Enhanced Target Selection for Robotic Process Automation
AssigneeUiPath, Inc.
InventorDan V. MUNTEANU
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A software robot is configured to automatically identify a target element (e.g., a button, a form field, etc.) within a user interface (UI) according to a set of attributes of the target element specified in the source-code of the respective UI. The robot's code specification includes a multiplicity flag which, when set, causes the robot to search for the target element within multiple instances of a UI object matching a subset of the set attributes (for instance, within all windows having a specific name, within all browser tabs, etc.)
Claims19
A method comprising employing at least one hardware processor of a computer system to:
- in response to receiving a robotic process automation (RPA) script comprising an element ID characterizing 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 comprises a target window name characterizing a target window of the target UI, the target window displaying the target element;
- and
- wherein automatically identifying the runtime instance of the target element comprises:
- searching for the runtime instance of the target element within a candidate window of the runtime UI selected according to the RPA script, a name of the candidate window matching the target window name;
- and
- in response, when the runtime instance of the target element cannot be found within the candidate window, searching for the runtime instance of the target element within another candidate window of the runtime UI selected according to the RPA script.
A computer system comprising at least one hardware processor configured to:
- in response to receiving a robotic process automation (RPA) script comprising an element ID characterizing 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 comprises a target window name characterizing a target window of the target UI, the target window displaying the target element;
- and
- wherein automatically identifying the runtime instance of the target element comprises:
- searching for the runtime instance of the target element within a candidate window of the runtime UI selected according to the RPA script, a name of the candidate window matching the target window name;
- and
- in response, when the runtime instance of the target element cannot be found within the candidate window, searching for the runtime instance of the target element within another candidate window of the runtime UI selected according to the RPA script.
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 comprising an element ID characterizing 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 comprises a target window name characterizing a target window of the target UI, the target window displaying the target element;
- and
- wherein automatically identifying the runtime instance of the target element comprises:
- searching for the runtime instance of the target element within a candidate window of the runtime UI selected according to the RPA script, a name of the candidate window matching the target window name;
- and
- in response, when the runtime instance of the target element cannot be found within the candidate window, searching for the runtime instance of the target element within another candidate window of the runtime UI selected according to the RPA script.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.