Web Browser (Legacy) - Get value |
Declaration
<AMBROWSER ACTIVITY="getvalue" PATH="text" HTMLID="text" HTMLNAME="text" HTMLTAG="text" HTMLCONTENTS="text" USEMATCH="number" SESSION="text" RESULTDATASET="text" ATTRIBUTE="text"><HTMLATTRIBUTE NAME="text" VALUE="text" /></AMBROWSER>
Description
Gets the value of a given HTML element in an established web browser session and places the results in a variable or dataset.
Practical Usage
Used to simulate the process of manually copying the value displayed in a text box or control for the purpose of pasting it onto another program, application, or web browser window.
Parameters
Location
Property | Type | Required | Default | Markup | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Session name | Text | Yes | BrowserLegacySession1 | SESSION="mySession" | The name of an existing session to attach this activity to. Numerous sessions can exist within a single task allowing several web browser operations to be performed simultaneously on separate browser windows. |
Select browser | --- | --- | --- | --- | This activity comprises Automate's Window Dissection technology to facilitate the discovery of existing windows and their controls. To select the target browser window, make certain the window is open and in the foreground (in front of all other open windows). Click and drag the magnifier icon, and then drop it over the window. If the window is supported by this activity, a green border will appear around it. Upon release, the Browser and URL parameters are populated with appropriate values. Alternatively, you can manually select a browser, enter the desired URL, and then click Open to test. |
Browser | Text (options) | Yes | Internet Explorer | BROWSER="Firefox" | The following browsers are supported with this activity:
|
URL | Text | Yes | (Empty) | URL="www.google.com" | The URL this activity should be performed on (for example, www.helpsystems.com or https://www.helpsystems.com). |
Locate HTML elements | --- | --- | --- | --- | The
following parameters relate to the specification of HTML elements
required to identify the object that this activity should be performed
on. To pinpoint an HTML element (in this case, the button to click), ensure the desired URL has been entered in the URL text box, and then click Open. The hand icon will now become enabled. Click and drag the hand icon, and then drop it over the desired control in the browser window. If the control is supported by this activity, a blue border will appear around it. Specific parameters become enabled depending on which elements were detected as a result of the drag and drop operation. You can further fine tune your selection by editing these parameters. NOTE: The overall speed and accuracy of an element search is highly
dependent on the amount of contents an HTML document contains
as well as the type of criteria being used to search for the element.
Using an element's unique ID as a search method is considered
the fastest and most accurate method of locating an HTML element
because an element ID is always unique within an HTML document. |
Path within the document hierarchy | Text | No | (Empty) | PATH="/outer/inner/" | If the desired control is located within a floating frame, you can specify a frame hierarchy in this field. The specifier is a list of slash delimited frame identifiers (for example, "/outer_frame/inner_framer/"). |
Locate by identifier (best method) | Text | No | (Empty) | HTMLID="unique_ID" | If enabled, specifies that the unique ID identifying the target object will be searched. Specifying an element's unique identifier (where it is supported) is the fastest and most accurate method of locating an HTML element due to the fact that an ID must be unique within the HTML document. This parameter is disabled by default. |
Locate by name (certain elements) | Text | No | (Empty) | HTMLNAME="element_name" | If enabled, specifies that the unique name identifying the target object will be searched. Specifying an element's unique name (where it is supported) is a fast and accurate method of locating an HTML element due to the fact that an element name must be unique within the HTML document. This parameter is disabled by default. |
Locate by HTML tag | Text | No | (Empty) | HTMLTAG="tagName" | If enabled, specifies that the start tag (or opening tag) identifying the target object will be searched. |
Locate by attributes (case-sensitive, all must match) | --- | --- | --- | --- | If enabled, allows attribute name / value pairs to be used as search criteria. Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements. If this option is enabled ,the parameters specified below become active. This parameter is disabled by default. |
Attribute name | Text | No | (Empty) | HTMLATTRIBUTE NAME="foo" VALUE="bar" | The name of the attribute to search for. Click Add to enter a new attribute name / value pair. To remove an existing name / value pair, highlight the proper row of data, and then click Remove. |
Attribute value | Text | No | (Empty) | HTMLATTRIBUTE NAME="foo" VALUE="bar" | The name of the attribute to search for. Click Add to enter a new attribute name / value pair. To remove an existing name / value pair, highlight the proper row of data, and then click Remove. |
Locate by content (not recommended, slow) | Text | No | (Empty) | HTMLCONTENTS="contents" | If
enabled, specifies that any textual and graphical content
between the start and end tags will be used as search criteria.
This parameter is disabled by default. NOTE: This search method is exceedingly
slow. Use as a last resort if all other methods cannot
be used. |
Restrict to specific match | Number | No | (Empty) | USEMATCH="4" | If enabled, specifies which occurrence to use if there are multiple matches. For example, if five text boxes match and this parameter is set to 4, it will apply the activity to the fourth text box. This parameter is disabled by default. |
Interaction
Property | Type | Required | Default | Markup | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Copy | Text(options) | Yes | Text |
|
The
type of value to copy. The available options are:
|
Place a single match in variable | Text | No | (Empty) | RESULTVARIABLE="myVar" | The name of an existing variable to populate with the individual match. |
Place a number of matches in dataset | Text | No | (Empty) | RESULTDATASET="myDataset" | The name of the dataset in which to populate with all matches. |
Example
- The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps Panel of the Task Builder.
- Parameters containing user credentials, files, file paths, and/or other information specific to the task must be customized before the sample code can run successfully.
Description
This task creates a variable named "myVar" and opens an Internet Explorer browser window set to the web page http://www.google.com. A Get value activity is then performed to retrieve the value of the I'm Feeling Lucky button and populates the "myVar" variable with results. Finally, a Close browser step closes the browser window and ends the session.
<AMVARIABLE NAME="myVar" VALUE="" />
<AMBROWSER URL="https://www.google.com/" SESSION="mySession" />
<AMBROWSER ACTIVITY="getvalue" HTMLNAME="btnI" USEMATCH="2" SESSION="BrowserLegacySession1" RESULTVARIABLE="myVar" ATTRIBUTE=":text" />
<AMSHOWDIALOG>%myVar%</AMSHOWDIALOG>