Issues with entering text to a pdf using region mode and send keys

[FK]

I have an issue with a project I am currently developing.

I am using region mode to identify fields in a static pdf form. Region mode has no issues finding the fields and it works good when I run it in debugging mode. It works by first clicking in the field that is intended to be filled in, and then it sends hotkeys with the text as input. It has worked perfectly in debugging mode and always puts the correct text in the correct space. The pdf is then saved and sent through email.

But when it run it from the Control Room some fields does not have any info in them even though it did not send any errors about not finding the field, and everything seems to have gone smooth. So it basically finds the field but for some reason the text sent by hotkeys does not get captured by the pdf. It works about 40 % of the time but the logs does not indicate that there is any issues with finding the fields.

I’ve tried to slow it down by adding sleep stages between each step but it doesn’t seem to make it better. Anyone who's had a similar issue?

[zdenek.kabatek]

Hi, F K,

well, are you sure that you put your sleep stages at the right places? Did you try to slow down sending the keys or a small pause between keystrokes? When running in debugging mode it is always tricky as you unintentionally pause or wait somewhere. Try to run the process from start till end in Process Studio without any breakpoint or interruption. You will see whether it works well.

Regards,

Zdenek

[FK]

Hi, 

I have tried to run it end to end without pause in Process Studio and it works fine. Its just when its from Control Room that it doesnt work.
I have sleep stages between each action, as well as wait-stages to verify that it can find the proper place and otherwise it would send an error.
I have 0.1 between keystrokes now, should I increase it?

[zdenek.kabatek]

Hi,

then I would make one more check - read the value from the field once you finish writing to check that the value is there. If it is not repeat the step once more and again so that it makes three attempts. If it does not work even for the third attempt trigger exception so that you don't send an empty form.

Several years ago when there was IE version 10 there was the dialog window when downloading a file. I made an automation which clicked on the small arrow and then save as option. This worked in 80% of cases but 20% it failed. I could not figure out why so I made retry and then I got 100% reliability.

I am not saying that this will resolve your issue just try another approach.

regards,

Zdenek