Specify Recorder variables

Recorder variables are used to store initial or runtime values that a bot can:

• Enter from the keyboard.
• Copy to or from the clipboard.
• Set from a variable defined in Actions.
• Get as an operation result (image found or not: true or false).
• Compare in conditions (if ${my_variable} > 5 ).
• Get as the current list or table item in the For Each loop.
• Export as results and pass them to the next process steps on the server.

Define variables

All variables are defined in the Recorder Variables panel by clicking the plus(+) icon.

To add a variable, enter the following values:

• Name: use only alphabetic characters in the lower case, numeric symbols, and the underscore. All other characters, such as letters in the upper case and special symbols, are not supported. As you type in unsupported characters, they are highlighted in red.

  

  tip

  There are specific words you cannot use as Recorder variables names. To view them, refer to the List of reserved words.

• Type: define the value format for correct comparison (for example, in the If-Else action) and parsing (for example, to parse clipboard content to a table).

• Default Value: set the variable value. Comparing and assigning values of different types can result in exceptions or false results. For example, comparing String with Number.

Simple types

Simple variable types consist of one value with a special format.

String

String should conform to the following patterns: string length, alpha, numeric, alpha-numeric. For example, John Doe.

Number

Number should conform to the following patterns: range, integer, decimal. For example, 100402.55.

Boolean

Selection is made in Default Value: true, false.

DateTime

The value is populated with the current date and time automatically, for example, 2019-Jan-09 02:34:57 (Europe/Minsk). To manually set up, click Default Value, select the date and time you need, and click OK.

caution

The date and time formats for DateTime variables are defined in the regional settings of the operating system.

Secret

A variable of the Secret type is either selected from the list of Secret Entries previously added in Secrets Vault or created directly in the Default Value field via Add Secret Entry.

Complex types

Complex variable types consist of multiple values, each of the String type. These are List and Table.

Lists and tables are needed when you want to do the same set of actions for all their items (rows or columns), for example, send an email to each person in an email list, input an account number and amount for each transaction in a table, and so on.

List

List should conform to the following patterns: length, character set in the list content. For example, ['Hydrogen', 'Helium', 'Lithium'].

note

A List variable can have up to 2,147,483,647 elements.

Table

Table should conform to the following patterns: rows, columns, character set in the table content. For example, [['Afghanistan', 'Afghani', 'AFN'], ['Albania', 'Lek', 'ALL'], ['Algeria', 'Algerian Dinar', 'DZD']].

A Table variable can have any number of elements but is restricted to the memory that you allocate to Recorder.

List of reserved words

The following reserved words cannot be used as Recorder variable names, and thus turn red if entered into the Name field.

See reserved words

• __botExecutionConfig__
• __sys_execution_finish_listeners__
• applicationContextPath
• applicationHost
• assignment
• automationAppUrl
• automationPassword
• applicationResourceUrl
• automationUser
• dataStoreProperties
• exportResult
• formBasedAuthSessionTtl
• hit_submission_data_item
• includedConfigs
• item
• machineConfigText
• machineWorkerPrefix
• ocrProperties
• pluginsExecutionRecords
• poolableObject
• prevData
• recorder_
• recorder_.
• recorderImagesBucket
• releaseDate
• restFormAuthEnable
• s3AccessKey
• s3EndpointUrl
• s3KeyMap
• s3SecretKey
• s3SignerType
• seleniumServer
• sysOcrApiUrl
• source
• tableauDbPassword
• tableauDbUrl
• tableauDbUser
• title
• TOWER_BOT_
• userInternalCredentials
• wfbiPassword
• wfbiUrl
• wfbiUser
• workfusionAccessKey
• workfusionSecretKey

The words below are Groovy language keywords that also cannot be used as names for Recorder variables. Even if you can define the Groovy keywords as names, your script will fail in case you publish it to Control Tower.

See Groovy language keywords

• as
• assert
• author
• break
• case
• catch
• class
• const
• continue
• def
• default
• do
• else
• enum
• extends
• false
• finally
• for
• goto
• if
• implements
• import
• in
• instanceof
• interface
• log
• new
• null
• package
• return
• start_date
• super
• switch
• this
• throw
• throws
• trait
• true
• try
• while

Use variables

Set action parameters

After you've created and defined variables, you can use them in action parameters (Enter Keystrokes, Clipboard, If-Else, Launch Application, and others).

Start typing a variable name and select an appropriate item or press Enter.

Recorder automatically wraps the variable name with the ${} symbols.

note

If you delete any of the wrapping symbols or modify the variable name to a non-existing one, the whole expression is treated as a string.

You can use the Recorder variables in the free text fields, such as:

• Path to an application

  

• Path to a file

  

• Web element

  

caution

The autocomplete function is not available for free text fields. So, take care to enter the variable name correctly in the defined format. The variable syntax in action parameters looks as follows: ${variable_name}.

When running a recording, bots substitute all variables with their respective values and performs comparisons, calculations, parsing, and other operations defined in Actions Flow.

Parse lists and tables

When using variables in actions that require types conversion (for example, Clipboard from List or Table to String and vice versa), follow the instruction below:

1. Enter Row Separator.

   

2. Enter Column Separator.

3. Enter Surrounding symbols for column data.

4. Enable or disable Trimming, which refers to removing leading and trailing spaces.

5. To test the conversion, click Test settings and paste your list or table content there.

   

6. Enter other separators if needed.

Get value from lists and tables

A value of each list or table element can be retrieved using the element's index.

