About the Windows - Legacy Compatibility

Studio 2021.10 brought support for .NET-based projects and introduced the concept of project compatibility based on the target framework. In releases prior to 2021.10, all projects used .NET Framework 4.6.1, but since Studio 2021.10 you have had the option to create projects with the Windows - Legacy compatibility (.NET Framework 4.6.1) or with the Windows and cross-platform compatibilities based on .NET.

Windows - Legacy projects do not receive new features

The default compatibility for new projects is now Windows. While we continue to support the Windows - Legacy compatibility, new features will only be available in projects with the Windows and cross-platform compatibilities.

For example, the following features introduced in Studio 2022.10 are not available in Windows - Legacy projects:

• Support for creating global variables and constants in the Data Manager.
• New design experience available for cross-platform projects and some activities in Windows projects.
• The ability to customize the layout of activities generated from libraries.

How to continue creating Windows - Legacy projects

While you can only create new projects with the Windows or cross-platform compatibility from Backstage view, organizations are still able to use governance policies to restore the option of creating Windows - Legacy projects by configuring the Allowed compatibility frameworks setting. To stay up to date with upcoming changes, see Deprecation Timeline.

How to edit existing Windows - Legacy projects

Editing, publishing, and running Windows - Legacy projects will continue to be supported in future releases, which means you can open and edit them like other Windows and cross-platform projects. When you open an existing Windows - Legacy project, a message is displayed at the top of the window.

How to convert Windows-Legacy projects to the Windows compatibility

Important: Dependencies for which no versions with the Windows compatibility are found are marked as unresolved and the version used in the Windows - Legacy project is displayed in the Project panel after the conversion. Most activity packages developed by UiPath and available on the Official feed support the Windows compatibility. For a complete list, see the Activities Guides.

Studio comes with a built-in conversion tool that enables you to convert any Windows - Legacy project to Windows.

When you convert a project to Windows:

• Project dependencies are managed based on the following rules:
  • If the same version of the package exists in the configured package sources, the version used in the Windows - Legacy project is not changed.
  • If the same version of the package does not exist, the version used in the Windows - Legacy project is changed to the highest patch of the nearest version.
• All the activities and properties are preserved in the converted project.
• Namespaces that are different in Windows - Legacy and Windows projects are updated.

• Namespaces that are required in Windows projects are added and those used only in Windows - Legacy projects are removed.

  Note: Convert and republish Windows - Legacy libraries before you convert the processes where they are installed as dependencies.

To convert a legacy project to the Windows compatibility:

1. Open the Windows - Legacy project in Studio and make sure you only open it in one Studio instance.

2. Right-click the project node in the Project panel and then select Convert to Windows. A new window is displayed.

   
   

   

   
   

3. Select how to convert:

   • To create a copy of the current project using the Windows compatibility and keep the original Windows - Legacy project, select Create a new project. Enter the name, the location where to create, and optionally a description for the new project.
   • To update the existing project and convert it to the Windows compatibility, clear the Create a new project checkbox. The changes made to the project if you select this option cannot be undone.
4. Click Convert.

If dependency issues cause unresolved activities after the conversion, a message displayed at the top of each such activity indicates that it is missing or it could not be loaded. The following information is available for each one: display name, activity namespace, activity properties and values. Click Replace to find an alternative and replace the missing or invalid activity. For more information, see Missing or Invalid Activities.

Known limitations

• The following expressions are incompatible with Windows projects and need to be manually changed to successfully convert a Windows - Legacy project to Windows:

  Windows - Legacy syntax	Windows syntax
  {}	new Object() {}
  {task_output.Id.ToString,task_action,now,I_comment}	new Object() {task_output.Id.ToString,task_action,now,I_comment }

• To resolve validation errors generated by other expressions that worked before the conversion, cut the expression using the CTRL + X keyboard shortcut and paste it back in the activity field using CTRL + V.
• In a For Each activity, naming the variable whose values you want to iterate as “expression” results in a compilation error.