2021.10.3

Release date: 27 October 2021

What’s New

Support for .NET 5.0 Windows and cross-platform projects

You can now create projects that are compatible with .NET 5. When you create a project, you select the project compatibility, either Windows - Legacy (.NET Framework 4.6.1), Windows (.NET 5 with Windows support), or Cross-platform (.NET 5 with cross-platform support). The default option is Windows - Legacy, the compatibility used in previous versions of Studio.

What you should know:

• Windows and cross-platform projects are executed as 64-bit processes, enabling you to take full advantage of the 64-bit architecture. This means that the projects are supported only on 64-bit operating systems. Windows - Legacy projects are executed as 32-bit processes.
• Cross-platform projects can be used for API automation and executed on both Windows and Linux operating systems.
• Projects created in Studio versions 2021.4 and older are opened as Windows - Legacy projects.
• Windows and cross-platform projects are compiled when published, which brings improvements in execution performance and more secure packages that contain DLL files instead of the project source files. Not to worry, if you want to publish the source files, you still have the option to include them in the published packages.
• Windows and cross-platform projects can only run on Robot v2021.10 or later.
• Starting with this release, the activities packages included by default with Studio support both Windows - Legacy and Windows projects, while a limited number of packages support cross-platform projects. Only the packages and versions that support the selected project compatibility are available for installation from the Manage Packages window.
• Organizations can deploy governance policies that define the default compatibility or enforce the use of specific compatibilities.
• Libraries can only be installed in projects that have the same compatibility.
• All projects created in the StudioX profile use the Windows – Legacy compatibility.
• The compatibility of each project is displayed on the right side of the Studio status bar, in the Project panel > Dependencies node, and in the entry of each project in the Open Recent list in Home (Studio Backstage View) > Start.
• You can migrate your existing custom activities to .NET 5.

Run and debug projects on remote robots

You can now run and debug projects on robots that are running on other machines. The new Remote Debugging feature works with both Windows and Linux robots and gives you the option to either set up a TCP/IP connection to a remote robot or connect to an unattended robot via Orchestrator. When a connection is established and remote execution is enabled, all run and debug operations are performed on the remote robot. For more information, see Remote Debugging.

The Studio and Studio Pro profiles have been merged

To simplify the experience of working with Studio and make it easier to access the features you need, the Studio Pro profile has been retired. The Studio profile now includes all the advanced features that were previously exclusive to the Studio Pro profile, such as test automation, mobile automation, or C# support, and Studio Pro templates are now available in Studio.

What you should know:

• If you are upgrading to this version and you used the Studio Pro profile in the previous version, the settings in the Studio Pro profile are migrated to the Studio profile in this version even if you also used the Studio profile in the previous version.
• Studio is compatible with projects created in older Studio and Studio Pro versions.

• Organizations that use governance must migrate existing Studio Pro policies to the Studio profile as follows:

  • For file-based governance, the parameters configured for the StudioPro profile must be moved to the Development profile.
  • For Automation Ops, move the settings in your existing Studio Pro policies to new Studio v2021.10 policies.
• A new license called Automation Developer is now available, replacing the RPA Developer, RPA Developer Pro, and Test Developer Pro licenses available in older releases. You can continue to use Studio if you activate it with one of the older licenses that granted access to Studio Pro.

The StudioX design experience comes to Studio

The activities that were designed for StudioX are now also available by default in Studio, and you can use the Plus menu to interact with Excel and PowerPoint files, Outlook, Outlook 365, and Gmail accounts, or Google spreadsheets added to your automations.

When configuring activities, you can browse for and select data that matches the expected type of a property directly from the Plus menu of each property. Expressions are automatically generated without you having to manually enter them.