Define indices explicitly as an integer:

• ${list_variable[1]}
• ${table_variable.get(1,2)}

Alternatively, declare the indices as a Recorder variable of the Number type:

• ${list_variable[index]}
• ${table_variable.get(row_index,column_index)}, where index, row_index and column_index are Recorder variables of the Number type.

note

• In List variables, numbering of elements starts with 1.
• In Table variables, numbering of rows and columns starts with 1.

Use indices with lists

Recorder variables are as follows:

• product_list is a List variable. 5 is a numeric constant (5th element in the List).

  For example, ${product_list[5]}.

• my_list is a List variable. counter is a Number variable.

  For example, ${my_list[counter]}.

• list_input is a List variable. iteration is a Number variable.

  For example, ${list_input[iteration as Integer]}.

Sample recording

The sample recording below demonstrates how to get values from the elements in a List variable. We will create a short recording to go through the entire list, get values from all elements, and populate them in Notepad (except the last one).

1. Create Recorder variables.

   • counter: a Number variable to iterate through the elements by indexes
   • my_list: a List variable
   • list_element: a String variable to receive the value from the List element
   • list_size: a Number variable to receive the number of the elements from the list
   • elements_to_type: a Number variable to receive the number of the list elements to populate in Notepad

   

2. Open Notepad with the Launch Application action to paste values from the list.

3. Use the Expression Value action to get the number of elements in the list.

   1. Select the List variable (my_list) to get the number of elements.
   2. Use the Get size option in the Expression.
   3. Select the Number variable (list_size) to save the result.

   

4. In the Expression Value action, define the number of elements to be printed to Notepad: all elements minus 1.

   1. Define the expression as ${list_size}-1 to prevent printing the last element.
   2. Select the Number variable (elements_to_type) to save the result.

   

5. Create a loop to iterate through the list. Use the While loop until the counter is less than the size of the list: ${counter} < ${list_size}. Mind that iteration starts from 1, as for any other array.

   

6. To get the element value, create a Constant Value action.

   1. Use the following construct to get the value from the List element: ${my_list[counter]}, where my_list[1] is an element from the list with index 1, counter is the Recorder variable defining the index of the element.
   2. Select the String variable (list_element) to save the result.

   

7. Use the Enter Keystrokes action to paste the value from the String variable (list_element_value) to Notepad.

8. Condition to insert the linefeed character. Use the If-Else condition to perform the nested action.

9. Insert the linefeed character. If the condition is true , insert the Enter character to Notepad with the Enter Keystrokes action.

10. Use the Expression Value action to increment the counter to 1.

    1. Define the expression as ${counter}+1.
    2. Select the Number variable (counter) to save the incremented value.

note

The recording was made with RPA Express 2.0.1. You can download the sample recording for further tests.

Use indices with tables

WorkFusion RPA API has several methods that allow retrieving values from rows, columns, and cells in a Table variable using indices.

It helps to avoid using multiple For Each Loop actions to iterate through the entire table. Users can access the values in the required elements in the table directly, thus making the script easier and faster.

Recorder variables are as follows:

• product_table is a Table variable.

  3,4 are numeric constants (4th element in the 3rd row in the table).

  Example: ${product_table.get(3,4)}

  Output: String

• my_table is a Table variable.

  row_counter, column_counter are Number variables.

  Example: ${my_table.get(row_counter,column_counter)}

  Output: String

• table_input is a Table variable.

  row_number is a Number variable

  Example: ${table_input.getRow(row_number)}

  Output: List

• table_values is a Table variable.

  column_number is a Number variable.

  Example: ${table_values.getColumn(column_number)}

  Output: List

Sample recording

A recording below shows how to get two values from a Table and type text with them in Notepad.

1. Create Recorder variables:

   • my_table is a Table variable.
   • row_index, column_index are the Number variables used to define the coordinates of the value in the table.
   • fruit, day are String variables to receive the value from the table elements.

   

2. Open Notepad with the Launch Application action.

3. Use the Constant Value action to get the value of an element in the table.

   1. Select the String variable (fruit) to save the value of the target element.
   2. Use the get() method to get the value of the element.
   3. Define the row and column of the element using Integer values: (1,2)–row 1, column 2.
   4. Write the expression to get the element value in the Set value field: ${my_table(1,2)}.

   

4. Use the Constant Value action to get the value of another element in the table.

   1. Select the String variable (day) to save the value of the target element.

   2. Use the get() method to get the value of the element.

   3. Define the row and column of the element using the Recorder variables of the Number type (row_index,column_index).

   4. Write the expression to get the element value in the Set value field: ${my_table(row_index,column_index)}.

      

5. Use the Enter Keystrokes action to type a text containing the values in the ${fruit} and ${day} variables to Notepad.

   

It is possible to use expressions directly in the Enter Keystrokes action.

note

The recording was made with RPA Express 2.1.3. You can download the sample recording for further tests.

Variables log

Upon execution of a recording or several steps of the recording, a log file is created in the Recording folder.

The log file contains the values of all Recorder variables after the last step.

Import and export variables

When importing a bot step from a Business Process to Recorder, all its input data is accessible in the Recorder Variables view.

All Recorder variables are exported together with the recording and are available in the Control Tower Business Process.