2022.10.3

Release date: 27 October 2022

What’s New

Support for global variables and constants

It is now easier to reuse data globally within a project:

• You can now set a global scope for variables and use them throughout a project. This makes it possible to reference the same variable in multiple workflows without having to use an argument and pass it to each workflow.
• We've introduced constants which enable you to define global fixed values that do not change during project execution.

Find out how to create global variables and constants from the Data Manager.

New design for activities

Activities have a new design and an improved user experience. We've introduced new controls, editors, and builders for the most common data types, making it easier to configure activities without writing expressions. All activity properties are now available in the activity cards in the workflow designer, and you no longer need to use the Properties panel to configure advanced properties. This experience is available in cross-platform projects and for some activities in projects with the Windows compatibility. For more information, see Designing Automations.

In addition, all activities have a redesigned header that also includes a button for quick access to the activity context menu, and the borders have different colors depending on the source package, with a thicker left border for better visibility.

Design-time triggers

Studio now supports the addition of a manual, time-based, or event-based trigger to your projects, enabling you to configure when your automations will run at design time. A number of customizable trigger activities are available, and many more event-based triggers are on the way.

For more information, see Adding a trigger.

Windows is the new default project compatibility

We strive to always offer the latest and greatest technologies, and one of the steps we've taken in this direction in recent releases has been the introduction of the Windows and cross-platform project compatibilities based on .NET 6. We've worked on expanding the support for the new frameworks and on improving the design experience, so much so that with 2022.10 it is time to start saying goodbye to the Windows - Legacy compatibility based on .NET 4.6.1. Even though you can still create Windows-legacy projects, Windows is now the default compatibility for new projects, and we recommend that you start using the Windows and cross-platform options. The 2023.4 release will support editing existing Windows - Legacy projects, but not the creation of new projects. You must now also select a project compatibility when creating projects in StudioX, where Windows - Legacy used to be the only option.

To make the transition easier, Studio now comes with a built-in conversion tool that enables you to easily convert any Windows - Legacy project to Windows. The conversion tool is available in both Studio and StudioX.

For more information, see Deprecation of the Windows-Legacy Compatibility. We recommend that you regularly check the deprecation timeline for any updates regarding features that will be deprecated and removed.

Design automations in Studio and Studio Web

With the introduction of Studio Web, you can now design automations on-the-go, from a web browser on any device. If you use Studio and Studio Web, your cross-platform projects are always kept in sync and you can develop on both. Find out how to switch between Studio and Studio Web.

Note: Studio Web is currently available in preview.

Profile execution

Keep the execution performance of your automation to optimal levels by profiling your workflows. The Profile Execution identifies performance bottlenecks when you execute your workflows by capturing the execution time of each activity alongside other descriptive stats.

Introducing the Data Manager

You can now manage all the data in a project from a single location, the Data Manager. After making its debut in StudioX, the Data Manager is now available in Studio to help you manage variables, arguments, constants, namespaces, entities, resource activities, connections, processes, assets, and queues. The Resources panel has been retired, but you still have the option to continue using the old Variables, Arguments, and Namespaces panels.

Customize activities generated from libraries

You now have more control over the design of activities generated from libraries. You can set the order in which the arguments are displayed as properties, add a label, a tooltip, and select whether a property is required. For Windows and cross-platform libraries, you can also add an SVG icon and a highlight color for each activity, group properties under categories, or configure the input type for each property (for example, for a Boolean argument, you can set the input to toggle or Condition Builder).

For more information, see Configuring the Layout of an Activity.

Extract processes as libraries

You can now extract any process or test automation project as a library that you can publish on shared feeds. Through this capability, you can easily share workflows, test cases, execution templates, or activity packages to help others automate.

Quick tour on first run

A quick tour is now available when you first open a project in Studio to get you familiarized with the various panels and the tools you can use to build an automation. Some of the highlights are:

• Essential panels and their functions.
• How to add an activity.
• How to configure an activity.
• How to run and publish a process.

Edit text files in Studio

Studio now has a built-in text editor with syntax highlighting. You can double-click TXT, CS, VB, JSON (excluding project.json), and XML files smaller than 10MB in the Project panel to edit them in Studio.

