Browser extension check?

[Walter.Koller]

Hi,

Is there a way to check if browser extension is ready to work and further if Blue Prism is able to communicate with browser extension?

Currently the extension is a black box. When migrating processes from IE, 6.4 to Chrome, 6.9, we faced the problem they worked on one workplace, sometimes on another workplace and didn't work at all on a third machine. All of them had the same Chrome version and Blue Prism version installed. It took use quite a long time to figure out what the issue was.

2.2 extension (BP 6.9) doesn't work with our Chrome version (83). It happend on one workplace to extensions (2.1 & 2.2) were installed because the developer previously tested an earlier version of BP. According to compatibility list extensions 2.1 & 2.2 have been evaluated successfully against the same Chrome versions but are not equally compatible with earlier versions.
Possible blocked ports when we analyzed the issue on runtime resource. 

So if not the same developer tested previous version of BP and also worked on new Chrome automation, it would be impossible for us to figure out what the problem was and had to escalate to higher management since BP was not even able to automate Chrome.
Blocked ports should not happen with 6.9 anymore, but I don't have any possibility to check if it is not one cause of the problem.

Next time when Chrome stops to work with Blue Prism, we again have to start from the beginning, trying to rule out every single possible cause of issues.

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Walter Koller
Solution Manager
Erste Group IT International GmbH
Europe/Vienna
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[expertcr]

Are you try to spy an https website? I BP 6.9 and Chrome 83 using the extension 2.2.0 for BP.
To check if the extension is loaded when launching Chrome to your target site from BP, open the Chrome Console (F12) and check is the extension was loaded.

For troubleshooting, please contacts us at support@blueprism.com or create a ticket in the Portal.

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Luis Lopez
Customer Support Engineer English and Spanish
Blue Prism Ltd
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[Walter.Koller]

Thanks for your reply.

Even though the extension is loaded by Chrome it does not necessarily mean it works. Eg when using fixed port numbers.

I imagine the situation similar to opening my browser and intranet start page is shown. When I click a link, it shows me something is happening. After some time I start to wonder. Is the shown paged maybe just a cached version? Is the link wrong? Is there a problem with my router? Is the target web server unavailable? ....

Similar to when I start Chrome automation and BP tells me element not found...

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Walter Koller
Solution Manager
Erste Group IT International GmbH
Europe/Vienna
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[Walter.Koller]

It might happen two different versions of extensions are running in the same browser side by side and the users don't even notice this issue and don't even know which one is used.
And still there is no way to verify the extension is available. When for whatever reasons the communication between extension and Blue Prism cannot be initiated or breaks or whatever may happen, for Blue Prism it all looks the same and all reasons of failure are summarized in: element not found. I am not sure if and how this exception can be handled in a meaningful way. The error might be caused by incomplete loaded page (> reload) or issue with port loopback.

I am very interested on how other developers cope with browser issues and exception handling.

For me it is unclear why it might be difficult to distinguish between page, browser, extension and communication problems. Extension not finding an element should provide at least some feedback in contrast to not responding to BP client requests at all.

Currently we face a frequent error:

This site can't be reached
http://127.0.0.1:0/?targetURL=www.votemeforpresident.world%2Fsb4.web&bpport:64403&browsertype=Chrome&trackingId=alotoflettersandnumbers

The automation works fine, then this error occurs and 'no element found'.
What might be the reason for 127.0.0.1 not responding?

Many thanks in advance

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Walter Koller
Solution Manager
Erste Group IT International GmbH
Europe/Vienna
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[david.l.morris]

I've been testing out 6.10, and it seems to check for the browser extension upon launching and attempting to attach to the browser. It's good in some ways and bad in others. It's good in that the error I get now specifically says it couldn't find the browser extension, which I take to mean it couldn't connect to it (because it's definitely installed). The bad side of this is that it seems to take longer to attach and at least on my personal machine, it's less reliable in Chrome and at the moment it can't attach to Firefox at all. Still gotta do more testing though.

I also get that issue where it says 'This site can't be reached' and shows a local IP address in the bar. I usually get that when running from debug mode more than from runs in Control Room, and it especially happens when clicking the Launch button in app modeller more than when running a Launch (Navigate) stage.

I have no answers for this stuff at the moment, but I'm also dealing with issues in these areas too. I'm guessing it's gonna take a few BP versions for this stuff to stabilize.

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Dave Morris
Cano Ai
Atlanta, GA
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[MarkWood1]

I've just noticed this with 6.10 BP and the updated browser extension in Edge.  Specifically, I have a process where in 6.9 it would launch the site, detect the 'Windows Security' window (I use a separate object with the logic for this is in the process) and send credentials, then interact with the site normally (attach, enter data, etc.).  This is necessary as it's a Sharepoint site that prompts for credentials as soon as it is launched.

After updating to 6.10, the Launch stage launches the site in Edge but then seems to block for ~60s, and then throws an exception 'Launch Application - the browser extension was not detected...'.  I've found an ugly workaround for the moment to Resume after the exception so I can then call my Windows Security login but it seems less than ideal.

Has anyone encountered this and found some other fix that's a bit more reliable and elegant?  It seems that with the 6.9 it was able to detect the browser extension even when prompted for the login when launching the site.

Mark

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Mark Wood
Senior Consultant
EY Canada
America/Halifax
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[david.l.morris]

Yeah, it seems like 6.10 has more constraints before it considers the Browser extension installed/valid. Personally, I do not think the browser extension connection should be a requirement for Blue Prism connecting to the browser window since technically we should still be able to use Win32, UIA, and Surface Automation without the use of the browser extension at all.

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Dave Morris
Cano Ai
Atlanta, GA
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