topic RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration in Product Forum

April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

JamesW — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 15:33:00 GMT

Hi Community!

With Internet Explorer increasingly unsupported by multiple services, now is the time to move to another browser. But which one? And what will you have to do? Well that's what we're here to help you with.

We're excited to offer you a new way to engage with Blue Prism product experts in real time! On April 28th at 3-4pm (Australia) 10.30-11.30am (India), our experts Bruce Liu and Ashish Easow will be available right here in the Blue Prism Product community for a live Ask Me Anything session where they will answer your questions about Browser Migration.

You should also check out this fantastic video Bruce put together to walk you through some of the challenges: Blue Prism: Browser Migration webinar

So, how does it work?

1) Enter any questions you have on the topic into the comments below - in advance is absolutely encouraged.
2) Pop back here on April 28th 2021.
3) Our experts will answer any questions that have been left here ahead of time, and will be on standby to answer any new questions that come in live during the 1 hour long session

Want a reminder to join the session? RSVP - or click "Download to Your Calendar" in the event here: Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

So, do you have any questions on Browser Migration with regards to the Blue Prism product? Why not post below - now's the time to ask us anything!

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James Woods
Community Manager
Blue Prism
Europe/London
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

HarshitRawat — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 14:02:00 GMT

Hi Team,
I have below questions to ask -

a) Related to conversion utility - In some post i read that not all elements spied using different spymodes are converted to equivalent elements for Chrome/Edge/Firefox.
Is there any plan to enhance the conversion utility soon ?

b) Do we have any support doc available based on which users can decide which would be the best alternative to Internet Explorer , depending on the type of web app we are trying to automate ?

c) There is an Idea titled "Update Navigate and Write stages to work with responsive webdesign" and marked as Under Consideration . This talks about enhancing the Navigate and Write stages to fix the issue when the inputs by Navigate and write stage don;t get registered by the webpage . It would be great if this iDea can be evaluated on priority

Thanks

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Harshit Rawat
Senior RPA Consultant
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

_Amlansahoo — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 19:12:00 GMT

Hello,

Thanks for the opportunity. I have few questions though.

1. When the browser mode will work as it is working like HTML mode. if it's an enterprise tool why those options "Use fixed browser extension port". It should work seamlessly without choosing any other option as it's happening for other tool. I means if I am not selecting the fixed browser extension why it's throwing error "127.0.0.1 with append URL". Because it's no meaning of giving option to do testing without fixed port.

2. Can Browser automation become as stable as IE automation. Till now it's not. We are seeing lot of things are not working as expected or not good as IE.

3. Please provide a proper Browser automation Technique for future.

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Amlan Sahoo
RPA Consultant
Equinix
------------------------------

RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

Tejaskumar_Darji — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 06:05:00 GMT

Hello,

Can we expect better and production-grade stability on chrome and edge with BluePrism 7.0 upcoming version?

Because currently, chrome/edge automation is really not a stable solution, unlike IE.

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Thanks & Regards,
Tejaskumar Darji
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

NagarjunaAtukur — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 09:51:00 GMT

Hi Team,

Kindly clear my below doubts on Browser migration.

1. Why AA spy mode is not available for Chrome browser?
2. Is there any way to get/release BP_Chrome_Plugin manually?
3. Chrome automation is not as good as IE browser. Do we have any documents/KB articles which will help us to make it more stable.
4. Do you recommend any version of BP and Chrome browser for stable chrome automation?

Thanks,
Nagarjuna Atukuri
AMEX

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Nagarjuna Atukuri
Sr Programmer
American Express
Asia/Kolkata
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

DeborahParfitt — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 13:37:00 GMT

Hi Team

Recommendations for Edge Chromium customisations and related settings for Group Policy

We have recently installed Edge Chromium web browser to become our default browser in Aug 2021
Our virtual runtime resources profile is controlled by Group Policies. AS a result, the Lets Get Started, Welcome page and Blue Prism Edge Extension have to be enabled or reset each day.
Please can you recommend the ideal Edge Chromium customisations and related settings to work with Blue Prism and Run Time Resources so this can feed into our Group Policies?

