Enhanced target selection for robotic process automation

The method of 1, wherein:

• the RPA script indicates the target element via an element ID comprising a plurality of attribute-value pairs collectively characterizing the target element;
• the multiplicity flag comprises a selected attribute-value pair of the element ID;
• and
• wherein the method comprises determining whether the multiplicity flag is set according to a value of an attribute of the selected attribute-value pair.

A computer system comprising at least one hardware processor configured to:

• in response to receiving a robotic process automation (RPA) script indicating a target element of a target user interface (UI), automatically identify a runtime instance of the target element within a runtime UI exposed by the computer system;
• and
• automatically carry out an operation that reproduces a result of an interaction of a human operator with the runtime instance of the target element, the operation determined according to the RPA script;
• wherein the RPA script specifies the target element as being a descendant of a selected node of a UI tree representation of the target UI;
• and
• wherein automatically identifying the runtime instance of the target element comprises:
• determining according to the RPA script whether a multiplicity flag is set,
• in response, if the multiplicity flag is set, searching for the runtime instance of the target element within descendants of multiple instances of the selected node found within the runtime UI, and
• if the multiplicity flag is not set, searching for the runtime instance of the target element within descendants of a single instance of the selected node found within the runtime UI.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one hardware processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

• in response to receiving a robotic process automation (RPA) script indicating a target element of a target user interface (UI), automatically identify a runtime instance of the target element within a runtime UI exposed by the computer system;
• and
• automatically carry out an operation that reproduces a result of an interaction of a human operator with the runtime instance of the target element, the operation determined according to the RPA script;
• wherein the RPA script specifies the target element as being a descendant of a selected node of a UI tree representation of the target UI;
• and
• wherein automatically identifying the runtime instance of the target element comprises:
• determining according to the RPA script whether a multiplicity flag is set,
• in response, if the multiplicity flag is set, searching for the runtime instance of the target element within descendants of multiple instances of the selected node found within the runtime UI, and
• if the multiplicity flag is not set, searching for the runtime instance of the target element within descendants of a single instance of the selected node found within the runtime UI.

A computer system comprising at least one hardware processor configured to:

• expose a robot design interface to a user, the robot design interface configured to receive a user input indicating a target element of a target user interface (UI) and to expose a control enabling the user to set a multiplicity flag associated with the target element;
• and
• output a robotic process automation (RPA) script comprising a specification of an RPA robot configured to carry out an operation that reproduces a result of an interaction of a human operator with a runtime instance of the target element, the RPA script including the multiplicity flag;
• wherein executing the RPA script on an RPA client causes the RPA client to:
• determine according to the RPA script whether the multiplicity flag is set,
• in response, if the multiplicity flag is set, search for the runtime instance of the target element within descendants of multiple instances of the selected node found within the runtime UI, and
• if the multiplicity flag is not set, search for the runtime instance of the target element within descendants of a single instance of the selected node found within the runtime UI.