Task Administrator Main Panel

Overview

The Task Administrator's main panel is the central workspace where relevant information is displayed and a majority of operations are performed. When a specific view is selected from the Navigation bar, this panel becomes populated with the features and contents corresponding to that view. The main panel's design enables you to view certain aspects of a folder or task without having to drill down to its properties. For instance, you can easily view key information about a particular task (for example, previous/next launch date, latest execution result) by displaying the Information bar (shown below) or switching the layout view to Details. You can also determine aspects by way of the icons associated to each task. For example, if a task is disabled, its associated icon will appear grayed out. If a task failed at its previous execution, the icon will appear red. If a task incudes one or more triggers, its icon is altered to contain an image associated with that trigger or a special image specifying multiple triggers.

Related Topics

ClosedAvailable controls

The table below describes various features and controls that can be found in Task Administrator's main panel:

Feature/Control Description
Back / Forward Use the Back button to go back to the last location or search results you were viewing, and the Forward button to return to the next location or search results.
Views Dictates how managed tasks and folders should be displayed. Use views to switch to the type of view that best fits your needs. The available options are:
  • Tiles (default) - Provides a visual balance between graphical and textual information. Object name is displayed along with large icon.
  • Icons - Similar to Tile View but displays smaller icons.
  • List - Objects are displayed in a vertical list along with a small icon.
  • Details - Displays a grid view with a list of details (for example, Object name, Type, Started on, Ended on, Result, Created by, Created on, and much more). Right-clicking a column header allows customization of column sizes and enables selection of which columns to shown/hide. Left-clicking a column sorts its data in ascending/descending order.

Groups

 Enables managed tasks and folders to be sequenced in related sets of groups. Use groups to make navigating large lists easier by grouping items alphabetically, by name, type, result and other logical grouping. The available options are:
  • Name - Sorts objects by name
  • Type - Sorts objects by type (for example, task or folder).
  • Enabled - Sorts tasks by enabled or disabled status. This option is relevant only to tasks, not folders.
  • Result - Sort tasks by last execution result (for example, Not yet run, Success, Fail). This option is relevant only to tasks, not folders.
  • Status - Sort tasks by status (for example, Idle, Running, Queued). This option is relevant only to tasks, not folders.
  • Show in groups - If selected, displays a group heading as a way to better allocate each grouped information. For example, if items are grouped by Name, headings A - Z are displayed.
Search Filter Defines search criteria to provide better control over which tasks to display. Enter a word or phrase in the search box to look for an item in the current folder. The search begins as soon as you begin typing—so if you enter "B," for example, all the files with names starting with the letter B will appear in the file list.
Information Bar Displays common properties and execution details associated with the selected task, such as the task name, last execution result, last launch date and next launch date. If a folder is selected, the Information bar will display the number of items contained in that folder. To toggle the Information Bar on or off, go to Views > Toggle Information Panel.
Column headings In Details view, you can use the column headings to change how the tasks in the task list are organized. For example, you can tap or click the Last Run heading to sort by execution date (with the task that ran most recently at the top). If you tap or click the column heading again, the tasks are sorted with the oldest ones at the top. Click the down arrow to the right of a column heading or right-click a column heading to select other columns to add.

ClosedShortcut menus

When working with objects that appear in the Task Administrator's main panel, shortcut menus (or right-click menus) can be opened by way of user interaction that target a specific object (for example, folder or task) or a region of the workspace that contains no objects. The options and commands that appear in the shortcut menu vary depending on whether a right-click action is being performed on an empty part of the interface, on a specific folder or a specific task. The following tables will describe the available commands.  

Shortcut menu - Task

Right-clicking on a task displays a shortcut menu with the following items. Note that some items may be irrelevant when a right-click is performed on multiple items.

Menu items

The following table describes the available menu items for tasks:

Menu Item Description Hot Key
Edit Steps Opens the Task Builder to enable modification of task steps. ---
Edit Triggers Opens the trigger properties of the task in order to add new triggers, modify or remove existing triggers. For more details, see Triggers. ---
Run Immediately executes the specified tasks. This allows a user to manually run a task at any point in time. To select more than one task, hold down CTRL during selection.
NOTE: Execution behavior may depend on certain managed task properties as well, such as Logon and Priority properties.
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Export Exports the selected tasks. To select more than one task, hold down CTRL during selection. This operation differs slightly depending whether a single task or multiple tasks are being exported. For more details, see Exporting Tasks. ---
Cut Removes the selected objects from the current location of the main panel and copies it to the clipboard. The data in the clipboard can later be inserted in the position where the Paste command is issued. To select more than one object, hold down CTRL during selection. CTRL + X
Copy Creates a duplicate of the selected objects and places the data in a clipboard. The data in the clipboard can later be inserted in the position where the Paste command is issued.   CTRL + C
Select All Selects all objects that appear in the main panel. CTRL + A
Delete Removes the selected items from the main panel. To select more than one item, hold down CTRL during selection. Deleting a folder will delete all subfolders and tasks contained in that folder. By default, deleting a task will display a message dialog prompting whether to delete the associated task (.AML) file. DEL
Rename Renames the task or folder currently selected. This menu item is omitted if more than one object is selected. ---
Disable/Enable

Disables any triggers attached to the selected tasks or enables currently disabled triggers.