Thanks

------------------------------
Deborah Parfitt
RPA Process Analyst
BNPParibas PF UK
Europe/London
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

VitJurica — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 11:22:00 GMT

Hello
I have a few questions to ask

1. Why AA spy mode is not available in Browser-based Application? When we switch object from Browser-based Application to the Windows Application and spy elements in AA mode, then switch object back to
Browser-bases Application elements are recognizable.
2. Can we expect Browser automation to work same as IE? There are things missing, not working very well or not at all, like extension is crashing, Document Loaded condition is missing, elements cannot be clicked, etc.

Thank you

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Vit Jurica
Senior Developer
Europe/Prague
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

jhogelp — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 01:44:00 GMT

Hi Team,

I have 2 specific questions:

There will be special support from Blue Prism for clients with many automated processes that use IE?
Will you provide support material or documentation on the changes and adaptations necessary to migrate the processes developed with IE to Chrome / Edge / Firefox. For example: spied items in IE and Chrome / Edge / Firefox equivalents?

Thanks

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Jhogel Ponne
Senior RPA
Ernst & Young
America/Panama
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

bruce.liu — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:18:00 GMT

Hi Harshit,

Thanks for your questions.

a) Conversion is currently possible from IE based HTML objects to modern browser equivalent of Chrome/Edge/Firefox. Conversion rules are being fine-tuned on as-needed basis ongoing. We welcome any inputs from the community as to areas where current conversion rules are either not sufficient or lacking to increase conversion accuracy.

AA to UIA conversion is also offered on objects already converted to modern browser mode, as a 2nd pass using the tool.

Win32 mode conversion is not covered by the tool as there may not always be interoperability between different browser elements spied using this mode. We would advise you to re-engineering those elements and associated actions during your migration process so you can be sure these would still function under the modern browser mode.

If anything is missing, please kindly make us aware of it.

b) I would advise not to look at this question from Blue Prism's point of view. We do support all three browser types. As long as such browsers are supported by the web applications, developer experience in interacting with those web browsers should be largely the same.

The support of web application is mainly driven by the following two factors:

organisation preferred browser option
web application support of browsers and versions

c) Ideas can be bumped up by customers by supporting the specific idea from the communities page. As per the support obtained by the idea, product team evaluates and implements the suggestion. Unfortunately implementation of ideas is not in the scope of this discussion.

------------------------------
Bruce Liu
Senior Product Consultant, Professional Services
Blue Prism
Australia/Sydney
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

bruce.liu — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:24:00 GMT

Hi Nagarjuna,

Thanks for your questions:

1. Please see below support center article and community discussions:
https://portal.blueprism.com/customer-support/support-center#/path/Automation-Design/Application-Integration/Chrome/1201264262/Why-is-there-no-Accessibility-Mode-when-using-Browser-based-Chrome-in-Application-Modeller.htm?_ga=2.47208608.669694365.1619393764-1660091759.1574811285

https://community.blueprism.com/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MessageKey=9bb5e34d-095a-4907-9395-4a7d6e0e5209&CommunityKey=3743dbaa-6766-4a4d-b7ed-9a98b6b1dd01&tab=digestviewer#bm9bb5e34d-095a-4907-9395-4a7d6e0e5209

2. You are able to find instructions on manual browser extension deployment using the following three links, one for each type of browser:
Chrome
Edge
Firefox

3. In addition to what my colleague Ashish has suggested on another post above, I would highly recommend the Blue Prism University Course titled Modern Browser Automation. The link to this course is included below

https://university.blueprism.com/learn/course/internal/view/elearning/16731/blue-prism-modern-browser-automation-en (thanks for the correct link, Nagarjuna!)

You may also download a PDF copy of the guide as a handy go-to reference.

