UiPath related

[burque505]

First, thanks to those who created this sub-forum.

I've been using AHK with UiPath since about October 2017. I had to take a break from UiPath for well over a year, but I have the latest community edition installed again, and have AutoHotkey running. I'll share some of my experiences here. They may well not be suited for those just starting with UiPath, and you're encouraged to take the free training they offer.

I'll include a few screenshots for contrast and comparison with other RPA.

UiPath has a concept of "Activities", which may be familiar to those using other MS Workflow software. AHK is accessed by an Activities package that (at least as of this writing) is "UiPath.Script.Activities." The AHK portion of it is based on AutoHotkey.Interop. It imposes a few restrictions you'll want to be aware of.

1) You can only access a script's functions. Labels don't appear to work, or at least I haven't been successful with them yet. The function's parameters are passed as a collection. You can establish its members in the Activity's "Properties" page.

l-props.PNG (9 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

2) You must first create variables in the workflow, and then use them later as Parameters. The use of variables and arguments is covered extensively in the UiPath training.

l-params.PNG (26.27 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

L-vars.PNG (9.66 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

I will continue this thread in the next post, as I have to add more screenshots and post some example UiPath and AHK code.

[burque505]

Perhaps this should have gone in the first post in this topic. Here's an example of how a "flowchart" workflow looks in the UiPath designer.

Levenshtein.PNG (20.44 KiB) Viewed 7849 times

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As you can see, UiPath allows annotation of each element of the workflow. As tank points out elsewhere, it's critical to liberally comment and annotate your code. Even if you wrote it yourself, if you come back to it after six months you'll be REALLY glad you did.

For those who feel like diving in without RTFMs, I'm attaching a workflow that uses an AHK script ("LDistance.ahk") and a helper script ("Fuzzy Test Function LD.ahk") to compute Levenshtein distances for a simple collection. The UiPath workflow, which is a .xaml file, is "L5.xaml."

l-output.PNG (19.78 KiB) Viewed 7849 times

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Managing project dependencies in UiPath is critical. It's a DotNet program, so this may be no surprise. From the UiPath start screen, there is a "Tools" section which allows mass dependency updating. It is helpful, but not necessarily intuitive.

For this project you will definitely need "UiPath.Script.Activities." The version installed on my machine is 1.0.6473.22268. There is a newer version at this URL, , which is in the "Gallery." THE GALLERY IS REPORTED TO BE GOING AWAY MARCH 31, 2019! It will be supplanted by UiPath Go! which doesn't appear to have ANY AutoHotkey content yet.

[tank]

Of all the products out there I really like UIPath the best.

[burque505]

So far, me too.

[Tigerlily]

Hi burque505,

Thanks for sharing!

When you started out with UiPath (and AA), did you first start with their training/tutorial resources to guide you on what to do for your first few tests/projects?

Here is a picture of the main menu once you get into UiPath (for those who haven't seen it yet and are curious):



Also @burque505 - I noiiced at the bottom left of that picture it says Expires in 12 Weeks - do you think that just means the installer expires in 12 weeks, or I can only tinker around with the community edition for 12 weeks?

[burque505]

Hi, I went through UiPath training online. There are lots of resources. The Community Edition expires every 12 weeks, and you have to renew (still free).
Regards,
burque505