Web Session (Firefox)

Use a Web Session to open and close the browser window in which all the Web Automation elements contained therein interact.

The web session ID enables you to reuse a session that has already started in a different web session.

Properties

Hide Command Prompt

Hides the web driver’s command prompt (default). Can be displayed again for diagnostic purposes.
Initial URL

The URL that the web session launches when it starts. Default: about: blank.
Keep out mouse

When selected, at the start of the Web session the mouse moves to the corner defined in the Move mouse to property. This feature enables you to avoid triggering hover effects on a website accidentally.
Move mouse to

Defines where the mouse pointer moves to if Keep out mouse is enabled.
Repeat keep out mouse

When selected, the mouse moves to the corner defined in the Move mouse to property before each step within the Web Session. This feature enables you to avoid triggering hover effects on a website accidentally.
Script Timeout [sec]

Maximum waiting time in seconds before the internal scripting of the web driver aborts. Do not change this value unless MuleSoft Support advises you to do so.
Start maximized

Decide wether the browser window starts maximized.
Webdriver Retries

Number of retries to establish a successful web driver connection.
Webdriver Timeout [sec]

After the assigned time, the web session aborts a Webdriver command.
Accept untrusted certificates

When set, Firefox automatically accepts untrusted certificates.
Additional profile extensions

Use this setting to add additional Firefox configuration settings. One or more settings have to be in the form of: <config_1>;<type>;<value-1>;<config_n>;<type>;<value_n>

For example: intl.accept_languages;string;no,en-us,en

Valid types are int, bool, and string. Values containing ; must be enclosed in double quotation marks ".
Alternative user agent string

Override the default User Agent string for Firefox.
Enable native events

Enable this option if you are having trouble with mouse hover during execution.
Port

Defines the TCP/IP listener port number used for Firefox for communication between Firefox and an RPA Bot. If set to -1 an ephemeral port number is used (and may also be used for all concurrent MultiTracer instances).

To ensure optimal operation in a MultiTracer environment, set it to 0. In this case, the port used is calculated by the following function: port = TSID * 4 + 45000 (TSID is the current Terminal Session ID). To choose a base value other than 45000, a value greater than 0 must be assigned.
Prefer 64Bit Webdriver

Select your preferred bitness here. The program tries the other one in case the preferred one is not available and generates a warning.
Profile name

Start Firefox with a specific profile. This profile must be created beforehand on the executing agent using the Firefox profile manager.

Inbound Variables

Profile name
Prefer 64Bit Webdriver
Alternative user agent string
Accept untrusted certificates
Enable native events
Port
Web Session ID
Initial URL

Outbound Variables

This action step has no outbound variables.

Wizard

An image of the web session wizard window

The Reuse Web Session section defines which web session is reused. To enable this, you need the web session ID, which you save in the Workflow-based variables ahead of time.

An image showing the web session ID

You can define a name and a description and the value is assigned automatically. Once you have created the web session ID, you can link it with the session easily, using the drop-down in the Web Session Wizard.

An image showing the reuse web session option

In the script Run Results, you see whether a new web session was created or a web session ID was used, and in the latter case, which one.

If a web session ID is used that was created with the web session type Firefox, for example, but is to be continued with a different web session type, such as a Chrome session, a warning is issued in the standard case. You can change this response with the Browser Mismatch option. You have two options here:

Warning (default)

The Workflow Run is assigned a warning, but continues running. In this case, the original web session browser is used automatically.
Error

The Workflow Run ends in an error.

The standard response of the browser and the execution are defined in the General Settings area.

You use the Initial URL to specify the initial URL of the web page you want to call.

If another web session that was created with the same web session ID is opened, the initial URL from that session is ignored.

Open Browser Wizard when done: If this option is enabled, the Browser Wizard is opened when the Web Session Wizard is closed.

Keep out mouse, move it to: In some cases, the mouse could hide certain buttons or texts. You use this option to define where you want the mouse to move to:

An image showing the Keep out mouse, move it to: option

You can also define whether or not you want to execute this action after every Action Step.

Page load strategy: Defines the system behavior when loading a page. The following options are available: Default, Normal, Eager, and None.

Browser specific settings

An image showing the browser specific settings

+ Firefox saves the users’ personal information in a profile. You can create additional profiles in the Firefox profile manager. Under Profile name, specify which profile you want to use to execute the web session.

Activity Workflow Overlapping Web Session

You can use web sessions across workflows within a business process. For example, you can open a web session in an initial workflow, perform a web login there, and then process this workflow in a different, independent workflow.

The web session ID lets you use the session globally within the workflow. To pass the web session on to another workflow within a business process, the web session ID must be defined as an activity parameter (and not as a workflow-based variable).

To do this, proceed as follows:

Create a web session ID in the activity parameter.
Link the web session ID with the workflow.

You will find the web session ID in the Activity Parameters Action Step, which you placed in the Workflow Initialization Block beforehand.
Link the web session ID in the corresponding web session.
Optionally, ff you want the web session to be closed at a later point in the workflow, use the Close Web Session Action Step.

Closing a Web Session

There are three different variants for closing a web session:

The closing of the browser is already contained in the web session

In this case, the session is closed automatically when session execution is complete. This only applies if the web session is not linked with a web session ID.
The browser is not closed until the end of the workflow

If the web session block is linked with a web session ID, the browser remains open. This only applies if the web session was linked using a workflow-based variable. If it is linked with an activity parameter, in contrast, the web session remains active – that is, the browser remains open – and can be used further
The browsers is closed by using the Close Web Session action step

The Action Step Close Web Session gives you the additional option of closing the session at a specific point in the Workflow.