Improvements

Workflow Analyzer

You can now search rules by name and code using the new search box at the top of the Workflow Analyzer window. Filtering by scope and action has also improved with the addition of a new filter dropdown with support for multiple select next to the search box.

New rules

• ST-USG-032 (Required tags) - Enables organizations to define a list of required project tags.
• ST-USG-034 (Automation Hub URL) - Enables organizations to enforce linking each project to an Automation Hub idea.

Improved rules

ST-USG-014 (Package restrictions) now enables you to define a list of allowed packages, not just prohibited packages. The Allowed Packages box supports the * wildcard character, so for example you can enter UiPath.* to allow only packages published by UiPath.

Usability

Hide sequences

You now have the option to declutter the project canvas by hiding unnecessary containers. Select the Hide sequences design setting to no longer display the main sequence and other containers that are added by default to your projects.

Missing or invalid activities

It is now easier to troubleshoot a missing or invalid activity and additional information is available to help you find a replacement:

• The display name appears at the top of the activity instead of the text Missing or invalid activity.
• If the activity is a container activity, the activities added inside it are now visible in the workflow.
• The properties and values set in the activity are displayed in the Designer or Properties panels.
• A Replace button is available in the activity, enabling you to quickly search for an alternative using the Add Activity search bar and replace the missing or invalid activity.

Test automation

Data-driven testing with test data queues

Data-driven testing has become more convenient with test data queues as sources for test cases. You can use this option if you want to use dynamic test data from queues.

For more information, see Add test data queue as data source to a test case.

Auto-generated test data

• Automatically generated data has received behind the curtains updates with smart string patterns that understand the workflow context, providing you with relevant data for common expressions (for example IBAN, credit card numbers).
• You can set automatic verifications for Out and In/Out arguments to support your testing effort.
• Time-based arguments such as DateTime and TimeSpan are now supported.

Orchestrator assets are now taken into consideration when you generate values for workflows that are using these asset types.

Data-driven testing

• The Add Test Data Queue Item activity now supports fields with user-defined names.
• You can rename test files.

Templates

Test case and execution templates are supported in library projects, so you can share, reuse, and update testing assets. Test case templates should not include any references to assets within the library, as they are not being copied to the project where the library is being imported.

Create test cases through the Test with Timeout template for time-based exceptions, or to take screenshots of failed workflow verifications (see Test Case Templates).

Test Manager integration

Tests executed locally in Studio now show up in Test Manager if you select Upload test results to Test Manager in Test Explorer.

For more information, see Working with Test Explorer.

Test Explorer

• Test case variations are now included in the activity coverage calculations.
• You can copy the data variation info using Test Explorer’s contextual menu.

Other improvements

• Organizations can now use governance policies to control which feeds users can publish to and which templates feeds are enabled in Studio.
• The Studio MSI installer has been slimmed down by reducing the number of activities packages that are included in UiPathStudio.msi and thus available in the local feed. Only the following packages that are default dependencies for creating projects in Studio and StudioX, together with their dependencies, are now included in the installer: Excel, Mail, System, UIAutomation, Testing, Presentations, ComplexScenarios, WebAPI, and Word. You can install other official packages from the Official feed or from Orchestrator feeds.
• You now have the option to remove installed packages that are not referenced in a project at publishing time, thus improving performance and avoiding potential dependency conflicts. A new option called Remove Unused Dependencies is available in the Publish options tab of the publishing wizard for all libraries, as well as Windows and cross-platform processes. The option is enabled by default for libraries.
• You can now use remote debugging to run and debug long-running workflows on remote robots connected through an unattended robot connection.
• The URL of the official feed for packages has changed to https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/uipath/Public.Feeds/_packaging/UiPath-Official/nuget/v3/index.json.

Breaking Changes

Studio 2022.10 is not compatible with older cross-platform activity package versions that were available in Studio 2022.4 or earlier. If you created cross-platform projects in Studio versions prior to 2022.10, update the installed packages to the latest versions before you edit them in Studio 2022.10. Some properties may no longer be available for editing.