NOTE: A disabled task (which are grayed out by default) cannot run automatically, however, they can still be run manually. To run one or more tasks manually, from the Task Administrator's main panel, select the desired  tasks and click the Run button located on the top panel or simply right-clicking the tasks and select Run
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Properties Displays the task's properties. This menu item is inactive when a right-click is performed on multiple tasks. ---
Create Shortcut Creates a shortcut (.lnk) of the selected tasks in the specified location. This enables a task to run manually outside of Task Administrator. To select multiple tasks, hold down CTRL during selection. The available options are:
  • On Desktop - Creates a shortcut of the specified tasks on the desktop.
  • On Start Menu - Creates a shortcut of the specified tasks in the Start menu.
  • In Startup Group - Creates a shortcut of the specified tasks in Startup group.
  • In My Documents - Creates a shortcut of the specified tasks in My Documents.
  • In Custom Location - Creates a shortcut of the specified tasks in the location of your choice. Selecting this option opens a 'Browse for Folder' dialog for easy navigation to the shortcut location.
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Go to Enables quick navigation to the properties of the managed task. This menu item is inactive when a right-click is performed on multiple tasks. This menu item does not apply to multiple tasks. The available options are:

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Shortcut menu - Folder

Right-clicking on a folder displays a shortcut menu with the following items. Note that some items may be irrelevant when a right-click is performed on multiple items.

Menu items

The following table describes the available menu items for folders:

Menu Item Description Hot Key
Run all tasks Runs all of the tasks contained in the specified folder. As a precautionary measure, a prompt will open to confirm this action and allowing you to select whether to enable execution of tasks contained in subfolders (disabled by default). Note that this option does not support selection of multiple "parent" folders. ---
Cut Removes the selected objects from its current location and copies it to the clipboard. The data in the clipboard can later be inserted in the position where the Paste command is issued. To select more than one folder, hold down CTRL during selection. ---
Copy Creates a duplicate of the selected objects and places them in a clipboard. The clipboard items can later be inserted in the folder or position where the Paste command is issued.   ---
Paste Inserts clipboard items into the specified folder. ---
Select All Selects all objects that appear in the main panel. CTRL + X
Delete Removes the selected folders from the main panel. To select more than one object, hold down CTRL during selection. Deleting a folder will delete all subfolders and tasks contained in that folder. By default, deleting a task will display a message dialog prompting whether to delete the associated task (.AML) file. CTRL + C
Rename Renames the folder currently selected. This menu item is omitted if more than one folder is selected. ---
Properties Displays detailed information about the selected folder. This menu item is inactive when a right-click is performed on multiple folders. CTRL + A
Go to Displays the following details  about the folder:
  • Name - The name of the folder.
  • Unique ID - A unique alphanumeric value assigned to the folder.
  • Machine - The machine name or IP address of the computer where Automate Desktop is installed.
  • Path - The repository path to the folder.
  • Tasks - The total number of tasks contained in the folder.
  • Sub-folders - The total number of subfolders contained in the folder.
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Shortcut menu - Empty region

Performing a right mouse click on an empty region in the main panel displays a shortcut menu with the following items.

Menu items

The following table describes the available menu items that appear when right-clicking an empty region in the main panel:

Menu Item Description Hot Key
New Creates a new object. The available options are:
  • Managed task - Creates a new managed task in the current location. By default, creating a new task will open the Add Managed Task Wizard which will guide you through the steps of creating a task.
  • Folder - Creates a new folder in the current location.
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Import Imports the specified task (.AML) files into the Task Administrator. For more details, see Importing Tasks. ---
View Specifies how items in the managed tasks library are to be viewed when they are displayed in the main panel. The available options are:
  • Tiles (default) - Folders and tasks are displayed in a tile format.
  • Icons - Folders and tasks are displayed similar to how Windows icons are displayed and folder and/or task names appear below the icon.
  • List - Folders and tasks are arranged in a list format .
  • Detail - Task details will be displayed in a table format. Details include last run date/time, result, whether the task is enabled or disabled, next launch date, status and notes (entered in the Notes properties of the given task).
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Group by Sequences items that are displayed in the main panel by way of a specific attribute. The available options are:
  • Name (default) - Groups tasks and/or folders by name.
  • Type - Groups tasks and/or folders by type (for example, Task or Folder).
  • Enabled - Groups tasks by enable/disable status.
  • Result - Groups tasks by results (for example, Success, Failed, Aborted).
  • Status - Groups tasks by status (for example, Enabled or Disabled).
  • Show in groups - Determines whether to display the library in groups. If enabled, the library will be grouped by way of the attribute specified. If disabled, the library will not be grouped regardless of whether a specific attribute is specified.
NOTE: Results are displayed only if the View parameter is set to Details and the Show in groups option is enabled (checked).
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Refresh Brings task status and results up to date. Use this option when running multiple tasks concurrently in order to view the most current event based information that is generated by Task Administrator when set to the view is set to Details. ---
Paste Pastes the objects previously placed in the clipboard. This menu item is available only if there are objects in the clipboard at the time the right-click action is performed. CTRL + V
Select all Selects all objects that appear in the main panel. CTRL + A