Design a Bot Using Common Automation Activities

This tutorial shows you how to integrate the Common Automation activities with other automation activities set, create process flow that involves multiple applications, and create the bot.

Background

You use the activities available in other automation activities set with the Common Automation activity to create the bot.

Prerequisites

Access to ASG Studio Manager.
Start the Automation Spy application using ASG-Studio Manager.
Check the availability of the following applications on your computer:
- Notepad
- Calculator
- Microsoft Word

Design the Bot

In this section, you design the RPA Model for performing the automation task.

Launch the Notepad application and type the following text: I am doing fine.
- On the File menu, click Save As, select the %userprofile%\Desktop folder (Desktop folder in the current user profile), enter Notepad in the File name field, and then click Save.
Open Microsoft Word, click File, select New, and then select Blank Document. Do the following:
- Type the following text: Have a nice day!
- Save the Word Document as PDF in the %userprofile%\Desktop folder with the name Test.
Launch ASG-Studio.
Create an RPA Model. See Create and Design RPA Model.
Alternatively, you can open an existing RPA Model. If you are using an existing RPA Model click Clear in the Element Toolbar to remove any activities that have been previously added to the visual designer.
In the visual designer, drag Start Event from the element toolbar and drop it on the visual designer.
Keep the default activity name.
In the Activities Panel, expand the specified activity group, then drag the following activities and drop them onto the visual designer.

Keep the default display name of the activities.

To connect the activity shapes, select the first activity shape, click and hold the Sequence Flow or Association arrow icon, drag the arrow to the other shape, and then click the second activity shape.

Activity Set	Sub-Folder	Action Name	Other Properties	Connect From	Connect To
Common	Misc Actions	Error Handling	If error occurs?: `(Select)` Continue Processing Take Screenshot: Toggle the button to Off.	Start	Error Handling
Common	System Actions	Set ClipBoard Text	Enter variable name/text to set clipboard text: Hi, how are you doing?	Error Handling	Set ClipBoard Text
Common	System Actions	Get ClipBoard Text	Enter variable name to assign clipboard text: GetCT	Set ClipBoard Text	Get ClipBoard Text
Desktop Automation	Generic Actions	Open Application	Application Name/Path: notepad	Get ClipBoard Text	Open Application
Common	Windows Actions	Set Window State	Window name: Untitled - Notepad Choose State: `(Select)` Maximize	Open Application	Set Window State
Common	Misc Actions	Set Text	Enter text to send: GetCT	Set Window State	Set Text
Common	Window Actions	Wait For Window To Exist	Window name: Notepad Maximum how many seconds to wait: 180	Set Text	Wait For Window To Exist
Desktop Automation	Keyboard Actions	Send Keystrokes	Key (Control [Control]), Action (Key Down) Key (A [A]), Action (Key Press (Down + Up) Key (C [C]), Action (Key Press (Down + Up) Key (Control [Control]), Action (Key Up)	Wait For Window To Exist	Send Keystrokes
Common	Window Actions	Activate Window	Enter Window Name to Active: Untitled - Notepad	Send Keystrokes	Activate Window
Desktop Automation	Keyboard Actions	Send Keystrokes	Key (Control [Control]), Action (Key Down) Key (V [V]), Action (Key Press (Down + Up) Key (Control [Control]), Action (Key Up)	Activate Window	Send Keystrokes
Desktop Automation	Generic Actions	Open Application	Application Name/Path: calc	Send Keystrokes	Open Application
Desktop Automation	Generic Actions	Window Element Action	Choose Action: `(Select)` Click Element Action (Left Click), Key (AutomationID), Value (num9Button) Action (Left Click), Key (AutomationID), Value (num9Button) Action (Left Click), Key (Name), Value (Plus) Action (Left Click), Key (AutomationID), Value (num1Button) Action (Left Click), Key (Name), Value (Equals)	Open Application	Window Element Action
Desktop Automation	Generic Actions	Window Element Action	Choose Action: (Select) Get Value From Element Get From: (AutomationId) CalculatorResults Assign To: (Assign To) result	Window Element Action	Window Element Action
Common	Window Actions	Activate Window	Enter Window Name to Active: Untitled - Notepad	Window Element Action	Activate Window
Common	Misc Actions	Set Text	Enter text to send: result	Activate Window	Set Text
Common	Misc Actions	Modify Variable	Enter Variable Name: GetCT Enter Input to be Set to above Variable: Thanks.	Set Text	Modify Variable
Common	Misc Actions	Set Text	Enter text to send: GetCT	Modify Variable	Set Text
Common	Misc Actions	PDF Extraction	PDF File Path: C:\Users\%userprofile%\Desktop\Test.pdf Variable name: pdfextract	Set Text	PDF Extraction
Common	Window Actions	Activate Window	Enter Window Name to Active: Untitled - Notepad	PDF Extraction	Activate Window
Common	Misc Actions	Set Text	Enter text to send: pdfextract	Activate Window	Set Text

Drag End Event from the Element Toolbar and drop it on the visual designer. Keep the default activity name.

Connect Set Text to End Event.
In the Element Toolbar of the visual designer, click Run to execute the RPA Model.
- A message is displayed in the visual designer after successful completion of the RPA Model execution.

When the bot is running, notice that the notepad file is launched, and the specified text is copy and then pasted from the clipboard, Notepad.txt, Calculator application, and Test.pdf. After the text is added from the clipboard, open the Notepad.txt you have created in the %userprofile%\Desktop folder, to make the specified file window active. The text is copied from the Notepad.txt file to the untitled notepad. If you don’t open the notepad file, the process flow execution will move to the next step as Continue Processing is selected for error handling.

Check the following text in the untitled notepad file: Hi, how are you doing? I am doing fine. Display is 100 Thanks. Have a nice day!!