Window Trigger
Description
Triggers task execution when the specified window opens, closes, is focused, or loses focus.
Practical usage
Useful in a back office (or unattended) environment to monitor the system for application generated error dialogs. These dialogs can be automatically handled when they appear. For example, a notification message can be sent to the system administrator upon the occurrence of an error.
Parameters
General
This trigger comprises Automate Desktop's Window Dissection technology to facilitate the discovery of existing windows and their controls.
To select the target window:
- Ensure the window is open and in the foreground (in front of all other open windows).
- Drag and release the magnifier icon over the window. If the window is supported by this trigger, a green border appears around it.
- Upon releasing the icon, identified window properties are populated onto the editor. These properties can be enabled, disabled or modified.
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger if/when | Options | Specifies the window state to
monitor. The available options are:
|
| Triggers once when the window is first open | Yes/No | If enabled,
specifies that the action to be performed on the window being
monitored occurs only once when that window first opens and
ignore other instances (disabled by default). For example, if
this trigger is set to wait for Notepad to close, enabling this
option tells the trigger to watch for the first instance of Notepad
to open and activate only when that first instance closes. If
a second instance of Notepad opens and closes before the first
instance, that action is ignored. NOTE: This option is
available only if the Trigger
if/when parameter is set to Window
open. |
| Triggers once when the window is last closed | Yes/No | If enabled,
specifies that the action to be performed on the window being
monitored occurs only once when that window last closes and
ignore other instances (disabled by default). For example, if
this trigger is set to wait for Notepad to open, enabling this
option tells the trigger to watch for the first instance of Notepad
to close and activate only when that first instance opens. If
a second instance of Notepad closes and opens before the first
instance, that action is ignored. NOTE: This option is
available only if the Trigger
if/when parameter is set to Window
closed. |
|
Hold focus |
Yes/No |
If enabled, specifies that the focused window that caused the trigger to fire
is kept in the foreground (on top of all other windows),
preventing all other windows from stealing focus. NOTE: This option is
available only if the Trigger
if/when parameter is set to Window
focused. |
| By window title | Text | If enabled, specifies the title of the window to monitor. The value is not case sensitive. This parameter supports wildcard characters (that is, * and ?). For example, entering *Internet Explorer* includes all windows containing Internet Explorer (enabled by default). |
| By window class | Text | If enabled, specifies the class of the window to monitor. A window class is a set of attributes that the system uses as a template to create a window. Every window is a member of a window class. All window classes are process specific. The value is not case sensitive. This parameter supports wildcard characters (that is, * and ?). For example, entering *Explore* includes all window classes containing Explore (disabled by default). |
| By window handle | Text | If enabled, specifies the handle of the window to monitor. A window handle is code that uniquely identifies an open window (disabled by default). |
| Window is a child window | Yes/No | If enabled,
specifies that the window to monitor is a child window. A child
window is normally a secondary window on screen that is displayed
within the main overall window of the application. A child
window is a window has the following properties:
NOTE: This option is available only if the Trigger
if/when parameter is set to Window
focused or Window not
focused. |
Contents
If multiple windows with the same title exists, it might be necessary to use Automate Desktop Object Editor to specify additional criteria, such as unique objects, controls, or properties, in order to distinguish one window from another. To identify additional elements, enable Window must contain the following objects and click Add to open the Object Editor dialog.
To specify additional elements:
- Drag and release the magnifier icon over the desired object or control. The Object properties grid becomes populated with a list of name / value pairs unique to that object. Individual values can be enabled / disabled according to preference.
- Click Browse to traverse the list of available objects / controls for the selected window. Select the desired object from the Window contents column and click OK. The Object properties grid becomes populated with a list of defined properties unique to that object. Individual values can be enabled or disabled according to preference.
