Release Notes LGI RPA Version 24

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Release Notes
LGI RPA Version 24

What's New

License management

Experience our revamped license management system:

  • ⇾Simplified license management: Enjoy easy, unparalleled self-service control over managing licenses.
  • ⇾Seamless integration: All installations seamlessly integrate with the new license management system.
  • ⇾Licensing portal: Access tailored experience for managing licenses effectively and efficiently. No need to engage Support team.
Ribbon
  • ⇾Build -> ContentObjects From Last button - reloads your last Quick Capture screen to allow learning from that screen capture
  • ⇾Build -> Settings -> Turn Off Logging - Toggle button that allows temporarily stopping Log_ commands from writing to the log
Project Explorer
  • ⇾Added Project Logging tab and logging enhancements
AutomationProject
  • ⇾AssureTargetWindowFitsDesktop - Settable from Project Explorer Advanced tab, when set to 1 during ContentObject evaluation whose Window property=1, a check is first made to see that the foreground window is either within the bounds of the desktop or is maximized, if not within, the window will be moved so that it is within the bounds of the desktop. The default is 0 (the feature is not enabled). Be sure to understand possible ramifications text changes its fringing colors. The setting will be applied on the next project load. In code you can toggle this behavior (it will not save the setting) using C.Project.SetAssureFitsDesktop
  • ⇾UseDelayedLeftClick / ClickDelay - Settable from Project Explorer Advanced tab. When UseDelayedLeftClick is set to 1 (the setting will be applied on the next project load), ContentObject. LeftClick methods and MouseDevice. LeftClick will hover over the click location for the specified delay in ClickDelay before sending the click. This can be very useful for Citrix sessions. You can tune the delay interval by setting ClickDelay (the default is 100 ms). In code you can toggle this behavior (it will not save the setting) using C.Project.SetClickDelay
ContentObject Features
  • ⇾Behavior Region Auto Pick: Simplify the creation of behavior regions within textboxes or grid cells. This feature automatically expands from the clicked point to the nearest connected shape, enhancing accuracy and usability.
  • ⇾Edit LookFor Mask Fringing: Improve text recognition by masking common text fringe colors, which can significantly reduce the number of steps in the "Compare -> Add Difference Map Mask" cycles. While not perfect for all scenarios, this tool is a substantial aid in handling varying text colors.
  • ⇾Add/Show Comments button: Enhance documentation by adding timestamped comments directly within the ContentObject’s properties, facilitating better tracking and review processes.
  • ⇾Test Lookfor Enhancements: Now includes an attempt to activate the target window using the stored ActivateCaption property before testing. If activation fails but the test succeeds, the discrepancy is noted in the status bar, improving troubleshooting and efficiency.
  • ⇾Test Timeout Setting: Set a duration for how long the system will attempt to locate a Lookfor during tests, particularly useful for monitoring screen transitions and ensuring robust application performance.
  • ⇾Advanced Properties in Behavior Region Editor: New settings and methods for evaluating if a behavior region contains image content, offering more sophisticated analysis capabilities and enhancing automation accuracy.
  • ⇾New commands especially useful for Meditech Expanse or any other EMR system that uses color fills to indicate focus. Note these methods require setting FocusColor in the Behavior Region editor Advanced Properties tab. For Meditech Expanse, use the Add Meditech Expanse Textbox Features button to do this.
    • ⇾ClickPauseForFocusColor
    • ⇾ClickPauseFocusColorTabData
  • ⇾HasContentObjectLookfor and related methods - Allows detecting if the specified behavior region has a ContentObject's lookfor in it.
  • ⇾ContentObject.ActivatePosition - uses newly added ScreenSizeRectString property to size and position the window.
WindowUtils
  • ⇾Activate commands more aggressively attempt to set the foreground window. LastError will indicate possible cause for failure to force the window to the foreground.
VBA (cApplication)
  • ⇾ShowImmediate - allows displaying the Immediate window visibility from code
  • ⇾ClearImmediate - allows clearing the Immediate window from code. Note this is sending keyboard event messages and requires the Immediate window to accept and keep focus.