• For Excel, as long as the modern design experience is enabled:

  • The modern StudioX activities are the Excel activities available by default in your projects, replacing the classic Excel App integration activities.
  • When you configure Excel activities inside the Use Excel File scope activity, you can browse the contents of the file and select data such as cells, ranges, tables, sheets, or charts from the menu. In addition, you can now install the Excel Add-in that allows you to switch between Studio and Excel to indicate the data you want to use in your automations from the file.
• For PowerPoint, when you configure PowerPoint activities inside the Use PowerPoint Presentation scope activity, you can select data such as slides, shapes, or layouts from the menu.
• For Mail, when you configure mail activities inside the Use Outlook 365, Use Gmail, or Use Desktop Outlook App scope activities, you can select Outlook folders, Gmail labels, the current mail in an iteration, or message fields such as Subject, Body, Body as HTML, Bcc, Cc, To, From, Date (as text), and Priority from the menu.
• For Google Sheets, when you configure Sheets activities inside the Use Google Spreadsheet scope activity, you can select sheets and named ranges from the menu.

• For file activities in the System activities package, when iterating through files or folders, you can select file and folder properties, such as Name, Full Name, Last modified date, Last accessed date, or Created date from the menu.

  When working with the Use Excel File and Use PowerPoint Presentation activities, if the file that will be used at runtime does not exist yet, you can still use the Plus menu by defining a file with the same structure as a template for use at design time.

  
  

  

  
  

Modern Design Experience enabled by default

The modern design experience is now enabled by default for all new Studio projects, allowing you to take advantage of the latest features in the UIAutomation activities package.

To make the transition easier, if you search for a classic activity when using the modern experience, the modern counterpart of the activity is included in the search results (for example, searching for the Attach browser classic activity results in finding the Use Application/Browser modern activity).

If you still want to use the classic experience. you can disable the modern experience at global or project level, or select the Show Classic option in the Activities panel to make the classic activities available in a project.

Note: If you are upgrading from Studio v2020.10 or v2021.4, the Use Modern for new projects setting from the previous version is not changed.

Edit activity properties during debugging

Debugging your projects has just become easier. You can now fix issues while debugging is paused by editing the properties of the current activity. Hover over a property in the Locals panel, click , make adjustments in the Local Value window, and then resume debugging.

Collect telemetry data in Azure Application Insights

Studio can now send telemetry data to your Application Insights instance in Azure, allowing you to monitor and analyze how Studio is used in your organization. To enable this feature, all you need to do is provide the Application Insights instrumentation key in your governance policies. For more information, see Governance, in the Studio guide and Settings for Studio policies in the Automation Ops guide.

Integration with Automation Hub

To create a smoother automation journey, we've made it easier to link Studio projects to ideas in Automation Hub. A new project property called Automation Hub URL enables you to link an existing project to an idea in Automation Hub. Alternatively, in Automation Hub you have the option to start a Studio project directly from ideas that are in the Development phase and have the status Not started. For more information, see Linking a Project to an Idea in Automation Hub.

Option to mark processes as attended automations

You can now indicate whether a process is designed for attended automation. Enable the Attended Automation project setting for processes that include UI Automation activities or other activities that require user interaction. Processes marked as attended automations should not be executed in unattended scenarios.

Export Workflow Analyzer results

You now have the option to export the results of each workflow analysis to a JSON file in the project folder.

New source control features

Authenticate by signing in with your GitHub account

You can now sign in with your GitHub account to authenticate to remote Git repositories hosted on github.com. When using HTTPS to clone a remote repository or copy a project to a repository, a new option called Sign in with GitHub is available under Use Credentials. This feature requires the UiPath GitHub App to be installed in your organization or account.

Change credentials in Git

You can now change the credentials used to connect to remote Git repositories.

Create branch from previous commit in Git

You can now create a new branch from any previous commit. When viewing the history of a file, folder, or project, right-click a commit in the History window and select Create branch.

