topic RE: Weird situation with chrome in Product Forum

Weird situation with chrome

VratHimbo — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 10:20:00 GMT

Hi team,
a couple of question about chrome automation.
This is the situation, i have 2 different object: the first to launch chrome (with a navigate stage) and the second one to attach the login page.

1) If i try to open chrome manually and then attach with the second object it doesn't work the browser spy mode. It works only if i launch through the first object and then attach with the second one. Any possible solution?

2) I'm not able to spy with win32 spy mode in chrome. When i spy with browser mode (second object) it works fine but no with win32 spy mode. So, i'm not able to maximise window.

3) Where i can find resources, guideline, best practice about the chrome automation?

Thanks in advance,
VH

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Vrat Himbo
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

RamónRequena_L1 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:18:00 GMT

1) This has to do with the way Chrome has been developed. If you open the Process Tab in the Task manager while Chrome is running, you will notice that there are several processes running. BP is attaching to one of them, but not to the one responsible of the GUI, hence you won't be able to Spy. Playing with the Child Index in the Attach option might help.

2) You don't really need w32 for browser automation. Your options:

Use the --start-maximized chrome switch (https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/) as an argument.
Use keystrokes: Alt + Space brings up the window options context menu. Then send "x" to select maximize.

3) Not sure. I learned most of it just googling and checking on my own.

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Ramón Requena López
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

VratHimbo — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:47:00 GMT

Thanks for your help! @Ramón Requena López

1) I've tried to change child index but it still doesn't work unless i start from "launch" object.
2) Thanks! It works 🙂

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Vrat Himbo
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

EmersonF — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:10:00 GMT

Hi, try attaching by passing the window title as parameter this works fine for me

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Emerson Ferreira
Sr Business Analyst
Avanade Brasil
+55 (081) 98886-9544
If my answer helped you? Mark as useful!
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

RamónRequena_L1 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:18:00 GMT

Respect, cause in our case it is mostly a gamble. The Processes share the same windows titles somehow, and BP will just attach to the first one found.

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Ramón Requena López
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

remko.bouwens — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 14:29:00 GMT

Have you tried using a Child Index?

This could help you find the correct window.

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Remko Bouwens
RPA Specialist
Boels Rental
Europe/Amsterdam
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

david.l.morris — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 22:44:00 GMT

What version of Blue Prism are you using?

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Dave Morris
Cano Ai
Atlanta, GA
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

RamónRequena_L1 — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 09:16:00 GMT

Using Child Index 0 usually works with IE, but with Chrome it is a gamble (or at least it is what I have been seeing). Until next year we won't update (currently running v6.4) unfortunately.

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Ramón Requena López
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

VratHimbo — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 10:34:00 GMT

Hi Dave,
6.8

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Vrat Himbo
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

david.l.morris — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 17:45:00 GMT

How do you have the Fixed Port / Ephemeral Port mode set? The way you described your first issue (with the second object not able to attach unless the first object launches Blue Prism), this sounds like expected behavior if you have Ephemeral Port mode on. That would mean you have the checkbox at the bottom of the Settings page in the system tab UNCHECKED. If you do have it unchecked, then it is apparently expected (according to Blue Prism) that you cannot attach to a manually-launched instance of the browser. Only if you CHECK that box (which turns Ephemeral Port mode off and thus turns Fixed Port mode on) will you be able to attach to manually-launched instances of the browser. And note that if you decide to change this setting, restart the Interactive Client machines (whatever you develop on) as well as any runtime resources.

For your second issue with Win32 mode not working, I've never encountered Win32 mode not working. Have you tested whether Win32 works when you attach to Chrome as if it's a Windows application? That is, change the application modeller's application type to Windows app by going back through the wizard.

The last thing I wanted to mention is based on what I gather from some of the replies in this thread. I do not ever use the Child Index for attaching in Chrome automation. It's just as others have said, it's really only a thing in IE automation. What I've found is that using the Attach button inside of Application Modeller does not work for Chrome automation. It just simply is completely useless. If you want to attach to an instance of Chrome, use a navigate stage to attach and step over it. Then you can open app modeller and start spying elements and such. There is more info surrounding this, but I don't want to complicate this discussion at the moment. The other piece that is important here is that Fixed/Ephemeral Port setting. To avoid that whole issue, just make sure that Blue Prism is always what launches the browser instance so that attaching will work.

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Dave Morris
Cano Ai
Atlanta, GA
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

shashank.kumar280 — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 07:06:00 GMT

FYI- There is a new action added in Utility - General to retrieve information pertaining to currently open Windows on the desktop. The info includes Window Title, Class Name, Process Name and Process ID. If needed, this Process ID can be used in the Attach action of Navigate stage in your workflow.

https://digitalexchange.blueprism.com/dx/entry/3439/solution/utility---general

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Shashank Kumar
DX Integrations Partner Consultant
Blue Prism
Singapore
+6581326707
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RE: Weird situation with chrome

RamónRequena_L1 — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 07:14:00 GMT

Hi Shashank,

thanks for the input.

I have tried this already (well, something similar, making the VBO to attach loopwise to each chrome process by PID and then return to the main workflow and through a wait stage check if the target element is found. Otherwise, move onto the next PID and check again.

After attaching to each of the PIDs and the element being for sure there (in the Application Modeller it can be spied), the process ends up failing as for BP no element could be found.

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Ramón Requena López
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