4. We have been gradually improving how Blue Prism works with modern browsers over time. Generally speaking, you will have better user experience with a more recent versions of Blue Prism than those that have been release earlier. We will be revamping the way how Blue Prism software communicates with modern browsers by introducing a feature called "native messaging host". Blue Prism will no longer require any port to talk to the browsers, the fixed port option in System Settings will also be removed as a result. Native Messaging Host is expected to be released alongside v7, as well as v6.11, though the feature is still in testing.

------------------------------
Bruce Liu
Senior Product Consultant, Professional Services
Blue Prism
Australia/Sydney
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

bruce.liu — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:25:00 GMT

Hi Deborah,

Thanks for your question. Given the large amount of settings which could potentially affect automations, its hard to give specific advice. I would advise having all Edge related group policies exported and work through them with your IT to arrive at the most optimal configuration.

------------------------------
Bruce Liu
Senior Product Consultant, Professional Services
Blue Prism
Australia/Sydney
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

ashish.easow — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:30:00 GMT

Hello Amlan,

I have seen customers for whom browser mode works fine without and also for those where I had to debug and solve the issues.

What I have seen is that most of the issues are caused due to ports being blocked, but it gets very hard to debug a port blocked issue. We follow a few steps which works in most cases,

In case browser mode does not work you can try:

Change to fixed port in settings for browser mode

After restarting RR/IC, check if browser mode works

If not Open command prompt

Run command: netstat -aon | findstr /ic:"31924"

If the ports dont have an issue you should see below screen.

If run other commands on the PID displayed (number on extreme right), you should be able to see the applications making connections on that port.

If you see ports being blocked, then you would need to check which application is blocking the ports and debug accordingly.

In case browser web page elements have trouble highlighting/spying.

Keep in mind, html spying works through browser extension, UIA, region mode etc communication does not work through the browser extension.

If you are using html identification,

use simple html spying (through BP, choose attributes) and check if that works.
Another option is to choose xpath, and it gives more options.

Eg open chrome -> Page you want to spy -> Right click on element -> Inspect

Console opens up with the elements highlighted in elements tab -> Right click on highlighted -> Copy -> Copy Xpath

Do cntrl + F on elements tab – You should see a small textbox open at the bottom

Paste the copied xpath and check if identifies correctly.

The same xpath can be used in application model to identify the element in BP.

You would need to check which html element works with clicks and waits.

I am hopeful these options would help solve most of your issues.

regards,
Ashish

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Ashish Easow
Senior Consultant - Professional Services
Blueprism
Asia/Kolkata
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

bruce.liu — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:30:00 GMT

Hi Vit,

Thanks for your questions:

1. Please see below support center article and community discussions:
https://portal.blueprism.com/customer-support/support-center#/path/Automation-Design/Application-Integration/Chrome/1201264262/Why-is-there-no-Accessibility-Mode-when-using-Browser-based-Chrome-in-Application-Modeller.htm?_ga=2.47208608.669694365.1619393764-1660091759.1574811285

https://community.blueprism.com/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MessageKey=9bb5e34d-095a-4907-9395-4a7d6e0e5209&CommunityKey=3743dbaa-6766-4a4d-b7ed-9a98b6b1dd01&tab=digestviewer#bm9bb5e34d-095a-4907-9395-4a7d6e0e5209

2. We will be revamping the way how Blue Prism software communicates with modern browsers by introducing a feature called "native messaging host". Blue Prism will no longer require any port to talk to the browsers, the fixed port option in System Settings will also be removed as a result. Native Messaging Host is expected to be released alongside v7, as well as v6.11, though the feature is still in testing.

Modern Browser mode was not originally created as an equivalent of IE like-for-like. The fact that Microsoft is deprecating IE has suddenly made it necessary to make these two modes compatible with each other. Over the course of the past year, we have gradually rolled out some features in modern browser modes to close known gaps. But we do acknowledge more work is still needed in certain areas. You can find known gaps recorded at https://github.com/blue-prism/ApplicationModellerConversion/blob/master/BROWSER.md. It is envisaged that future versions of Blue Prism will further narrow the gaps to provide direct conversion options. When these features are offered, Application Modeller Conversion Tool will incorporate them in the first place so customers can take advantage of them as soon as possible.

