Overview
JavaScript is a popular programming language that is well supported, dynamically typed, and is one of the core technologies of the web. It is a dynamic programming language that is well supported in development communities, is easy to learn, and doesn’t require the pre-installation of any specific software or IDE’s to build and test. Beyond its capabilities to enable interactive front-end applications, JavaScript can also do data manipulations, validations, and utility operations to support Automation 360 bots. Many developers find it a great language to create quick data validation scripts, sort operations, or manipulate data. Like Python and VBScript, we include embeded JavaScript as a package in Automation 360 to allow developers to use JavaScript functions from within their bots.
To Do
Review the documentation for the JavaScript Package.
Pay close attention to the specific order you need to use the JavaScript actions. i.e. You need to use the ‘open action’ before you can invoke the ‘Run JavaScript action’ and establish a session for the script.
Take a look at the Automation Anywhere University “Did You Know” course on including inline scripts within a bot.
The course quickly covers Automation 360’s capabilities to support embedded JavaScript, VBScript, and Python.
Complete the following tutorial to integrate JavaScript actions into a bot in order to parse a JSON response from a REST web service.
In this tutorial, developers will use JavaScript actions in conjunction with the REST Web Service POST action to analyze text using the Azure Cognitive Text Analytics API.
Summary
JavaScript is a dynamic, powerful, and well-supported programming language. The beauty of Automation 360 JavaScript integration is that the expansive array of freely available JavaScript libraries, data manipulation capabilities, and shortcuts for performing calculations are all available to supercharge your bots. As developers continue to explore reusability, quick calculations, and the need for easy-to-use code, they will surely recognize the power of this RPA language integration.
Resources
Tutorials
Use JavaScript to Build a Bot To Take User Input
How to build a bot using REST web services and JavaScript actions
How to run JavaScript in Automation 360
Video Tutorials
Using in-line scripts with your bot