Governance for Git repositories

Organizations can now enforce the use of specific Git repositories through governance policies. When a list of allowed repositories is enforced, Studio users will only be able to use remote Git repositories from that list. In the file-based governance model, use the AllowEditRepositories parameter to indicate whether users should use only allowed repositories and the Repositories parameter to define the list of allowed repositories. For Automation Ops, see Settings for Studio policies in the Automation Ops guide.

Copy repository URL

You can now quickly copy the repository URL for a project added to source control by right-clicking the project node or a file in the Project panel and then selecting Copy Repository URL from the context menu.

Installation and update changes

Updated installers

• To make the installation experience more consistent and flexible for Community users, the Community Edition UiPathStudioSetup.exe installer has been deprecated. The MSI installer that was previously available only for the Enterprise Edition has been updated and is now available for the Community Edition as well (UiPathStudioCommunity.msi). Starting with this release, Community users also have the option to install the Enterprise Edition of Studio and activate it with a Community license.

• The Studio MSI installer has a new interface and gives you two setup options:

  • Quick (recommended for Community users) – Perform the installation for the current user in a default configuration which includes a user-mode Robot, without configuring any settings.

  • Custom (recommended for Enterprise and advanced users) – Perform the installation per machine, select the type of Robot and the components to install, and configure advanced installation settings.

    
    

    

    
    

Auto-update client components from Orchestrator

Ever thought how great it would be to always have your robots up to date? We have some great news then! You are now able to update Robot, Studio, and UiPath Assistant clients to newer versions from Orchestrator. This provides an easy way to deliver a version update to a large base of machines from a centralized location, helping remove user friction and streamlining the update process.

New test automation features

Test Explorer

Ready to have testing at your fingertips? The Test Explorer panel groups all your test runs in a single view that includes test development, execution and analysis. In the new panel, you can filter tests based on result state and run or debug tests based on passed/failed scenarios. Activity Coverage has been included as a subpanel to keep testing capabilities together.

To learn how it works, see Test Explorer.

Execution Templates

Wrap test cases inside dynamic templates at runtime to reduce maintenance of test execution sorting, test case-specific recovery, customizable test case reporting, setup and teardown.

For more information, see Execution Templates.

File Templates

You can create templates for your test cases so you can reuse them on different tests.

For more information, see File Templates.

SAP Change Impact Mining

In cooperation with our UiPath Technology partner, we introduce Change Impact Mining for SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA Projects.

SAP Monitoring introduces the SAP Session Attributes Change Trigger activity to allow the monitoring of SAP session attributes. During runtime, any change in SAP session attribute can be logged. You can define the SAP session attributes. By default, the monitoring is set for SAP Transactions and SAP Programs.

SAP Testing Project Template uses an execution template that allows you to run in parallel both the SAP test case and SAP Monitoring. Through this you can collect information about executed SAP transactions and SAP programs, and their dependencies during the runtime. All collected information is automatically submitted to UiPath Test Manager and visible at the test case level.

For more information, see the following:

• SAP Session Attributes Change Trigger
• SAP Testing Project.
• KTern.

Improvements

Object Repository

• The App/Web Recorder now supports using the Object Repository when recording, enabling you to use already existing objects or create new ones.
• The Object Repository now uses Computer Vision technology for the Capture all elements feature, which can extract all the elements of a specified application and add them to your Object Repository. This can greatly reduce the time needed to use the Object Repository, as you no longer have to manually add each element one by one.
• The new Highlight feature in Object Repository enables you to highlight any object you have captured in the screen where you are capturing, making it easier to identify which element you are working with.

Robotic Enterprise Framework Template

Added 16 November 2021

The Robotic Enterprise Framework template has received several improvements:

• We added OrchestratorQueueName in the Config.xlsx file and as an input argument in Main.xaml.
• The Process.xaml file has been moved to the Framework folder.