------------------------------
Bruce Liu
Senior Product Consultant, Professional Services
Blue Prism
Australia/Sydney
------------------------------

RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

ashish.easow — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:35:00 GMT

Hello Tejas,

I just wrote a reply to Amlan's post above, hopefully that should result in better issue debugging in case of chrome and edge.
But to answer your Q, yes we are looking at the way browsers communicate with BP and you should hopefully see an change and improvement in it for the upcoming releases.

regards,
Ashish

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Ashish Easow
Senior Consultant - Professional Services
Blueprism
Asia/Kolkata
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

bruce.liu — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:39:00 GMT

Hi Jhogel,

Thanks for your questions.

1. Blue Prism will continue support IE in the same way as it is. But if web applications have stopped supporting IE, there is little Blue Prism can do to turn that around.

2. The best support material you will be able to find are in two locations:

GitHub repository where Application Modeller Conversion Tool assets are being hosted. Note that you may be interested in some of the satellite pages I have created there to get more understanding, such as this.
The webinar video associated with this session itself., where some specific areas are being highlighted. Spied elements is one of the main areas for regression testing, as there is no guarantee converted elements would work straightaway mainly due to the way how different browsers function.

------------------------------
Bruce Liu
Senior Product Consultant, Professional Services
Blue Prism
Australia/Sydney
------------------------------

RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

NagarjunaAtukur — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:43:00 GMT

Thank you @Bruce Liu for looking into my questions.

Looks I don't have access on https://university.blueprism.com/learn/course/16731/play/36257/course-evaluation ; any way to get the required permission? (I tried by logging into portal)

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Nagarjuna Atukuri
Sr Programmer
American Express
Asia/Kolkata
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

ashish.easow — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:44:00 GMT

Hello Deborah,

I would probably add a few points too.
Most browser settings are governed by common group policies, and actually most of the settings dont have much of an impact on browser automations.
But there are a few which i have seen, but tbh its not an exhaustive list, so as Bruce mentioned you may have to debug the settings as every org has its own set of policies.

1. Internet connectivity/Chrome store availability in production - If chrome/edge store is not available in production, you may need to look at offline install for upgrading the extensions from the default version which comes with BP like here https://bpdocs.blueprism.com/bp-6-10/en-us/Guides/chrome-firefox/browser-extension-chrome.htm?tocpath=Guides%7CChrome%252C%20Edge%252C%20and%20Firefox%20integration%7C_____1

2. ports and other settings as i mentioned in Amlans post above.

3. Chromium browsers - auto update disabled. Chromium browsers auto update every 15 days or something if i recall right. This update needs to come from a lower environment in a controlled way rather than happen directly in production.

regards
Ashish

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Ashish Easow
Senior Consultant - Professional Services
Blueprism
Asia/Kolkata
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

_Amlansahoo — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:52:00 GMT

Hi Ashihs,

Thanks for your reply but wanted to know regarding "127.0.0.1 with append URL". When we are launching any URL without Fixed port why this is appearing?

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Amlan Sahoo
RPA Consultant
Equinix
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

bruce.liu — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:53:00 GMT

Hi Nagarjuna,

Apologize for the link not functioning. There may be a difference in the link for a user who has already enrolled. Can you please kindly navigate to Blue Prism University and look up courses titled "Blue Prism - Modern Browser Automation (EN)" instead?

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Bruce Liu
Senior Product Consultant, Professional Services
Blue Prism
Australia/Sydney
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RE: April 28th Ask Me Anything: Browser Migration

bruce.liu — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 05:55:00 GMT

Hi Amlan,

There is a Blue Prism University course titled Spying Using CSS and XPath you may also look into.

------------------------------
Bruce Liu
Senior Product Consultant, Professional Services
Blue Prism
Australia/Sydney
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