UiPath Studio allows you to create two types of standalone automation projects: process or library. Processes can incorporate all types of workflows, sequence, flowchart, state machine and global exception handler, while the latter isn't available for libraries. Moreover, libraries can be added as dependencies to automation processes.

When you start a new process in Studio, a folder is created with your custom name to the selected location. Projects are saved in the %USERPROFILE%\Documents\UiPath directory by default, unless this location is manually changed.

By default, the project folder includes the following files and subfolders:

• Files
  • Main.xaml - Created by default to hold your main workflow. In addition, all the other automation XAML files you add to the project are stored in the project folder. Optionally, you can set a different file as main. All the files must be linked through the Invoke Workflow File activity to the file set as main or to a file marked as an entry point to the project. In the case of test projects created in Studio Pro, a TestCase.xaml file is created by default instead of Main.xaml.
  • project.json - Contains information about your automation project.
• Subfolders
  • .entities - Contains data about entities imported from the Data Service, if any are used in the project.
  • .local - Contains data cached locally for the project.
  • .objects - Contains data related to items added to the Object Repository, if any are used in the project.
  • .screenshots - Contains informative screenshots generated in UI automation activities, if any are used in the project.
  • .settings - Contains activity project settings used at runtime.
  • .tmh - Contains data related to test cases, if any are used in the project.

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Important:

Projects created with newer versions of Studio might not work with older Studio versions. Read more about Backward and Forward Compatibilty.

Setting the Project Language

Projects created in the Studio and StudioX profiles use the VB.NET language for expressions.

In the Studio Pro profile, when you create a new project, you can choose either VB or C#. VB is the language selected by default, but you can set C# as the default language for new projects by going to Home (Studio Backstage View) > Settings > Design. Please note that C# projects can only be opened from the Studio Pro profile.

The use of both VB and C# expressions in the same project is not supported. Neither is the use of VB expressions in C# workflows and vice versa. When you copy and paste activities from other projects, invoke or import workflows, make sure they use the same language as your project.

You can install C# libraries as dependencies in VB projects and vice versa. However, default values defined for arguments in the library project using language-specific expressions cannot be accessed from the project where the library is installed.

C# Limitations

• The current C# implementation is based on the C# compiler that uses C# version 5, therefore access to newer features like coalescing assignment, null-conditional operator, null-coalescing operator, string interpolation and others is limited.
• Projects containing expressions with increments are invalid.
• Expressions containing the nameof() operator are marked as invalid and are not allowed with the current implementation of C#.
• Expressions containing calls to methods with optional arguments must include values for the optional arguments.
• Design time and runtime performance of C# projects is lower when compared to VB.NET. When runtime performance is essential, we recommend using VB.NET instead of C#.

Setting the Project Version

Semantic Versioning

The semantic versioning scheme has the format Major.Minor.Patch[-Suffix], where:

• Major is the major version.
• Minor is the minor version.
• Patch is the patch version.
• -Suffix (optional) is a hyphen followed by a series of dot separated identifiers immediately following the patch version. This denotes a prerelease version.

Identifiers must comprise only of ASCII alphanumeric characters and hyphen, and they must not be empty. Numeric identifiers must not include leading zeroes. In addition, build metadata may be denoted by appending a plus sign and a series of dot separated identifiers immediately following the patch or pre-release version, for example 1.0.0-alpha+1.

When creating a new process or library, the default version scheme is semantic. It can be changed from the Publish window by simply adding an extra digit to the version number. The project’s semantic version can be modified from the project.json file too. The patch number 0 is automatically added to projects with version number major.minor.

Legacy Versioning

The legacy version number generated for the project has the format M.m.bbbb.rrrrr, where:

• M is the major version.
• m is the minor version.
• bbbb is the build version.
• rrrrr is the revision version.

The major and minor versions can be edited in the project.json file also, while the build and revision versions are generated according to an algorithm - the build value is the number of days that elapsed since 01.01.2000. The revision value is the number of seconds which elapsed since the current day, until the moment of the release. The result is divided by 2, so that the maximum revision number does not exceed 65535.

The suggested version number in the Publish window is generated based on the project’s previous versioning scheme, while the current date and timestamp are taken into account for projects using the 4-digit versioning scheme.

Managing Projects

The Project panel enables you to view the contents of the current project, add folders, open the file location, manage dependencies, and adjust project settings.

Copy and paste files from File Explorer directly into the Project panel. The same can be done using drag and drop on one or multiple files, including .xaml workflows. Using Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V shortcuts you can also copy a file and duplicate it anywhere in the tree.

Context Menu for Projects

Right-click anywhere in the Project panel to open the context menu with options described in the following table. A different subset of options is available depending on where in the panel you right-click, the type of project, and whether the project is added to source control.

Context Menu Options for GIT

In projects added to GIT repositories, an icon is displayed next to each file in the Project panel to indicate the file status:
The file is synced with the repository.
The file has been modified.
The file has been added.

Right-click a file or project node in the Project panel to open the GIT-specific context menu for Managing Projects with GIT.

Context Menu Options for SVN and TFS

In projects added to SVN or TFS repositories, an icon is displayed next to each file in the Project panel to indicate the file status:
The file is not checked out for editing.
The file has been checked out for editing.
The file has been edited.
The file has been added.

Right-click a file or project node in the Project panel to open the context menu with options specific to managing projects with TFS or SVN.

Adjusting Project Settings

A set of individual settings can be established for each automation project that you’re working on. Such settings are available in the Project Settings window, which can be opened by clicking the in the Project panel.

Field Description for the Settings Window

Click OK and the changes are made visible in the Project panel and project.json file.

Check out the Configuring Activity Project Settings page to read about how to adjust activity properties at project level.

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Note:

Please take into consideration that whenever you wish to copy a large number of activities from one sequence to another, it is recommended to scroll down to the bottom of the Designer panel beforehand. This is due to a Windows Workflow Foundation limitation.

Removing Unused Project Resources

Unnecessary resources can make projects more difficult to understand and can impact performance, To avoid this problem, remove unused resources from your projects by clicking Remove Unused in the Studio ribbon, and then selecting what to remove:

• Workflows - Remove workflow files that are not referenced in the project.
• Variables - Remove variables that are not used in the currently open file.
• Arguments - Remove arguments that are not used in the currently open file.
• Dependencies - Remove installed activities packages from which no activities are used in the project.
• Imports - Remove imported namespaces that are not used in currently open file.
• Screenshots - Remove informative screenshots that are not used in any activity in the project.