Terminal Automation

The Terminal Automation activity group contains activities designed to connect to a terminal (a machine connected to a mainframe) and efficiently automate tasks or work within that machine. These activities are generally used to communicate, access, and control operation on a remote machine.

For example, you can use the Terminal Automation activities to send control keys, move the cursor to specific screen position to query and fetch text or field, write or set text on a specific position, or wait for the specified text to appear on the screen as a trigger (such as bot execution will stop).

The terminal or machine runs the ASG RPA Terminal Emulator or terminal emulation program that allows the host machine to access another machine, including remote machines, through a graphical interface. This communication with another machine is made possible using the Telnet protocol.

The ASG RPA Terminal Emulator supports only the TN3270 terminal type.

You can use these activities to perform the following types of task:

Create a connection with a host machine.
Spend specific control key (such as Enter and F-keys) to the terminal.
Move the cursor to a specific position or field on the ASG RPA Terminal Emulator screen or refresh the screen.
Retrieve or write text on a specified position, field, screen of the ASG RPA Terminal Emulator.
Terminate the connection to the machine after you have completed working within it.

Download the TN3270 Plus secure telnet terminal emulation for Windows. It will help you to examine a terminal emulator application and effectively create an RPA Model with Terminal Automation activities. Download link: https://www.sdisw.com/download.aspx
To know more about Mainframe computers basics, definitions, and the terminology used, you can see the IBM Mainframes wiki.

Terminal Automation Activities

The Terminal Automation group includes the following activities:

Connect Session

Enables you to establish a connection to the terminal (machine connected to a mainframe) on which you want to perform multiple automation tasks.

Before using any other Terminal Automation activities, you must first establish the connection to the terminal using the Connect Session activity, or else you will encounter an execution error. When the Connect Session activity is executed, it automatically opens the ASG RPA Terminal Emulator.

The Connect Session activity enables you to specify the machine's details connected to a mainframe and associate it with an ASG RPA Terminal Emulator session.

Properties

Name: Enter the display name of the activity.
Enter Server Name: Specify the machine's name connected to the mainframe you want to connect to.
Enter Port: Enter a value to specify the port you want to use to connect to the machine.
Connection Type: Select one of the supported TN3279 connection type. Currently, 3279 is only supported.
Screen Size: ASG RPA Terminal Emulator can support different screen sizes. Select one of the following sizes:
- 25 X 80
- 32 X 80
- 43 X 80
- 27 X 132
Use SSL: Select Yes if you want to use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol to establish an encrypted connection.
Wait till text appears (in milliseconds): Specify the portion of time (in milliseconds) to wait before the test is displayed.

Write Text

Write the specified text string on the current cursor position, specific position, or given field on the terminal.

Properties

Name: Enter the display name of the activity.
Set Text Type: Select the option from the Set Text Type list to specify the position or screen where the text string should be written in the terminal. Select one of the following:
- Simple: Select this if you want the text string to be written at the current cursor position on the terminal.
- At Position: Designated screen coordinates in the terminal where the text string is to be written:
  - Enter Row(coordinate) Value: Specify the row coordinate value of the terminal.
  - Enter Column(coordinate) Value: Specify the column coordinate value of the terminal.
- For Field: Particular terminal field where the text string is to be written:
  - Enter LabeledBy: Specify the label of the field where the cursor should move for the text string to be written.
  - Enter Field Index: If there are multiple fields with the same label in the terminal, specify the identifier that describes the order of the label to be searched for.
Enter text to send: Specify the text string you want to write in the terminal.

Wait for Text

Introduce a delay or wait for a certain amount of time till a specific text string appears in the specified position or screen of the terminal.

Properties

Name: Enter the display name of the activity.
Wait Type: Select the option from the Wait Type list to specify the position or screen where the text string should appear in the terminal. Select one of the following:
- At Position: Wait till the text string appears in the screen coordinates you have designated:
  - Enter Row(coordinate) Value: Specify the row coordinate value of the terminal.
  - Enter Column(coordinate) Value: Specify the column coordinate value of the terminal.
- For Field: Wait till the text string appears in the terminal field you have specified:
  - Enter LabeledBy: Specify the label of the field that is to be searched for the specified text string.
  - Enter Field Index: If there are multiple fields with the same label in the terminal, specify the identifier that describes the order of the label to be searched for.
- On Screen: Select this option if you want the specified text string to appear on the terminal screen simply.
Enter text to wait: Specify the text string in the terminal to be waited for.

Read Text

Retrieve the text from a specified position and containing a certain number of characters from the terminal and store it in a variable.

Properties

Name: Enter the display name of the activity.
Get Text Type: Select the Get Text Type list option to specify the position or screen from where you want to extract the text. Select one of the following:
- At Position: Designate the screen coordinates and number of characters that should be extracted:
  - Enter Row(coordinate) Value: Specify the row coordinate value of the terminal.
  - Enter Column(coordinate) Value: Specify the column coordinate value of the terminal.
  - Enter Text Length: Specify the number of characters that should be extracted from the specified position.
- Field Value: Specify the terminal field label and index in the following fields from which you want to extract text:
  - Enter LabeledBy: Specify the label of the field that is to be searched for the specified text string.
  - Enter Field Index: If there are multiple fields with the same label in the terminal, specify the identifier that describes the order of the label to be searched for.
- Field Name: Specify the field using the screen coordinates from which you want to extract text in the following fields. You can also specify the number of characters to be extracted.
  - Enter Row(coordinate) Value: Specify the row coordinate value of the terminal.
  - Enter Column(coordinate) Value: Specify the column coordinate value of the terminal.
  - Enter Text Length: Specify the number of characters that should be extracted from the specified field.
- For Screen Area: Specify the screen area from which you want to extract text:
  - Enter Start Row(coordinate) Value: Specify the start row coordinate value of the terminal screen area.
  - Enter Start Column(coordinate) Value: Specify the start column coordinate value of the terminal screen area.
  - Enter End Row(coordinate) Value: Specify the end row coordinate value of the terminal screen area.
  - Enter End Column(coordinate) Value: Specify the end column coordinate value of the terminal screen area.
- Text On Screen: Select this option if you want to extract all the text from the terminal screen.
Enter a variable name to store the read text: Specify the variable you want to assign the extracted text.