Best practices

Close the Terminal Session when it is no longer needed

When using the Output Connection/Existing Connection properties, make sure to close the Terminal Session when it is no longer needed in the workflow/process.

Leaving the Terminal Session open can have adverse effects on performance and on the execution of other terminal sessions.

To properly close a previously saved Terminal Session, add a new Terminal Session (with an empty body) to your workflow, with the following properties:

• Close Connection: True.
• Existing Connection: The TerminalConnection variable that contains the saved session.

Avoid using Output Connection/Existing Connection properties for the IBM EHLLAPI provider

Avoid using the Output Connection/Existing Connection properties in conjunction with the IBM EHLLAPI provider.

These options are used for ensuring the connection persistence between workflows.

Since the connection is already persisted in the terminal emulator, a second layer of persistence is not needed. Also, this avoids having to perform the extra steps to close the connection as described above.

Avoid nesting Terminal Sessions within other Terminal Sessions

Avoid using a Terminal Session activity nested in another Terminal Session activity.

This also applies to indirect nesting, such as calling from a Terminal Session body a workflow that contains a Terminal Session with the same connection, or calling a library function that contains a Terminal Session with the same connection.

Avoid using field-based activities

Avoid using field-based activities like Get Field/Set Field. It is not always clear if or how the screen is split into fields, which may lead to confusion.

Different providers may split the same screen in different ways because different APIs are used.

It is safer to use methods that mimic human actions, like combinations of Move Cursor or Send Control Key = Tab followed by Send Keys activities for sending data to the screen.

To retrieve data from the screen, use the Get Screen Area or Get Text At Position activities.

Use the Wait Screen Text activity

Use the Wait Screen Text activity to make sure the correct screen was loaded before doing any operations on it.

Use the Get Screen Area activity

For extracting tabular data from screens in a DataTable format, use the Get Screen Area activity for the part of the screen containing the table.

Use the output of this activity as input for the Generate Data Table activity from the UiPath.System.Activities package.