, Windows configuration

Designer panel

• Click Indicate in App/Browser to indicate the UI element to use as target.

  If no target element is indicated, the shortcuts are sent to the parent application/browser.

  After you indicate the target, select the Menu button to access the following options:

  • Indicate target on screen - Indicate the target again.
  • Edit target - Open the selection mode to configure the target.
  • Add verification / Remove verification - Adds or removes the Indicate verification target on screen feature in the activity card. Verify execution is enabled by default.
  • Remove informative screenshot - Remove the screenshot of the target application or web page.
  • Add to Object Repository - Add the current UI element to a library project, from where it can be reused throughout your automation process.

• Record shortcut - Click this option and then press the key combination to send to the target element on your keyboard. The recorded shortcut is displayed in the body of the activity.

  After you record a shortcut:

  • To add more shortcuts, click Record shortcut again and press the desired key or keys on your keyboard. The shortcuts are sent in the order in which they appear in the body of the activity.
  • To change the order in which the recorded shortcuts are sent, drag and drop the recorded keys to change their position in the body of the activity.

  • To remove an added shortcut,click Remove.

    
    

    

    
    

• Send key combination - They keyboard shortcuts to be sent.

• Indicate verification target on screen - Indicate the UI element to use as target and that should appear or disappear after the action is performed. Use this feature when you want to ensure that a specific action performed by the activity was executed correctly during runtime. This is particularly useful in automated processes, where you need to confirm that specific UI elements appear or disappear as the result of an action. It adds an extra layer of verification to ensure the process is running as expected. So, if your automation process depends on the correct execution of certain steps, you would probably want to verify the execution. This feature can be enabled from the Project Settings, or from the body of the activity, by selecting Add verification.

Properties panel

Common

• Continue on error - Specifies if the automation should continue even when the activity throws an error. This field only supports Boolean values (True, False). The default value is False. As a result, if the field is blank and an error is thrown, the execution of the project stops. If the value is set to True, the execution of the project continues regardless of any error.

• Delay after - Delay (in seconds) between the time this activity is completed and the time the next activity begins any operations. The default value is 0.3 seconds. Adding a delay between activities ensures that one activity has enough time to complete before the next activity begins.

• Delay before - Delay (in seconds) between the time the previous activity is completed and the time this activity begins performing any operations. The default value is 0.2 seconds. Adding a delay between activities ensures that one activity has enough time to complete before the next activity begins.

• Display name - The name displayed for the activity in the Designer panel. A display name is automatically generated when you indicate a target.

• Timeout - Specify the amount of time (in seconds) to wait for the activity to be executed before throwing an error. The default value is 30 seconds.

Input

• Shortcuts - The keyboard shortcuts to be sent. This field supports strings and String variables.
• Target - The target element. Target element must be set. Before indicating on screen, this field is set to (null). Once the target is indicated, all properties regarding the element that was indicated are displayed.
  • Click offset - Specifies an offset for the click activity, which can be further configured.
    • Anchoring point - Describes the starting point of the cursor to which it offsets from Offset X and Offset Y properties are added. The following options are available: TopLeft, TopRight, BottomLeft, BottomRight, and Center. By default, Center is selected.
    • Offset X - Horizontal displacement of the cursor position according to the option selected in the Anchoring point field. This field supports only Int32 variables.
    • Offset Y - Vertical displacement of the cursor position according to the option selected in the Anchoring point field. This field supports only Int32 variables.
  • CV Control type - Indicates the type of control identified using Computer Vision.
  • CV Text - Indicates the text identified using Computer Vision.
  • Fuzzy selector - The parameters for the fuzzy selector.
  • Native text - The text that is used to identify the UI element.
  • Responsive websites - Enable responsive websites layout.
  • Strict selector - The strict selector generated for the UI element.
  • Targeting methods - The selector types that you want to use for identifying the element. This property can be set to any combination from the drop-down menu:
    • None
    • Strict selector
    • Fuzzy selector
    • Image
    • Native text
    • Computer Vision - To use Computer Vision as a targeting method, you need to go to Project Settings > Computer Vision and make sure to set the correct server endpoint. You can leave this field as it is and use UiPath Cloud, which is filled-in by default, or you can enter another value either by selecting any of the other public endpoints specific to a server region or your own on-premises server.

      Another way of using Computer Vision as a targeting method is to set Use Local Server to True. This implies that the UiPath.ComputerVision.LocalServer package is installed in your project. When Local Server is enabled, the server value is over-written. However, the Local Server is not available in cross-platform projects.

  • Visibility check - Checks whether the UI element is visible or not. You can choose one of three options from the drop-down menu:
    • None - Does not check for visibility.
    • Interactive (for Fuzzy Selector) - Default option. Checks if the element is potentially visible, ignoring page scroll and obstructions by other apps, or the fact that the application is minimized. This check is useful when trying to ensure that you are not targeting invisible elements that exist in the DOM but are hidden.
    • Fully visible - Checks if the UI element is visible or not.
  • Wait for page load - Before performing the action, wait for the application to become ready to accept input. You can choose one of three options from the drop-down menu:
    • None - Does not wait for the target to be ready.
    • Interactive - Waits until only a part of the app is loaded.
    • Complete - Waits for the entire app to be loaded.
  • Window selector (Application instance) - The selector that is used for the application window. Only applicable when the window attach mode is set to Application instance.

