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User Interface

Following are the descriptions of every section and element in the RPA Recorder UI.

Home

The Home section contains the main controls of RPA recorder. If RPA recorder is started from RPA Manager, the existing BPMN of the process also shows here.

RPA Recorder Home screen

Recording

The Recording Toolbar appears on the screen when RPA Recorder starts recording a process and contains the following buttons:

Icon Name Description Hotkey

Start Recording icon

Start Recording

Starts a new recording session.

F8

Pause Recording icon

Pause Recording

Pauses the current recording session.

F8

Start Recording icon

Finish Recording Session

Finishes the current recording session and triggers the generation of Documents.

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Take Screenshot icon

Take Screenshot

Opens the Define Screenshot dialog.

F9

Add Variable icon

Add Variable

Opens the Add Variable dialog.

F10

Add Comment icon

Add Comment

Opens the Add Comment dialog.

F11

Add Activity icon

Add Activity

Opens the Add Activity dialog.

F12

Toast Notifications While Recording

When a recording state changes, a toast notification appears indicating current state. The notification stays for two seconds and disappears automatically.

Define Screenshot

Before you take a screenshot manually, the screen automatically freezes. You can select a method for taking manual screenshots:

  1. Press F9 while recording to open the Define Screenshot window.
    Define Screenshot window

  2. Select a freezing delay (in seconds), or no delay, from the dropdown menu.
    Select freezing delay

The timer delay mechanism takes effect regardless of the chosen screenshot method.

Add Variable

You can add variable information as part of the recording documentation by pressing F10 while recording. This is useful for the implementation of the process automation in RPA Builder.

Add Variable window

The possible variable types are:

  • Alphanumeric

  • Integer

  • Float

  • Boolean

  • Credential

Click Add to save the variable information to the recording documentation.

Pause the recording before adding a variable. If you open the Add Variable window while the recording is running, it pauses automatically.

Add Comment

You can add a comment as part of the recording to enrich the documentation with insight about a specific step.

Add Comment window

Pause the recording before adding a comment. If you open the Add Comment window while the recording is running, it pauses automatically.

Add Activity

You can manually add an activity as part of the BPMN recording. Enter a name for the activity and select its type.

Add Activity window

Possible activity types are:

  • Web Task

  • Bot Task

  • User Task

When you create a Web Task, you can choose to continue using the session of the last closed Web Task.

For User Tasks, RPA Recorder does not save documentation. You must enter a description.

To continue recording, add a Bot Task.

Pause the recording before adding an activity or changing the creation mode of the activities. If you open the pop-up using the respective hotkey while the recording is running, the recording automatically pauses.

Web Recording Browser

Use the Web Recording Browser to record website navigation actions. It behaves as a regular web browser and enables you to:

  • Automatically identify elements of a website with which you interact and determine their XPath and attributes.

  • Save your attribute selection of a web element to reuse it when recording the same web elements on a website.

  • Record mouse hover positioning during web navigation.

Adding a Web Task opens the Web Recording Browser. When you add more than one Web Task, you can select Continue with already existing web session to display the last loaded page from the previous Web Task and continue from that point. Otherwise, you can enter a URL in the address bar of the browser, and it loads this URL when you press Enter or click the Go button (Go button).

Web Recording Browser

Select Web Elements

When you hover the cursor over a web element, the browser highlights it with a blue background. After an interaction with an element (such as a mouse click or key press on the keyboard), the element’s XPath and available attributes show on the Attribute Selection panel.

To record the mouse hover event on a highlighted element, press F2.

Select Web Element

By default, the Attribute Selection panel is hidden. Click on the right border of the Web Recording Browser to extend or collapse it.

Save Web Element Attributes

The Attribute Selection panel shows the default extracted XPath and all the attributes of the selected web element. Select one or more attributes by checking the box next to them. After you select an attribute, RPA Recorder adds the attribute and its value to the extracted XPath.

Add Attribute to XPath

You can save your attribute selection for a web element to use it for future recorded events by checking Save selection. If you select the saved element while recording the same website later on, the saved attribute displays as already selected in the attribute selection panel and appears as added to the extracted XPath. If you don’t want to use the saved attributes for a given web element, click the Default button (Default button) to revert back to the default extracted XPath for that web element.

Save Mouse Hover

You can record your mouse hover positioning while using the Web Recording Browser. This is particularly useful for capturing navigation through drop down menus.

To capture a mouse hover action during web recording, press F2 on a web element. This capture is indicated by a blue flashing box around the selected web element.

RPA Recorder Configuration

You can configure RPA Recorder and set preferences.

The configuration section is divided into the following sections:

Settings

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Use the following settings to configure RPA Recorder:

  • Directory

    The local folder for storing documents (BPMN, PDF and XES) and application logs.

  • Create Process Documentation (PDF)

    Select this option to save a process documentation file as a PDF after the recording session stops.

  • Create Process Mining files (XES)

    Select this option to generate a XES process file after the recording session stops.

  • Generate debug file (contains recorded events, window handles and system data)

    Select this option to generate a debug file after the recording session stops.

  • Screenshot Settings

    • Image quality:

      Select the quality of the screenshots on every mouse click. Available options are: JPEG (compressed) and PNG (lossless).

    • Take screenshot automatically

      Select this option to automatically take a screenshot on every mouse click.

    • When recording Bot Tasks auto-capture screenshots of:

      Select the area to capture when RPA Recorder takes screenshots. Available options are: Active application only and Full screen.

  • Merge keystrokes

    Concatenates keyboard entries entered during the recording into meaningful words and sentences based upon the timestamps when they were entered. The number is expressed in seconds and can range from 2 to 10 seconds.

  • Verbosity level

    Defines wether to show detailed process information in the documentation. If you select Low, the information does not show in the documentation.

Hotkeys

This section displays information about the specific hotkeys that can be used, and their description. Hotkeys cannot be customized.

You can activate or deactivate the hotkeys function by checking or unchecking the Activate usage of hot keys box. If activated, the hot keys invoke the corresponding action. If deactivated, the hot keys cannot control the recorder, and any hot key presses during a recording are recorded as normal key strokes.

The hotkeys function is activated by default.

The hotkeys configuration window

Log files

This section provides access to RPA Recorder log files and log directory.

Click Open Log File to open the latest log file. Click Open Log Directory to open the folder containing all RPA Recorder logs in your local computer.

Log Files Menu

About Screen

The about screen contains general information about RPA Recorder:

  • Version number

  • Copyright information