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Apply universal RPA driver

The universal driver provides the following benefits for rapid RPA scripts development:

• You do not need to switch between drivers and create multiple robot plugins.
• You can use the universal driver in 99% of Use Cases. Almost all RPA Use Cases don't need complex driver-juggling with transactions handling and support.

To use the universal driver, complete the following conditions:

1. In the robot plugin, set the driver="universal" attribute.
2. Add a capability inside the robot plugin: <capability name="SEARCH_ALL_WINDOWS" value="true" />

Expand to see the universal driver example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<config xmlns="http://web-harvest.sourceforge.net/schema/1.0/config" scriptlang="groovy">

    <robotics-flow>
        <robot driver="universal" close-on-completion="true" start-in-private="false">
            <capability name="SEARCH_ALL_WINDOWS" value="true" />
            <script><![CDATA[

                // opening Notepad
                openAndFocus("notepad.exe", 3000, 250);
                sendKeys("What is RPA?");
                pressEnter();

                // opening Firefox browser
                openFirefox("https://www.wikipedia.org/");
                $(byXpath("//input[@id='searchInput']")).val("Robotic process automation").pressEnter();
                def wiki_text = $(byXpath("//div[@id='bodyContent']//p")).getText();

                // switching back to Notepad        
                window("[CLASS:Notepad]");
                sendKeys(wiki_text);
                pressCtrlA();
                pressBackSpace();

            ]]></script>
        </robot>
    </robotics-flow>

    <export include-original-data="true"></export>

</config>

tip

For more universal driver examples, see:

• Automate file upload
• Automate SwingSet application

Set driver type in universal driver explicitly

While using the universal driver in complex Use Cases, the driver auto-switching algorithm can fail to automatically detect which application (web or desktop) should accept the current action, for example:

$(byXpath("//input[@id='searchInput']")).click()                 // web

switchTo().window('[CLASS:SunAwtFrame; TITLE:SwingSet2]')
$(byXpath("//*[@text='Eyes']/following-sibling::*")).click()     // desktop

To handle such cases, use an explicit driver switching methods that accept a closure with all actions for this driver:

• inDesktop{}
• inChrome{}
• inFirefox{}
• inEdge{}
• inIE{}

For instructions that are outside the closure, the default auto-switching mechanism is applied.

The explicit driver closures improve the stability and readability of your code.

Using driver type closures

<robotics-flow>
    <robot name="universalDriver" driver="universal" close-on-completion="true">
        <script><![CDATA[

            // open a web-application in Firefox and log in
            inFirefox() {
                open('https://invoiceplane.workfusion.com')
                $('#login').click()
                $('#email').val('wf-robot@mail.com')
                $('#password').val('freedom4ROBOTS')
                $(byName('btn_login')).click()
            }

            // open a web-page in Chrome and click
            inChrome() {
                open('https://www.w3schools.com/')
                switchTo().frame('iframeResult')
                $('#demo h1').shouldHave(text('XMLHttpRequest'))
                $(byText('Change Content')).click()
            }

            // open a web-page in Internet Explorer, enter text, and click
            inIE() {
                open('http://rpa-grid.s3.amazonaws.com')
                $(byXpath('//input[@name='name']')).sendKeys('test')
                $(byXpath('//button[@type='submit']')).click()
            }

            // open notepad and type text into it
            inDesktop() {
                open('notepad.exe')
                switchTo().window('[CLASS:Notepad]')
                sendKeys('foo')
            }

        ]]></script>
    </robot>
</robotics-flow>

Generate universal driver code in WorkFusion Studio

To view an example of an RPA Bot task with the universal driver, do as follows:

1. Create a new recording in RPA Recorder.

2. Click Export code to Bot Task.

   

   As a result, a valid Bot Task with the universal driver is generated: