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307 Topics
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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Integrating with Google BigQuery

 Integrating with Google BigQuery The Automation 360 .21 release is out. It brings with it a host of new/interesting updates for developers - from some visual updates in regards to the way that Control Room looks to updates to various packages to improve the bot building experience for developers. One package in particular that saw some updates in this release was the Database package - and most specifically - with its extended ODBC driver support to now include connection capabilities to data warehouses like Google BigQuery and Snowflake (among others). To celebrate these updates, we've put together a tutorial on how Google BigQuery can be integrated with an Automation 360 bot in the .21 release. Check out the video above and some of the highlights below to learn more about BigQuery and establishing a connection from Automation 360. What is Google BigQuery? Google BigQuery is a data warehouse solution available from within Google Cloud. BigQuery is a serverless, scalable, multi-cloud

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Parsing XML response from SAP RFC API (SAP access not required to follow this tutorial)

Tutorial by Sikha Poyyil, Partner Solution Engineer, Automation Anywhere. Note: We do understand that a lot of us do not have access to SAP systems, but that doesn't limit us from trying out this tutorial. To keep this tutorial simple, we have simulated the SAP API response using a test endpoint that sends the response back in XML format just like how a real SAP API would do. In this tutorial, we will understand how to build an Automation 360 bot to parse the XML response received from the SAP RFC API. For background, while working with SAP systems, the ability to call remote functions is provided by the Remote Function Call (RFC) interface and we can communicate from external systems (like the RPA bot in this case) using the RFC API. Let’s divide the steps into 4 sections and here are the specifics to build this bot. Section 1: Execute a REST API call and establish a session to use the XML operations using the XML package. To execute a REST API call, use the action REST Web Services →

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
A Customer Perspective: Subtasks & Steps in Automation 360

This article is part of a series authored by Zeth Baker previously from Republic Airways shares their experience and decision to migrate to Automation 360. Should your organization be on the fence about upgrading from v10/v11, hearing from customers in their own words can be a great way to see yourself in their story. In this article, he’s back to talk about how Subtasks and Steps have improved their automation development experience. In mid to late 2020- Automation Anywhere’s developer evangelist, Micah Smith, was hard at work trying to convince me to give A2019/Automation 360 a try again after I’d had some frustrating A2019 experiences upon initial release. He’d explained that, as a fellow v11 devotee, he was now doing all of his automation development in what was then A2019 (now called Automation 360) even though he had the choice to develop on either v11 or A2019/Automation 360. Admittedly, I was very hesitant and dragged my feet a little… he was right, the platform had come a long

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Building Your First Automation 360 Bot

 Tutorial: Building Your First Automation 360 Bot Automation 360 brings with it the ability for anyone to create and run their own bots.  If you're brand new to the concept of robotic process automation (RPA) and looking for a place to get started - this is a perfect place to start. In this tutorial, we'll be building a bot to automate logging in to a website. We'll look at how the bot can be built out and tested, and even look at an alternative building approach that enables users to build out repeatable actions very quickly.Resources to Follow AlongLogin Tutorial Page: https://pathfinder.automationanywhere.com/challenges/AutomationAnywhereLabs-Login.htmlMachine Setup Video Referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rvhln_RFysPre-Work: Machine SetupIf you're brand new to Automation Anywhere, there are a couple of steps you'll need to follow to properly get set up:Unless you already have access to an Automation 360 environment, you'll want to be sure to register for Automation Anywhe

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
How to Remove Blank Rows from the current Worksheet

In this tutorial, we will learn how to remove blank rows from the current worksheet to cover the following 3 scenarios: Delete all empty rows Delete empty rows within a specific row range Delete empty rows using the cell address To use the actions in Excel advanced package, use the following sequence. Open the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that you want to use to automate the Microsoft Excel-related tasks. Use the Open action to open the spreadsheet and select the required input file. Select the checkbox ‘Sheet contains a header’. Header is considered as Row 1 and the data starts from Row 2. Use ‘Remove blank Rows’, we will discuss about the configurations in the different scenarios below. As the last step, close the spreadsheet using the Close action and ensure you check the checkbox 'Save changes when closing file' so that all the changes are saved before closing the spreadsheet You can download the Employees List Excel spreadsheet in the attachments below.  Scen

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Top 5 New Features in the Automation 360 .20 Release

  The product and development teams at Automation Anywhere have been on a roll with new features and updates coming out with each release. In this post, we'll dive into some of the most popular and most requested features that were newly added with .20 (build 8846).  Control Room Switching If you're regularly developing and testing bots, you'll immediately recognize the benefits of this one. The .20 release includes the ability to enable devices to be switched between Control Rooms. SUPER helpful if you're frequently developing and testing in multiple environments and finding yourself needing to delete temp files or do a full uninstall/reinstall every time you swap. To turn on this functionality: Log in as an Admin, and this setting is in Settings > Devices> General. Tip: Be sure that this is enabled on all Automation 360 Control Rooms that you switch between...otherwise you'll still be prompted to uninstall/reinstall on a CR that doesn't have this capability enabled. Dis

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Top 10 Moments from Imagine 2021

Imagine Digital is a 3-day event with Automation Anywhere leaders, customers, and partners where you can see customer/Automation Anywhere led demos, hear about customer success stories, and get hands-on with our products in the day-3 tech tracks. There is a TON of great content presented, and lots of lessons to be learned. To help our developer portal readers get the most out of the information shared at Imagine Digital, we're highlighting the top 10 moments from Imagine 2021 so you can quickly jump to the sessions that can add the most value for you and your organization.  GM Financial Botathon Day 1 of Imagine started off quite strong and included an interesting interview with Craig Davenport, Senior Vice President of International Operations IT & Corporate Systems from GM Financial. In the interview, Craig and Automation Anywhere CEO, Mihir Shukla, discussed how many organizations struggle with getting employees on board with bot building and democratizing RPA capabilities acros

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Imagine 2021 Tech Track Resources

Automation Anywhere's Imagine is a three-day livestream and on-demand cloud RPA event featuring RPA thought leadership, solution spotlights, customer stories, and product demos. Whether you were able to join live or are were watching on-demand/replay - the third day featured several Tech-Tracks - where Automation Anywhere employees presented technical demos, hands-on sessions, and developer-led tutorials.In an effort to make those sessions feel a bit more tangible, we've collected the source-code/demo-code for several of those sessions so that attendees can get hands-on with the content - replicating those same bots in Community Edition or within their own environment. Where applicable, the referenced repo locations contain either demo code that you can download, install in your Control Room, and start playing with right away, or tutorial resources - which include any setup materials you made need as well as the finished product - so you have something to check against if you get stuck

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Imagine Digital: Tech Track Breakdown

Imagine Tech Track BreakdownAutomation Anywhere's annual Imagine conference is going fully digital this year on May 11-13th. The event is free to register/attended and is 3 days of robotic process automation thought leadership, customer stories, product deep dives, and best practices. Day 3 (May 13th) is the Tech Track - a day full of demos, tutorials, and engaging experiences for those who are interested in getting hands-on with Automation 360.For some insight into the day 3 content, we're breaking down the content based on areas of interest.I’m new to Automation Anywhere and not sure where to start?Getting Ready to Get Hands-OnGet registered for Automation Anywhere's Community Edition, get your machine setup, and validate your configuration with a sample bot run. This session is intended to be the pre-work that individuals can follow along with ahead of day 3 so they can hit the ground running with some of the tutorials and replicating any demos. Building Your First BotsIf you're new

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
A Customer Perspective: Automation 360 Top Features - Variables

This article is the third Developer Portal blog post authored by Zeth Baker previously from Republic Airways, and the first in a mini-series of Automation 360 Top Features documenting Republic Airway's perspectives on Automation 360 features. If you’ve read any of this series of articles or briefly looked into upgrading to Automation 360, you’re probably wondering is there really a benefit to upgrading or wondering if you should continue to build in v11 until its end-of-life date (RIP v11). Well then, this article might just be perfect for you - speaking as a developer and someone who went through this exact same thought process. From the time I first saw the web-based version of Automation 360 back at the Imagine 2019 conference in New York, I was excited and curious for what was to come. Then – to be perfectly honest - I got my hands on a beta version in late 2019 and mostly gave up on touching it for over a year due to how long the bot launcher was taking, bot execution times, and h

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Imagine 2021 Top Sessions for Developers

Imagine 2021 Top Sessions for DevelopersIf you've previously attended Automation Anywhere Imagine-virtual or any of the Automation Anywhere in-person Imagine events (before COVID) - then you know that it's 3 days packed full of presentations from robotic process automation thought leaders, Automation Anywhere partners, product teams, as well as product demos and tutorials.This year, Imagine will be taking place virtually May 11-13 (registration for the virtual Imagine event is free!). And while there are many excellent sessions spread out across the 3-day event, we wanted to call out a few that may be of particular interest to the Automation Anywhere developer community to keep an eye out for. Don't limit yourself to only these sessions, but for sure check add the following sessions to your schedule:Day 1: Republic Airways Soars to Efficiency with Automation 360CoE Lead and A-Lister, Zeth Baker, takes attendees through the Republic Airway's journey migrating from Automation Anywhere v1

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
How to Use the Actions in the DLL Package

In this exercise, we will learn how to use the actions in the DLL package. The DLL package uses a .dll file as reference and calls functions from the bot. The DLL package supports only DLLs written in C#.To learn about the different actions in this package, let’s consider a use case to get the current price of Bitcoin in USD and EUR. For this exercise, we will use a DLL (BitcoinPrice.dll) that retrieves the current Bitcoin price through a REST API call and uses a dependent DLL RestSharp.dll to perform the REST calls.Dependency for BitcoinPrice.dll: Restsharp DLL (Source: RestSharp) - This is a simple REST and HTTP API Client.You can download the DLLs (BitcoinPrice.dll and RestSharp.dll along with the code to build BitcoinPrice.dll in Visual Studio) used in this exercise from Automation Anywhere GitHub Repo.In this exercise, we will not focus on how to build this DLL, however, if you wish to build it yourself with Visual Studio, please use the project type Class Library (.Net framework)

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Get to Know Your Datatypes: Dictionary Variable

 A dictionary is a data type available in Automation 360 that enables developers to store, retrieve, and iterate through key-value data pairings. Dictionaries can be very helpful in reducing the number of variables that need to be created, as a single dictionary value can hold a large amount of data that can be referenced in most all bot actions. In this session, we'll seek to understand how a dictionary variable can be created in Automation 360, how data can be stored in them, and how we can retrieve data within other actions. Dictionary Creation Dictionaries in Automation 360 are created in the same way other variables are created - by clicking on on the '+' sign in the variables pane of the developer interface. Unique to dictionaries, however, is that a user can define a subtype for the dictionary - to say that the values stored in this dictionary will always be of this particular subtype. In the video, the subtype is left as a string, but alternatively, boolean, number, or any co

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Automation 360 Navigation Updates

Hello from the User Experience team at Automation Anywhere! Our goal is to streamline your work by making Automation Anywhere products more intuitive through human-centered design. Today we’re excited to share an upcoming change to the Automation 360 product navigation.We know many of you spend hours a day in various parts of Automation 360. In talking with you we noticed some ways we can make your life easier by organizing the menu based on features you use together or need to interact with frequently. Based on those observations and interviews with users like you, we’re excited to announce updates to the product navigation that we believe will make your tasks around RPA more efficient.We also know you may have become used to a certain navigation system; therefore, we want to share the details of the updates early so you know what’s ahead. It may take a few days to get used to the new navigation, so we ask for your patience and hope that soon you’ll view the updates as improving your

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Build Your First Package Livestream

 The developer community asked for it, so here it comes! On April 15th at 12pm EDT/9am PDT/930pm IST we'll be doing a livestream of package development, where Developer Evangelist Micah Smith will be taking viewers through the process of creating their first package.This tutorial will be a comprehensive guide to package development including:Starting with the Automation 360 Package SDK Customizing the build.gradle and package.template files and their impact on your package Using the locales JSON files for setting package, action, and configuration level values Understanding the different labels, names, icons, and descriptions that can be set for actions and their configuration files Writing a test class to validate your package code before compiling Compiling the package directly in the IntelliJ IDE Installing the custom package Validating the package in a botYou won't want to miss this session. So that you can hit the ground running with Micah when the session starts, be sure to go th

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
How to use the 'Download CR File' action

‘Download CR file’ action is part of the ‘File’ package. Using this action, you can download a file from the Control Room to the bot runner machine. This action is very useful when you want a specific file to be downloaded to the bot runner before executing the bot.For Ex:- A config file is bundled as part of the bot downloaded from the Bot Store, and the file needs to be in the local device, as the bot updates the file during the execution.- A template file needs to be downloaded from the Control room and then generate a letter for each customer with his information.This action consists of 3 parameters to be configured. Select a Control Room file: Here, you will specify the file in the Control Room which needs to be downloaded.In the ‘Find a File’ modal:- Select ‘Search’ tab, if you want to search for a specific file by typing the file name- Select ‘Browser’ to navigate to a specific file through the folder structure- Select 'Upload', if you want to upload a file to a specific folder

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Defining SuccessLearning Journey

Objective Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Clearly defining objectives and performance indicators sets your CoE up for success. As a Center of Excellence, it’s your responsibility to define what RPA metrics are being captured, plan how and where to record them, and report savings across all business units consistently. Defining standards for key performance indicators early in your RPA practice will set the organization up for accurate, trusted metrics later on. Consistency is Key If you expect to have 3-4 different business groups building bots on the Automation 360 platform in the first year, expect to have about 12 different methods of reporting savings. Why? Because without guidance from the CoE on capturing, storing, and reporting savings, everyone will come up with their own methods. As early as possible, work with representatives from the federated teams (or within your team) to identify a standard way to capture and report RPA savings. Seek to answer questions like:  How a

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
What is a CoE?Learning Journey

Objective Define what a Center of Excellence (CoE) is and identify its core objectives. When large supply ships navigate ice-filled waters, they often follow smaller ships called icebreakers, which are designed to break up ice so that the larger, less nimble supply ship can follow safely. How’s that for an icebreaker to start this conversation? Terrible puns aside, the role of a Center of Excellence (CoE) is similar to that of the icebreaker ship. Let’s talk about the three core competencies of a CoE to successfully champion and scale Robotic Process Automation: Thought Leadership, Execution Guidance, and Bot Builder Enablement. Thought Leadership A successful CoE provides thought leadership about RPA to executives, business unit leaders, and other teams that the CoE relies on. As you establish RPA team processes, you will need to work with other operational groups, such as the IT helpdesk and release management teams, who will need help learning to support new requests from your team.

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Executive SupportLearning Journey

Objective Without executive support, RPA initiatives that have been successful in one department may never expand beyond that functional area. In this learning experience, we’ll look at why executive support is so important and how you can get executive buy-in if you don’t have it already. Executive support is crucial to an RPA program’s ability to influence other functional areas and contribute to your digital transformation goals. If your RPA practice currently has executive support – excellent! Be sure to foster those executive relationships so they consistently promote RPA initiatives with others. We’ll walk through some things you can do to recruit and invest in leaders to champion RPA initiatives. If your CoE practice currently does not have executive support, that’s OK. This learning experience will help you get leaders excited about robotic process automation and the return on investment RPA can achieve. Why Does Executive Support Matter? Unlike most enterprise software, which

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Getting Started - COE Lead JourneyLearning Journey

Overview Welcome to a learning journey about establishing and growing an RPA Center of Excellence (CoE). This journey looks at the best practices followed by some of Automation Anywhere’s most productive customers. The goal of the journey is to help CoE leaders understand what a CoE is, the benefits that a CoE can provide, and the actionable steps that an organization can take to establish and grow a Center of Excellence that thrives. This journey is designed for people who are: Tasked with leading RPA thinking throughout their organization. Interested in establishing themselves or their team as internal subject matter experts in RPA. Interested in scaling Robotic Process Automation initiatives beyond a single business or technology group. Familiar with their organization’s policies and best practices around release management, access controls, and any existing reporting platforms. Familiar with Automation 360. (If you aren’t yet, we recommend reviewing the Citizen Developer jo

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Intro To Package Development: Machine Setup

 Before you can start developing your own custom Automation 360 packages though, you'll need to make sure your machine is set up with the required pre-requisites for development. Don't worry, even if you dont have extensive (any) experience in Java, we'll walk through the process of getting the Java JDK (Java Developer Kit) installed, an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) setup, and all the required files to validate your setup is working properly. All of this is pre-work for next's weeks post where we'll go through the process of building our first package. Each item below is a requirement for package development. For each requirement, links will be provided as well as some commentary on getting the item set up  Java Developer Kit (JDK 11) The Java JDK is a software package that is installed in order to create Java-based applications. Because Automation 360 packages are created in Java - you are creating a Java-based application when creating a package. As required by the Autom

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Establishing Development StandardsLearning Journey

Objective In this learning experience, we’ll talk about how to establish consistent development standards for all teams involved in RPA. Developing and defining best practices for developers is one of the core responsibilities of the Center of Excellence. These best practices should reduce bot development times, standardize logging and reporting for RPA key performance indicators, and pave the way for scaled development. This is an immense responsibility for a CoE, especially when just getting started, but make sure you don’t skip this one! We’ll dig into how to operationalize these standards within your organization. We’ll look at what a CoE should focus on when establishing a consistent, auditable, and supportable bot environment, as well as learn what “Establish Development Standards” actaully means. Start doing this when your CoE is centralized and see how much easier it is to roll out the same practices to all teams when you expand to a federated model. Bot Shells What is a Bot Sh

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Automation 360 Migration: Migrate, Rebuild, or Both?

This article is part of a series of articles authored by Zeth Baker previously from Republic Airways documenting their experience and decision to migrate to Automation 360 On-Premise.Special Note: In the time between publishing the first article in this series and publishing this article, Automation Anywhere Enterprise A2019 has been re-branded to be Automation 360. As such, this article will refer to Automation 360 exclusively, but the language refers to the platform that was previously known as Enterprise A2019. With the introduction of the Automation 360 bot scanner and migration package, we have seen several major improvements with each new version.This was a very encouraging data point in our decision to move forward with our upgrade because it re-enforced the desire of Automation Anywhere to keep improving the migration utility and to make the migration experience as automated as possible in support a smooth transition from previous platform versions. Even as I am writing this to

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
RPA for Newbies: Bot "Grammar"

 Welcome to RPA Tips for Newbies - where Automation Anywhere experts offer advice for those just starting to learn RPA. Micah Smith, resident Developer Evangelist, and Jon Stueve, manager of Automation Anywhere University, chat about some of the advice they wish they had gotten when they were first learning to become RPA developers. In this video, they discuss the importance of grammar in coding your bots.  Is This Case-Sensitive? Everything is case-sensitive...even when it's not. Put another way, if you always make sure to create and reference your variables and bot references as if they are case sensitive, you can never be wrong. Technically is everything case sensitive? No, but if you're always paying close attention to the way you name and reference things - and always end up using the same case-approach, you can never be wrong. Actionable Tip: Establish a standard pattern for the way you will name and reference all of your variables. A common approach in the Automation Anywhere

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Automation Anywhere TeamAutomation Anywhere Team
published in Pathfinder Blog
Merge all the PDFs within a folder into a single PDF

In this tutorial, we will learn how to use ‘Automation 360 - PDF Utilities Package’ from Bot Store to build a bot to merge all the PDFs within a folder into a single PDF. Data setup: To try out this exercise, you can download sample PDFs (5 PDFs) from here (Unzip the folder and place the PDFs in the input PDF directory). Navigate to the page https://botstore.automationanywhere.com/bot/a2019-pdf-utilities-package Click on ‘Get Package’. This will take you to the login page for your Bot Store Account. Enter your credentials and click on ‘Get Package’ again. You will see a modal with the text ‘This download is governed by the package’s EULA and the Bot Store Terms you agreed to when you created your account.’. Click on 'Ok, Get Package'You will now see the next modal with a Success message and asking you to select the Control Room URL or Enter the Control Room URL based on whether you have previously entered the Control Room URL from this account. In my case, I will select ‘New URL’ and e

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