Tag filter with wildcard not working correctly

[diane.sanzone]

Hi All!

I'm running BP 6.2 and having an issue with tag filters pulling incorrect queue items.  Here's my scenario:

I work each item through three systems. As I complete or mark exception for each system, I add the appropriate tag, e.g. "Word Exception" or "Excel Complete". At the end of my process, I have a final check to pull any queue items where each system was worked but maybe it wasn't marked complete because they were worked out of order or something.  I have my tag filter set like this, typed as text directly into the "get next item" action:

"+Word*;+Excel*;+Outlook*"

I'm expecting the "get next item" pull to only give me items where all three application names are in the tag.  However, it's pulling EVERY queue item, whether or not the tags are applied.

Any ideas why or what I can do to correct this?  If I do "InStr" on the tag field for each of the words, it works correctly, so I know the tags are there and can be read by my process.

Thanks for your help.

[NicholasZejdlik]

Could you give an example of a tag that is pulling that it shouldn't be pulling? 

Also, if you run Get Report Data (or Get Pending Items, etc.) with the same tag filter, does that pull the wrong items as well? That is, is it just Get Next Item that is exhibiting the wrong behavior, or is the wrong behavior present in all of the functions dealing with tag filters?

[HarpreetKaur]

Hi Diane,
there is no AND combination for these tags.. so if you're looking at grabbing items that have all three applications in there, it won't work.
What you can do is, use individual Tag filers i.e. "*Word*" and let the bot grab and process all items that have Word in there.
Once this returns no ItemID, you can introduce a second Tag filter i.e. "*Excel*"and process all the items returned through this and so on.

It's essentially achieving the same thing. Just to have a couple more action stages in your process.

[diane.sanzone]

@ Nicholas - Good ideas. I tried to test this morning and get you the information you asked for but for some miraculous reason it started working.  I didn't change anything other than rebooting my computer when I left work for the night.  I have no explanation for it.  I have the same stage, the same filter, the same items in my queue.

To give you a specific answer to the "what is it pulling that it shouldn't", my app names aren't what I'm using in my sample, but I was filtering for 

"+Second Review;+DNA*;+CM*;+Nautilus*"

And getting items with this tag

MRDC_Review_2021_02_23_12.41.xlsm_Row 23;Second Review;CM Complete;Nautilus Complete

no reference to DNA in the tag of the item that returned, and I went through all the characters - there is no "DNA" anywhere, although that "nd" in second did worry me for a bit.  The only variable within the tag is the date/timestamp after the file name (first portion of the tag), and the Complete/Exception after each app name, so there's no other way for the characters "dna" to end up in the tag unless it's in reference to my application being worked.


​@ Harpreet - my understanding is that all tag filters are AND which is why I didn't do something like "Word Complete or Word Exception". I went back to the "Advanced Work Queues Guide" from Blue Prism to double check that I didn't miss something when this wasn't working and it states that all tag filters are AND.  Also, your method won't work because the purpose of the stage is to check that there are no items in the queue where all three applications have been worked but it's still not showing as "completed".  I need ONLY items where all three apps are listed in the tag. Any other information is irrelevant to me.  I can't pull them, check the tags, and then defer for X time, either, because my process runs in such a way as that might cause items to either be missed or get me into an infinite loop of pulling, checking, deferring, pulling again.  I do appreciate the idea, though!  in a different situation it might work, just not this one.

​
Long reply to say, for some gremlin reason it works now.  I'll run about 1000 tests to make sure that it keeps working and update again with Nicholas' requested information if it breaks again.  Thanks for the help!

[NicholasZejdlik]

Glad it's working for you now, though it's too bad you're robbed of an explanation 🙂

If it does become a problem again later and you're looking to troubleshoot further, what I would do is use SQL Profiler to watch the query as it comes across on the database so you can see specifically what Blue Prism is running. That has helped me before to see if I've done something boneheaded or if there really is something strange going on. By the way, the reason I asked if the issue is with Get Next Item specifically is that Get Next Item runs a stored procedure while the other functions run a hard coded query; if someone fiddled with the stored procedure, it could cause unexpected behavior.