• Fixed an issue which consisted in setting a Successful status for a queue item in the event of a killed process:

  • We removed the invocation of Framework\SetTransactionStatus.xaml from inside the Finally block.
  • An invocation of Framework\SetTransactionStatus.xaml surrounded by a Try Catch activity was added after the invocation of Framework\Process.xaml for the successful cases in the same Try block.
  • In the Catch section, an invocation of Framework\SetTransactionStatus.xaml surrounded by a Try Catch activity was added for each type of exception (System Exception or Business Rule Exception).
• We added a maximum consecutive retry number to avoid consuming the queue for persistent errors. A new global variable called ConsecutiveSystemExceptions and a constant called MaxConsecutiveSystemExceptions have been added in Config.xlsx.
• In case the maximum consecutive retry number is reached, the Job is now marked as failed (Faulted). This behavior can be enabled by setting the Boolean value ShouldMarkJobAsFaulted in Config.xlsx to TRUE (by default, it is set to FALSE).
• Failed queue items now include the name and location of associated screenshots.
• We added retry mechanisms for the Set Transaction Status and Get Transaction Item activities in case an error occurs.
• The screen resolution is now logged in the Init section.
• The project now complies with the default Workflow Analyzer rules.
• We improved asset management. In previous releases, when an asset was declared in the Assets sheet of the Config.xlsx file but the asset was missing in Orchestrator, there was a log message with the Warning level. The process continued even if there were values missing for those keys and was prone for errors later in the process. The framework now throws an exception when an asset is not found in Orchestrator and the process stops in the Init phase.
• We added a new testing framework that uses the new features of Test Suite. A folder called Tests that contains some test cases related to the framework's workflows is now included in the REFramework project folder.
• We updated the documentation file in the Documentation folder in the REFramework project folder with all the new improvements.

Expression Editor

• The Expression Editor opens in the same position where it was when you last closed the window.
• Maximize / Restore buttons are now available in the title bar at the top of the Expression Editor for quick window resize.
• If you zoom in or out to change the size of the text (for example, by using Ctrl + scroll) and then close the window, the Expression Editor opens at the same zoom level that you were using when you last closed the window.
• If you open the Expression Editor on a display with a resolution that is lower than the Expression Editor window size you last used, the window is automatically reset to its default size instead of keeping its previous size.

Publishing

• The options Ignore from Publish / Set as Publishable available in the Project panel context menu have been renamed Make Private / Make Public when the menu is accessed for workflow files in library projects.
• The last feed you published to is now the default location selected in the Publish options step of the publishing wizard. The location remains the default until you select another folder from the Studio status bar or restart Studio.
• You can now use governance policies to enforce the addition of release notes when publishing a project. In the file-based governance model, setting the value of the EnforceReleaseNotes parameter to true makes the Release Notes field in the Publish wizard a required field. For Automation Ops, see Settings for Studio policies in the Automation Ops guide.
• If you select the option to include sources when publishing a project, the files are now saved in the .nupkg file in the lib\net45 folder (for Windows-Legacy libraries) or the content folder (for Windows and cross-platform libraries and projects). For Windows-Legacy libraries, the files are still saved in the generated assembly file as well.

Test Automation

• You can add test data to multiple test cases in one go.
• When you update test data, you can choose to overwrite existing data on your test cases.
• You can identify data variation folders and items more quickly as they have a more suggestive icon.

Other improvements

• When you install Studio, the option to install the extension for Edge Chromium is now enabled by default if Microsoft Edge Chromium is already installed on your machine.
• You can now configure the ST-SEC-009 - SecureString Misusage Workflow Analyzer rule to exclude activities that can input sensitive data but do not support the SecureString type.

• Additional information is now displayed for each project in the list of recent projects in Home (Studio Backstage View) > Start tab:

  • Language used for expressions (VB or C#).
  • Project compatibility (Windows-legacy, Windows, or Cross-platform).

  • Source control repository the project is under (GIT, SVN, or TFS), or local if the project is not under source control.

    If you are updating from an older version of Studio, the compatibility and source control information are displayed for projects that you opened in the previous version only after you open them in the current version.