The following are available object properties:
| Property | Type | Required | Default | Markup | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toolkit | Text | No | (Empty) |
|
If
enabled, specifies that the toolkit (a set of basic building
units for graphical user interfaces) will be examined when determining
a matching object. If disabled, the toolkit will be ignored. The toolkit that appears is based on the Accessibility engine used:
|
| Type | Text | No | (Empty) | TYPE=PushButton | If enabled, specifies that the object type (that is, Button, Checkbox, Trackbar) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the type is ignored. |
| Class | Text | No | (Empty) | CLASS=SysTreeView32 | If enabled, specifies that the object class (that is, XTPToolBar, SysTreeView, MDIClient) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the class is ignored. |
| FrameworkId | Text | No | (Empty) | FRAMEWORKID=WPF | If enabled, specifies that the object framework ID (the framework technology used to create the object) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the framework ID is ignored. |
| Name | Text | No | (Empty) | NAME=Cancel | If enabled, specifies that the object name (a unique identifier for an object) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the name is ignored. |
| AutomationId | Text | No | (Empty) | AUTOMATIONID=System | If enabled, specifies that the object automation ID (a unique identifier for an object) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the automation ID is ignored. |
| Value | Text | No | (Empty) | VALUE=1 | If enabled, specifies that the object value (which usually coincides with the Name property) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the value is ignored. |
| Role | Text | No | (Empty) | ROLE=desktop pane | If enabled, specifies that the object role type (the control type provided by the Java Accessibility bridge) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the role type is ignored. |
| Description | Text | No | (Empty) | DESCRIPTION=JScrollPane | If enabled, specifies that the object description (the description given for an object) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the description is ignored. |
| X | Number | No | (Empty) | X=80 | If
enabled, specifies that the object X coordinate (a given
number of pixels along the horizontal axis of a window starting
from the extreme left side) is examined when determining
a matching object. If disabled, the X coordinate is
ignored. NOTE: The X and Y coordinates are relative to the specified window as
opposed to the screen. |
| Y | Number | No | (Empty) | Y=90 | If
enabled, specifies that the object Y coordinate (a given
number of pixels along the vertical axis of a window starting
from the top-most portion) is examined when determining a
matching object. If disabled, the Y coordinates is ignored.
NOTE: The X and Y coordinates are relative to the specified window as
opposed to the screen. |
| Width | Number | No | (Empty) | WIDTH=711 | If enabled, specifies that the object pixel width is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the pixel width is ignored. |
| Height | Number | No | (Empty) | HEIGHT=42 | If enabled, specifies that the object pixel height is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the pixel height is ignored. |
| IndexInParent | Text | No | (Empty) | INDEXINPARENT=1 | If enabled, specifies that the object index in parent number (the numeric identifier of a child object located within a parent object) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the index in parent number is ignored. |
| ParentPath | Text | No | (Empty) | PARENTPATH=50032|50033 | If enabled, specifies that the object parent path (the sequence of control type identifiers that lead to the object) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the parent path is ignored. |
| Occurrence | Number | No | (Empty) | OCCURRENCE=1 | If enabled, specifies that the object occurrence (the numeric identifier of an object, useful when multiple matching objects are found) is examined when determining a matching object. If disabled, the occurrence is ignored. |
Advanced
| Property | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Delay to wait for before analyzing a window | Number | Specifies a delay, in milliseconds (default is 1000), to prevent the window trigger from immediately checking window contents. |
Behavior
| Property | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Trigger | Yes/No | If selected, the trigger is immediately active upon creation. If disabled, the trigger remains inactive until it is manually enabled. This parameter is selected by default. |
| Trigger on startup if condition is true | Yes/No | If enabled, the system acts upon conditions that already exist upon startup of the current trigger. For example, if the Notepad window is already open on the desktop, a newly created Window trigger set to monitor for the existence of a Notepad window immediately launches the task as a result. If disabled, the trigger ignores the open Notepad window upon startup. This parameter is disabled by default. |
| Trigger after the condition has been met 'X' times. | Yes/No | If enabled, specifies how many times the trigger condition must be met before the task starts. For example, if a Window trigger is set to monitor for the appearance of a Notepad window and this parameter is set to 3, the task does not launch until the third instance of Notepad appears on the desktop. |
Additional notes
AMTrigger
When this trigger is activated, it automatically passes the AMTrigger object to the task. AMTrigger is a standard Automate Desktop dataset and can be used much like the datasets created by the Database - SQL query activity and Email action. The fields of AMTrigger can be used within a task to determine specific values, such as whether or not the task is started by a trigger, which trigger started the task, when the trigger is activated and other properties. AMTrigger populates a unique set of field–value pairs for each Automate Desktop trigger. The following table lists the ones specific to this trigger. For more details about a specific AMTrigger field–value pair, click the associated link.
| Name | Data Type | Return Value |
|---|---|---|
| AMTrigger.Action | String | Returns the action that took place to cause the task to trigger. |
| AMTrigger.WindowClass | Number | Returns the unique window class of the window that activated the trigger. |
| AMTrigger.WindowHandle | String | Returns the handle of the window that activated the trigger. |
| AMTrigger.WindowTitle | String | Returns the title of the window that activated the trigger. |
NOTE: A full list of AMTrigger
objects exclusive to each trigger can be viewed from the Expression
Builder by expanding Objects
> Triggers and then selecting the desired trigger.