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Description |
Runs the program or document specified. If a document is specified, the application associated with the document will be used to open it. Commonly used to start an application or open a document in preparation to send keystrokes, mouse clicks or other interactive steps. The Run action has built in conveniences such as waiting for the application to be ready for input (finished loading) before moving on to the next step. The properties dialog box has a built in Start menu for easy selection of the application. Remember that you can also specify documents in this action, so for many applications it is not necessary to first start the application and then use a separate step to open the document, as it can all be done in this one step. |
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Declaration |
<AMRUN FILE="text" DEFAULTFOLDER="text SINGLEINSTANCE="yes/no" WAITFORINPUT="yes/no" WAITFOREND="yes/no" RESULTVARIABLE="text" PROCESSIDVARIABLE="text [variablename]" WINDOWTITLEVARIABLE="text [variablename]" WINDOWCLASSVARIABLE="text [variablename]" WINDOWHANDLEVARIABLE="text [variablename]" WINDOWSTARTUP="text [options]" SINGLEINSTANCE="yes/no" ASEXPLORER="yes/no" DOS="yes/no" RESULTDATASET="text" /> |
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Example |
<AMRUN FILE="notepad.exe" /> <AMRUN FILE="%SystemRoot%\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE " DEFAULTFOLDER="%HOMEDRIVE + HOMEPATH%" PROCESSIDVARIABLE="VariableName1" WINDOWCLASSVARIABLE="VariableName2" SINGLEINSTANCE="YES" RESULTDATASET="DatasetName" /> |
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General Tab Parameters |
Run Text, Required Specifies the command line to run. This parameter should specify the full path and file name to the EXE, COM, BAT, or CMD file you wish to run. To specify a document, use the browse button or Start menu emulator and select the document. The properly formatted command line including the associated application for the document will be automatically built. Run Only if Another Instance is Not Running Yes/No, Optional, Default: NO If set to YES, specifies that the program specified on the Run [FILE] parameter should not be run if another instance of it is running on the current system already. If another instance is running when this option is enabled, the step will be ignored and it will not generate an error. Initial Window State Text, Optional, Default: "normal" Specifies the state of the application’s window at startup. The available options are:
Startup Folder Text, Optional, Default: (the folder of the application
specified in Run) Certain applications require a startup folder. This option is not required and is available primarily for legacy (older) applications. When not specified, the folder that the application resides in is used. |
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Wait Tab |
Wait Until Application is Ready for Input Yes/No, Optional, Default: YES When set to YES, specifies that the step should wait until the application is finished loading and is ready to receive input such as keystrokes or mouse clicks. Not enabling this parameter could result in the task moving to the next line too early which would cause any Interactivity steps to be sent into nothing (the application would not be loaded yet). Note: If the "Wait until application ends before continuing" [WAITFOREND] parameter is set to YES then this parameter is ignored. DOS applications, batch files, and certain console applications may not function correctly with the "Wait until application is ready for input before continuing" [WAITFORINPUT] parameter. This is because these applications do not support standard Windows event messaging that enables this kind of integration. For these applications, you may need to use a "Pause" <AMPAUSE> action or other method of waiting for the application to be ready for input. Wait Until Application Completes Yes/No, Optional, Default: NO When set to YES, specifies that the step should wait until after the application has either closed itself (in the case of batch files, scripts, or console applications) or is closed by the user (in the case of Windows applications). Populate Variable with Process ID Variable, Optional, Default: (blank) Specifies an already existing variable to be populated with the process ID. This parameter is only available when the Wait until application is ready for input parameter is set to YES. Populate Variable with Return Code Variable, Optional, Default: (blank) Specifies an already existing variable to be populated with the application-provided return code. This parameter is only available when the Wait until application completes [WAITFOREND] parameter is set to YES. Not all applications use return codes, so the functionality of this action may vary from application to application. |
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Data Tab |
Do no wait Variable, Optional, Default: (empty) Instructs the system not to wait to run the command. Populate variable with window class Variable, Optional, Default: (empty) When a variable is named, it will be populated with the window class of the application that is launched. Note: This parameter is only available when the Wait until application is ready for input [WAITFORINPUT] parameter is "YES". Populate variable with window handle Variable, Optional, Default: (empty) When a variable is named, it will be populated with the window handle (which is a unique number) of the application that is launched. Note: This parameter is only available when the Wait until application is ready for input [WAITFORINPUT] parameter is "YES". Populate variable with window title Variable, Optional, Default: (empty) When a variable is named, it will be populated with the window title of the application that is launched. Note: This parameter is only available when the Wait until application is ready for input [WAITFORINPUT] parameter is "YES". Create and Populate Dataset Text, Optional, Default: (blank) Specifies the name of a dataset to be created and populated with data from the window of the application that was launched. In addition to the standard dataset fields, the dataset will contain the following:
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Advanced Tab |
Run Application As Yes/No, Optional Specifies whether a standard Windows application or a console application is being launched. When set to YES specifies that a console application is being launched. Capture Output and Populate Variable Variable, Optional Specifies an already existing variable to be populated with the console output. Valid only if Run application as is set to Console application [DOS="YES"]. Capture Output and Write to File Text, Optional Specifies a file to which the console output should be written. Valid only if Run application as is set to Console application [DOS="YES"]. Overwrite if File Already Exists Yes/No, Optional If set to YES, specifies that if the file already exists it will be overwritten. If set to NO and the file already exists, the step will fail. |
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Notes |
Provided Start Menu Emulator In the properties dialog box for this action, a Start menu emulator based on your Windows Start menu configuration is provided for easy selection of the application or document. When a document (as opposed to an EXE file) is specified using either the Start menu or the browse dialog, the associated application is automatically detected and retrieved, and a properly formatted command line is built and inserted. When specifying a document (as opposed to an EXE file), it is advisable to use this automatically constructed command line. Custom Description This action includes the Description tab for entering a custom step description. Standard Error Handling Options This action also includes the standard Error Causes and On Error failure handling options/tabs. Variables and Expressions All text fields allow the use of expressions, which can be entered by surrounding the expression in percentage signs (example: %MYVARIABLE%, %Left('Text',2)%). To help construct these expressions, you can open Expression Builder from these fields by pressing F2. |
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See Also |
Run Action-Setting Properties, Print, End Process |