Bug Fixes

• The right Ctrl and Alt keys did not work when used in keyboard shortcuts on Japanese keyboards.
• An error occurred when opening a workflow file that contained multiple Flow Switch activities connected to the same activity.
• If a C# library which included a dependency to the UiPath.DataService.Activities package was installed in a VB project, an error caused by duplicate references to the UiPath.DataService.Definition assembly occurred when you tried to run the project.
• The installation sometimes failed if telemetry was not disabled during the installation and a proxy server was in use.
• Studio could become unresponsive during project validation if a project analysis was triggered when the main workflow file was open and it contained unsaved changes.
• The Project Dependencies Mass Update Tool did not successfully update projects from TFS if the project paths contained spaces.
• Studio allowed adding package icons with the ICO extension, which caused errors when publishing projects.
• Tooltips added to workflow files in library projects were not saved.
• Workflow analysis sometimes failed to run when a project included an Invoke Code activity.
• Removing unused variables sometimes also removed variables that were used.
• The Design Properties window did not open for certain argument types, preventing you from adding tooltips to the arguments.
• When a library created in a Studio version prior to 2021.4 was updated in a later Studio version, execution was slow in projects where the updated library was installed as a dependency.
• Clicking inside the Activities or Project panels sometimes caused the panels to move unexpectedly.
• Renaming Dictionary type variables and arguments did not update the names in the activities where they were used.
• You were prompted to restart Studio after executing a test case.
• Selecting multiple files from different subfolders in the Project panel and then deleting them caused the entire project to be deleted.
• The direction of Dictionary type arguments used in an activity was incorrectly changed when the activity was extracted as a workflow.
• When multiple interdependent libraries were installed in a project, opening workflow files from that project caused higher than expected memory consumption and Studio sometimes crashed.
• Referencing a file path in a library activity was causing the current directory to change unexpectedly when executing projects where the library was installed as a dependency. To avoid this issue, use the new global constant UiPath.Constants.Project.Location when you need to reference a file path in a library project. For example, UiPath.Constants.Project.Location+"InputData\Employee.txt".
• Installations didn’t complete successfully when performed in mass deployments through SCCM.
• When you configure a device, the Appium Url field now provides an inline error message stating that HTTPS is not supported.
• Executing a test case with a template containing multiple placeholders did not fail when one of the placeholders was not placed in a Sequence activity. This behavior has been addressed by providing an error message through the Studio logs.
• Running test cases with templates containing multiple placeholders failed when the workflow had arguments.
• Addressed an issue in which the Test Case Without Annotations rule was not updated properly.
• Importing data from Excel occasionally resulted in cells formatted as Date due to a language compatibility issue.
• Using a variable in the Random Date activity failed during Design time.

Known Issues

• You cannot close or float Studio panels.
• On rare occasions, an error with the message System.ArgumentException: Cannot dock to the side of an auto-hide target. (Parameter 'target') occurs during project compilation. As a workaround, reload the project.
• Global variables are not serializable, and therefore incompatible with long-running persistence activities.

• For projects that don’t have Manage Access enabled, the Open Test and Unlink Test options aren't available to perform from the designer ribbon in Studio, due to a faulty API.

  Important: Erratum 9 November 2022: Added a known issue related to opening and unlinking Test Cases from the designer ribbon in Studio.

Upcoming Removals

Starting with the 2023.4 Enterprise release, the 32-bit installer will be discontinued, and you will only be able to install Studio, Robot, and Assistant on 64-bit operating systems.

We recommend that you regularly check the deprecation timeline for any updates regarding features that will be deprecated and removed.

Activity package versions

The following activity packages and versions are included in the UiPathStudio.msi installer and can be found in the local feed.

Activity package	Version
UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities	v22.10.3
UiPath.System.Activities	v22.10.3
UiPath.Excel.Activities	v2.16.0
UiPath.Mail.Activities	v1.18.1
UiPath.Word.Activities	v1.13.0
UiPath.ComplexScenarios.Activities	v1.3.0
UiPath.Presentations.Activities	v1.7.0
UiPath.Testing.Activities	v22.10.0
UiPath.WebAPI.Activities	v1.13.2