UI Automation

UI automation refers to the automation of desktop applications and web browsers. It can replicate clicking and typing in various user interface elements such as buttons, check boxes, text boxes, or drop-down lists. Knowing how to interact with them enables you to design automations much faster and easier. With StudioX, you can create automations with UI elements from most applications using application or web activities.

Note: StudioX offers deep integration with Microsoft Office, Outlook 365, Gmail, and the file system. Use the dedicated activities when automating Excel, Mail, Word, PowerPoint and file and folder operations. To automate the interface of Excel or PowerPoint, simply place UI Automation activities inside a Use Excel File or Use PowerPoint File activity.

All interactions with the UI can be split into input (sending or adding something to the application) and output (getting something from the application). Clicking a button and typing text in a text box are examples of input actions. Getting the text from a browser page is an example of an output action.

StudioX comes with activities that help you automate most common UI interactions. The first step in automating UI interactions is to define the desktop application or web page to interact with by adding a Use Application/Browser activity. You then add the activities to automate in that application or web page inside the Use Application/Browser activity. Next, you can point out the specific UI elements you want to interact with. For further information on how to indicate UI elements, check the Selection Screen page.

You can automate the interface of Excel and PowerPoint by placing UI Automation activities directly inside a Use Excel File or Use PowerPoint File activity just like you would in a Use Application/Browser activity.

To speed up the process, you can use the App/Web Recorder that automatically generates activities by capturing your actions on the screen.

To learn how to work with UI automation, see the following tutorials:

• Tutorial: Working with UI Automation
• Tutorial: Extracting Table Data from a Web Page and Editing It in Excel
• Tutorial: Filling Out PDF Forms in Acrobat Reader with Data from Excel
• Tutorial: Iterating through Rows in a Table

The following application / web activities are available in StudioX:

• Use Application/Browser
• Check App State
• Check/Uncheck
• Click
• Extract Table Data
• Get Text
• Go to URL
• Highlight
• Hover
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Maximize Window
• Minimize Window
• Move Window
• Navigate Browser
• Restore Window
• Select Item
• Take Screenshot
• Type Into

For information on automating SAP applications, see the Studio guide.