• Verify execution - At runtime, verifies if the action performed by the activity was correct. This is done by indicating an element that should appear or disappear after the action is performed, which is monitored and verified after the activity is executed. This feature can be enabled from the Project Settings, or from the body of the activity, by selecting Add Verification from the context menu.

  • Display name - The display name of the verification action. This field is autofilled based on the verification action and element you have chosen. Once Verify execution is set up, this display name becomes visible in the activity card.
  • Retry - When selected, the action is retried for the duration of the activity timeout, if the expected outcome was not achieved. By default, this check box is selected.
  • Target - This target is used to indicate the element that you want to verify at runtime. For more information on the property fields that can be expanded under this property, see the Target property above, as the functionality of the properties is the same.
  • Timeout - The amount of time (in seconds) to wait for the verification element to appear, disappear, or change. If the Retry checkbox is selected, the action is performed again, followed by the verification, for the duration specified in the Timeout property of the activity. The default value is 10 seconds.
  • Verify element - Defines what change you want to check the verification target for. The available options are:
    • Appeared - Checks whether the element appears.
    • Disappeared - Check whether the element disappears.
    • Text Changed - Checks whether there are any changes in the text of the element.
    • Visually Changed - Checks whether there are any image changes of the element.

Input/Output Element

• Input element - The UI element on which the activity is executed, stored in an UIElement object. This field supports only UIElement objects. This object can be obtained from the Output Element property field of other UI Automation activities.
• Output element - Outputs a target UI Element and stores it in a UIElement object, which can be further used to target the same element with other activities.

Misc

• Private - If selected, the values of variables and arguments are no longer logged at Verbose level. This field supports only Boolean (True, False) values. The default value is False.

Options

• Activate - Bring the UI element to the foreground and activate it before sending the shortcut. This field only supports Boolean values (True, False). The default value is True.

• Click before typing - Select whether to click the specified UI element before typing the text, and the type of click to perform. The options are None (do not click), Single (execute a single click), or Double (execute a double click).

  The default option is None.

• Delay between keys - Delay (in seconds) between consecutive keystrokes. The default value is 0.02 seconds. The maximum value is 1 second.
• Delay between shortcuts - Delay (in seconds) between consecutive keyboard shortcuts. You can choose a predetermined value from the drop-down menu: 0.2 (s), 0.5 (s), or 0.8 (s). The default value is 0.5 seconds.

• Input mode - Select which method the Robot should use to interact with the target application:

  • Same as App/Browser - Use the same input mode as the Use Application/Browser activity.

  • Hardware Events - Uses the hardware driver to perform the action. This is the slowest method, it cannot work in the background, but it is compatible with all desktop apps.

    This is the default selection.

  • Chromium API - Performs actions using debugger APIs. Works only for Chromium elements. Sends all text in one go. Works even if target app is not in focus. For more details, check out this page.

  • Window Messages - Simulate using Win32 messages. Recommended for desktop apps. Usually more reliable than Hardware Events. Sends all text in a single action. Works even if target app is not in focus. Please test if your target application UI element supports this.

Cross-platform configuration

• Work in scope - Choose the browser tab rendering the web application to automate.
• Keyboard shortcuts container - Send keyboard shortcuts to the Entire page or to an Element. The default option is Entire page.
• Add key combination - Add one or more key modifiers to use in combination with the action of the activity. The following options are available: Alt, Ctrl, and Shift.
• Key(s) - Select a key from the drop-down menu or type a key and then select Add shortcut key to populate the Send key combination field.
• Send key combination - The keyboard shortcuts to be sent.

Additional options

Timings

• Delay before - Delay (in seconds) between the time the previous activity is completed and the time this activity begins performing any operations. The default value is 0.2 seconds. Adding a delay between activities ensures that one activity has enough time to complete before the next activity begins.

• Delay after - Delay (in seconds) between the time this activity is completed and the time the next activity begins any operations. The default value is 0.3 seconds. Adding a delay between activities ensures that one activity has enough time to complete before the next activity begins.

• Timeout - Specify the amount of time (in seconds) to wait for the activity to be executed before throwing an error. The default value is 30 seconds.

• Continue on error - Specifies if the automation should continue even when the activity throws an error. This field only supports Boolean values (True, False). The default value is False. As a result, if the field is blank and an error is thrown, the execution of the project stops. If the value is set to True, the execution of the project continues regardless of any error.

Options

• Click before typing - Select whether to click the specified UI element before typing the text, and the type of click to perform. The options are None (do not click), Single (execute a single click), or Double (execute a double click).

  The default option is None.

• Activate - Bring the UI element to the foreground and activate it before sending the shortcut. This field only supports Boolean values (True, False). The default value is True.
• Delay between shortcuts - Delay (in seconds) between consecutive keyboard shortcuts. The default value is 0.5 seconds.

Input/Output

• Input element - The UI element on which the activity is executed, stored in an UIElement object. This field supports only UIElement objects. This object can be obtained from the Output Element property field of other UI Automation activities.
• Output element - Outputs a target UI Element and stores it in a UIElement object, which can be further used to target the same element with other activities.