• You can now close the workflow file that is in focus in the Designer panel using the Ctrl + W keyboard shortcut.
• You now have access to additional templates on which to base your automations. When you browse for templates in Home (Studio Backstage View) > Templates, the Marketplace location is now available, enabling you to select from a variety of pre-built templates published on the UiPath Marketplace.
• When you move a file inside the Project panel in a project with a large tree by dragging it, scrolling inside the panel, and then dropping it, the Project panel view now stays in the location where the file was moved instead of returning to the initial location of the file.
• To make it easier to configure the If activity, the icon which allows quick access to the Add activity bar is now available inside the Then and Else branches of the activity.
• The Add Activity search bar now uses AI to suggest activities you may want to add next based on the current context of the workflow. You can opt out of this by deselecting the Enable AI activity suggestions option in the Design settings, and organizations can control this setting using governance policies.

Important: Erratum 3 March 2022: Removed an improvement incorrectly mentioning the change of the URL for the official package sources.

Bug Fixes

Libraries

• Fixed an issue that was causing activities generated from libraries created in Studio v2021.4 to have an unexpected namespace if the library name contained a dot (.).
• When you install a library as a project dependency, the Activities panel no longer includes an unexpected additional folder in the structure for activities from that library. The issue occurred in libraries published from Studio v2021.4.
• An error indicating that An item with the same key has already been added no longer occurs when you try to publish a library that has the ServiceNow and Mail packages as dependencies.
• Fixed an issue that prevented annotations added to the root activities in files from library projects to appear as tooltips for the generated activities when the libraries were installed in projects.

Usability

• Typing the characters {, [, and | in expressions now works as expected when you use a French keyboard.
• An error no longer occurs when you use the Turkish Q keyboard and press the AltGr + 7 and AltGr + 8 keyboard combinations to type the characters { and [ in expressions.
• Typing the @ character in expressions by pressing the AltGr + 2 keyboard combination now works as expected when using the Dutch-Belgium keyboard.

Test automation

• Activity coverage was not calculated correctly for files that contained mocked activities.
• Surrounding a zoomed in activity with mock in the Designer panel did not change the focus to this new action.

Other fixes

• Fixed an issue that was causing Studio to randomly stop responding with a Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute error.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused an error to occur and Studio to stop responding when you dragged activities from the Activities panel and dropped them in a workflow.
• Fixed an issue that could cause an error to occur when trying to create a new project using the Background process template.
• Selecting an item from the Studio ribbon no longer requires a second click when another application is in focus.
• When you are working with multiple displays and you maximize the Studio window on one display, the window no longer covers parts of another display.
• Fixed an issue that caused unexpected behavior such as activities being added in the wrong file when two workflow files were open side by side in the same Studio instance.
• Opening the Sign in/Sign out popup menu by clicking the icon in the Studio title bar now works as expected regardless of which Studio panel is in focus.
• The UiPath.Activities.API SDK package which is intended only for developing custom activities can no longer be installed as a project dependency.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Try Catch activity to fail to handle System.InvalidOperationException errors generated when image activities such as Find Image failed to trigger Pick Branch activities.
• When you use the Invoke Code activity with the language of the invoked code set to CSharp, validation error messages related to the activity now correctly indicate the code line numbers where errors are detected.
• Fixed an issue that caused arguments created in the Invoke workflow's arguments dialog of the Invoke Workflow File activity (for example, CTRL + M in a Value field) to only be visible after the file where the activity is included was closed and reopened.
• The ST-USG-010 (Unused Dependencies) Workflow Analyzer rule no longer detects a violation if no activity from a package is used in a project, but a function from the package is.
• When Object Repository is enforced in a project, it can no longer be disabled from the Recorder.
• If the Output, Error List, Find References, or Breakpoints panel is not pinned and covers a large area of the window while Studio is maximized, clicking the Restore button in the status bar to make Studio smaller no longer causes the panel to cover almost the entire window and Studio not to display properly.