Take Screenshot

UiPath.UIAutomationNext.Activities.NTakeScreenshot

Description

Takes a screenshot of a specified UI element or application and saves it as an image file.

This activity can be used both inside and outside a Use Application/Browser activity.

If added inside a Use Application/Browser activity, only the targeted application is captured. If added outside of an application card, since there is no target specified, the entire desktop is captured.

This activity is compatible with Object Repository.

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.

  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.
  • 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.

• Output to - Use the radio buttons to choose the output type:

  • File - Saves the screenshot to file at a specified location. The default option.
  • Image - Saves the screenshot to the indicated image.
  • Clipboard - Saves the screenshot as an image to clipboard for later use.
• File Name - The name of the file where the screenshot of the specified UI element is saved. Click Browse for File, then browse to the folder where to save the screenshot, and specify the file name and extension to use.

• Auto increment - Select what to append to the filename when saving the screenshot in case of filename conflicts. For example, if a file with the same name as the one you save already exists, choosing Index keeps the file name, creating a new file for each screenshot and adding an index number to each, consecutively.

  • None (overwrite) - If a file with the same name already exists, replace it.
  • Index - Add a number to the filename, for example screenshot (1).png.
  • YYYY.MM.DD at HH.MM.SS - Add the date and time when the screenshot is taken to the filename, for example screenshot 2020.06.22 at 10:22:32.

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

• Auto increment - See Auto increment in the Designer panel.
• File name - See File name in the Designer panel.
• 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.
  • 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.

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.

Output

• Saved file path - The full path to the file where to save the screenshot, including the appended suffix, if applicable. This also dictates where the Auto increment property saves the indexed screenshot files.
• Saved image - The screenshot saved as Image; used when Output is set to image.

Cross-platform configuration

• Work in scope - Choose the browser tab rendering the web application to automate.

• Indicate target on screen - Indicate the UI element to use as target.

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

  • Indicate target on screen - Indicate the target again.
  • Edit target - Open the selection mode to configure the target.

• Screenshot container - Select between Entire page and Element to either take a screenshot of the entire page or a screenshot of a single element. The default option is Entire page.

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

• File name - The name of the file where the screenshot of the specified UI element is saved.
• Auto increment - Defines what to append to the filename in case of filename conflicts. Choose an option from the drop-down menu:
  • YYYY.MM.DD at HH.MM.SS - If one file with specified name already exists, a new file is created with name Filename YYYY.MM.DD at HH.MM.SS. If a file with filename Filename YYYY.MM.DD at HH.MM.SS already exists, and index is added, similar to the Index case, resulting in a file called Filename YYYY.MM.DD at HH.MM.SS (1).
  • Index - If one or multiple files that match the pattern Filename (XX) already exists, a new file is created with name Filename (N+1), where N is the max index from the existing files.
  • None (overwrite) - The filename will be exactly as specified, and in case another file with the same name already exists, it will be overwritten. This is the default option.

Input/Output

• Screenshot file - The screenshot saved as a .png file.
• 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.