Access Sharepoint properly

[NiklasFranke]

Hello together,

the questions seems to be pretty basic but i try to access to a File from a sharepoint and i am getting a little bit desperate.

As i know, there are 4 ways to access a Sharepoint.

1.) Work with the GUI, which is in my opinion really bad.

2.) Mapp the Sharepoint as an Folder to the Desktop. Its easy and you can work with Filemanagmend BUT, here and then i have to open the Folder on the VM manually because BP cant find the files because its not connected. I have read, that you can bypass that with a script.

3.) Work with OneDrive, but then i had the Problem, that its often not synced and i had to sync it manually.

4.) Work with VBOs form the DX:
Microsoft Graph - Sharepoint
Microsoft Graph - Authentication
Utility - HTTP
Utility - JSON

Currently i am trying the 4th option, because the other 3 did not work..

My Question is, if there is a simpler way to do this or do i really have to try it with the VBOs. This way looks way more complicated (create Tokens etc.) and i also dont know, if i can also move files etc.

Thanks for your helf.

[harish.mogulluri]

HI Niklas ,

The second option you mention might work reliably by tweaking few things  As mentioned   you can map the sharepoint as a local network drive and use  batch file to connect automatically when  there is a login to VM.

[harish.mogulluri]

Hi Niklas Franke,

Here are the steps to  follow and implement in BP process.
1) Map share point  to local network drive

2) Create bat file  
Here I mapped  the sharepoint  drive as "N" 
3) Open Note pad And add the below code in notepad and save as bat file something like "SP_Site.bat"

start N:\
timeout 2
taskkill /FI "IMAGENAME eq explorer.exe" /FI "WINDOWTITLE eq *N*"

Note: Here the mapped network drive is "N" and window title is "N" but it might change based on how it is mapped. Time out value used as 2 seconds but you can tweak based on your file explorer response always good to have more time.

4) Update file explorer setting to handle this batch file
a) Open file explorer select the view> Options> change folder and search options
b  Make sure " display   the full path in the title bar" is checked
c) Similarly make sure  update if it is not selected for  "Launch folder in a seperate process"


5) Once these settings are completed Make sure the bat file is placed in VM bot is running  and  use "Utility Environment VBO - Start Process Action" and point the file to Open it.
6) this will make sure to connect the sharepoint site

Note: , I used  this logic in sharepont 2013 But I'm pretty sure it will not work on Sharepoint online

[NiklasFranke]

Hello @Harish Mogulluri and thanks for the answer. 

How do i use/create such a batch file for the connection?

[harish.mogulluri]

HI Niklas Franke, 

Batch file  works for the 2nd way mentioned in the question( Map the sharepont folder  to the desktop). I assume you are open to use the second option if it works thats why I suggested this approach , as always its better to use API's.

[NiklasFranke]

Hello @Harish Mogulluri

my Problem is, that Blue Prism sometimes cant find the Data in the Folder and says, that there are no files, I think its a connection/syn Problem. After of opend the Folder on the Desktop once, you can see, that it loads for 2-3 seconds and after that, Blue Prism find the folders etc. I tryed to check for the folders first to handle the connection problem, but that didnt work. BP has somhow to open the location once.

[NiklasFranke]

Okay i think i solved this Problem. I use Utility - Enviroement - StartProcess and insert the Folderpath in "Application". That will open the path.
I will keep an eye on it, if it work. But till then, thank you, for your help 🙂

[harish.mogulluri]

Glad  it worked with out bat file and all the settings.

I never done with out this setting but If you have any issue drfinatley this approach will resolve the issue with connection.