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  5. Web Session (Firefox)

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

The Web Session Wizard contains the Reuse Web Session, General Settings, and Browser Specific Settings sections.

Reuse Web Session

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The Reuse Web Session section defines which web session to reuse. To reuse a web session, use the web session ID that you previously saved in the workflow-based variables.

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

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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 you use a web session ID 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, RPA Builder shows a warning. You can change this response with the Browser Mismatch option. There are two options for this scenario:

  • 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.

Define the standard response of the browser and the execution in the General Settings section.

General Settings

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  • Initial URL

    Specifies 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 opens when the Web Session Wizard is closed.

  • Keep out mouse, move it to

    Use this option to define where you want the mouse to move to. This prevents the mouse from covering certain buttons or texts.

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

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.

See Properties for a definition of these fields.

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:

  1. Create a web session ID in the activity parameter.

  2. 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.

  3. Link the web session ID in the corresponding web session.

  4. 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.

See Also