Improvements

Breaking Changes
  • ⇾The install directory and executable names have changed for the Runtime and IDE. Existing shortcuts, scheduled tasks or batch files or any references in code to previous install directories that use renamed or moved files or folders must be updated. Please contact support for assistance! References in VBA are automatically updated, references in .NET will need to be updated
  • ⇾WebView has been removed from WorkStation assembly and is now in a separate dll/tlb. Any automations that use WebView must add a reference to BrowserLib.tlb (VBA), BrowserLib.dll (.NET). BrowserLib is in Program Files (x86)\LGI_RPA\BrowserLib. No other changes are anticipated.
  • ⇾The feature to select a different .BWSX file other than the default AutomationTemplates.BWSX for automation templates displayed in the New Project wizard has been removed. If you used this feature to library your own templates in a separate .BWSX file please contact Support.
  • ⇾Maximized windows that have square windows report back negative position information. ContentObject Behavior Region calculations were using this information and this caused the Behavior Region to be high and to the left by the negative position amounts. Now negative positions are converted to 0. It is situationally possible you may have inadvertently or implicitly adjusted for this change by fighting this behavior with offsets or offset Behavior Regions or simply through muscle memory when building your Behavior Regions.
    • ⇾This can be rolled back to the original (bad) behavior using:
      • ⇾C.Utilities.SetUseOldGetWindowRect true
    • ⇾And toggled back to the current default fixed behavior using:
      • ⇾C.Utilities.SetUseOldGetWindowRect false
  • ⇾ContentObjects now evaluate perhaps hundreds of milliseconds faster than previous versions. This could have unintended consequences since everything ContentObject related will run perhaps many times faster - especially if you had evaluations inside of loops, you may have relied on a intrinsic delay without knowing about it.
    • ⇾You can introduce a delay using:
    • ⇾C.Utilities.SetPostCOExistsDelay 200 ' slow down ContentObject evaluations by 200 milliseconds.
    • ⇾Set to 0 to return to default speed.
  • ⇾Deprecated Functionality:
    • ⇾BehaviorRegion supports storing a static Byte[] array to be evaluated for existence. This concept is now implemented using the methods described here.
      • ⇾The following methods use this stored static Byte[] approach and should be considered as depreciated. These will be subject to removal in a subsequent release and should not be used
        • ⇾LeftClickableLookfor
        • ⇾RightClickableLookfor
        • ⇾DoubleLeftClickableLookfor
        • ⇾DoubleRightClickableLookfor
        • ⇾TripleClickableLookfor
        • ⇾HasBitmapLookfor

Bug Fixes

Installer
  • ⇾The installer now detects and warns if a prior version of software is installed and prevents the install until prior version is removed.
General
  • ⇾KeyboardDevice Copy/Paste only tried once which made them susceptible to internal exceptions based on environmental conditions impacting the System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard object. A retry/timeout approach is now implemented on the commands by default, timeout intervals are configurable via optional parameters.
  • ⇾WindowsUtils Activate commands were not as aggressive as they could be at forcing the specified window to the foreground.
  • ⇾Maximized windows that have square windows report back negative position information. ContentObject Behavior Region calculations were using this information and this caused the Behavior Region to be high and to the left by the negative position amounts. Now negative positions are converted to 0.
  • ⇾DataStation View dragged code for data entry was not correct
  • ⇾Unhandled exception of the last item in Autoclose on shutdown editor was deleted.
  • ⇾If multiple Behavior Regions are defined, deleting on and performing a test read when editing another could cause an unhandled exception.
  • ⇾Utilities.CreateAutomationCommandLine was missing optional parameter for passing arguments.
  • ⇾On small displays the save button on ContentObjects Properties tab would be hidden and not accessable
  • ⇾Rarely an unhandled exception could occur when clicking a ContentObject in the ContentObjects's list
  • ⇾Creating or deleting a Crosswalk now immediately updates the ContentObjects class in VBA
Browser
  • ⇾Browser ribbon tab group Show Learner icon is constantly display. This does a better job of re-launching the browser learner if there was an activate browser session started by the the learner or in code.
  • ⇾Browser learner returned xPath findstrings that evaluate text correctly use contains of needed.
  • ⇾Browser learner now buttons (upper right corner below the standard Windows form icons) to allow re-expanding or contracting the window.
  • ⇾EdgeOptions/ChromeOptions AddUserProfilePreference was appending leading pipe to the stored setting, causing this to be ignored if multiple values were set.
  • ⇾Automatic syncing of Chrome/Edge drivers logs wrote spurious entries. The logs themselves have improved. Chrome/Edge drivers are now stored in ProgramData/LGI_RPA/WebDrivers. This will prevent possible permissions issues.
  • ⇾StartBrowser did not have the ability to close webdrivers. Detection if Chrome is installed was improved.

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