Build Your First Process With UiPath Studio

Hello, and welcome to this video demo where we’ll explore the #UiPath Studio interface!?

We'll learn how to:?

? ? ? ? ? ? Use the Backstage View options.?

? ? ? ? ? ? Create a new process from Start.?

? ? ? ? ? ? Use the Designer, Activities, Properties, Output, and Data Manager panels.

? ? ? ? ? ? As well as running a Studio project in debug mode.?

All set? Great! Let’s begin by looking at the Backstage View!

Here we can create and open projects, configure Studio, or access help and license information. ?

Let’s explore the available tabs:

? ? ? ? ? ? We can click Open to browse a local automation project and open it.?

? ? ? ? ? ? Click Close to close the automation project that's currently open.

? ? ? ? ? ? Click Start to create a new automation project or open recently accessed projects.?

Pin or remove projects from the Open Recent list.

The Tools option enables us to launch the UI Explorer, Project Dependencies Mass Update Tool, and the Repair Tool for Microsoft Office. ? Additionally, we can install a variety of extensions.

Let’s install the Edge extension for now.?

Next, let’s check the Plugins available in Studio.

We can connect Studio projects to source control systems like GIT, SVN, or TFS when collaboration between multiple users is needed.

We can enable or disable them on the Plugins tab.

Additionally, Test Explorer and Test Manager are available as plugins for automation testing.

? ? ? ? ? ? To create a new project based on a template, we can use Templates. In this tab, we can view all available project templates, search, and filter them by source.

? ? ? ? ? ? From the Settings tab, we can change the look and feel of Studio, set global preferences, manage activities package sources, change local licenses, switch between Studio profiles, and enable or disable source control plugins.

? ? ? ? ? ? The Help tab directs us to Product Documentation, the Community Forum, Help Center, UiPath Academy, Release Notes, UiPath Studio survey, and a quick step-by-step guide.

Next, let’s create a basic Process by clicking ‘Start’ and selecting ‘Process’.

We’ll name it ‘Studio Interface’, supply a location, description, and select the compatibility.

Note that when creating a new project in Studio, selecting compatibility based on the environment on which the project will be executed is essential:

? ? ? ? ? ? Windows compatibility uses dot NET 5 with Windows support and this is the default compatibility in Studio.

? ? ? ? ? ? Cross-platform compatibility uses dot NET 5 with cross-platform support. This is needed for projects using robots on Linux.

? ? ? ? ? ? Windows - Legacy uses dot NET Framework 4.6.1, the compatibility used in releases before 2021.10.?

For this example, we’ll select the default compatibility option, with Visual Basic as language.

… then click ‘Create’.

Great! Now let’s open the main workflow.?

UiPath Studio has multiple panels for easier access to specific functionalities.?

In the center of the screen is what we call the Designer panel. This is where the design of the process happens.?

The Designer panel displays our current automation project, enables us to make changes to it, and provides quick access to variables, arguments, and imports.

Let’s move to the Activities panel on the left.

Here, we can search for activities by name and description using the search box at the top of the panel.

For example, let’s type in ‘Log Message’. This activity writes the specified diagnostic message at the specified level. ?

Then just drag-n-drop it inside the main sequence. Adding an activity to our workflow is that easy in Studio.

?Sequences are the smallest type of project. They're suitable for linear processes as they enable us to go from one activity to another seamlessly, and act as a single block activity.

As best practice, make sure to include annotations at the top of every workflow, describing its purpose, and to rename all activities.

Great! Another important part in Studio, is the ‘Project’ panel. TheProject panel enables us to view the contents of the current project, add folders, open the file location, manage dependencies, and adjust project settings.

We can copy and paste files from File Explorer directly into the Project panel. Or just drag and drop on one or multiple files, including ‘dot xaml’ workflows.

? ? ? ? ? ? Clicking the ‘Show All Files’ option shows all files belonging to the automation project, including the ‘project dot json’

? ? ? ? ? ? The ‘File Explorer’ option opens the project's location on the machine

? ? ? ? ? ? While the ‘Project Settings’ option opens the Project Settings window for processes or libraries.

In Workflow Analyzer, a set of rules is applied to check for inconsistencies that aren't related to the project execution itself.

The Test Manager settings can also be configured from here.

Project compatibility is displayed in the Dependencies node.?

Project dependencies in Studio refer to packages linked to a specific project, holding activities.

Hovering over a dependency shows us requested and resolved versions.?

Contextual actions like Manage, Repair or Remove Dependency or Import Namespaces are available only for dependencies and not their sub-packages.

To manage dependencies in a project, simply right-click the Dependencies category in the Project panel, and then select Manage. This opens the Manage Packages window, with the Project Dependencies category.?

The green round icon shows which packages are currently installed.

To add dependencies, we need to select “All Packages” first. Here we can search for new packages to add to the project. Please note that the available packages differ depending on project compatibility.

Let’s search for the PDF Activity Package.

And click “UiPath Dot PDF Dot Activity” Package.

Now from the right side, select the latest version and click “Install”.

Then click “Save”.

The PDF activities package has activities to get data from PDF and XPS files and store it into string variables.

Next, let’s move to the Designer panel and select the ‘Log Message’ activity.?

The Properties panel is visible on the right side of the screen.

It's contextual and enables us to view and change the properties of a selected activity.?

When selecting two activities in the same workflow, common properties can be modified.

Let’s select ‘Info’ as Log Level and type in a message between quotation marks.

Perfect! Now let’s open the Data Manager Panel.

Here we can manage various types of data for our automation project. Data types include Variables, Arguments, and Constants. We can also view and access Orchestrator queues, processes, and assets as well as connections used and namespaces.

By clicking New from the Data Manager options at the top, we can create a new: ??

? ? ? ? ? ? Variable,

? ? ? ? ? ? Argument,

? ? ? ? ? ? or Constant.

Let’s create a new variable.

We can supply here the name, select the type, scope, and default value.

Let’s name it “Test Variable”.?

And click “OK”.

We’ll be able to see the newly created variable in the Data Manager panel.

Great! Now let’s move to the upper side of the screen to explore the Ribbon.?

The ribbon is straightforward and can be minimized or expanded by clicking the Minimize or Expand button.

The ribbon has the following tabs:

? ? ? ? ? ? Home is where we create and open projects, configure Studio, or access help and license information from the Studio Backstage View.

? ? ? ? ? ? Design is where we add sequences, flowcharts, and state machines to our project, install and manage activities packages, build interactions with UI elements, export workflows to Excel, and publish our work to Orchestrator or custom feeds.?

An important aspect to consider is that wizards and UI Explorer aren't visible in the Ribbon unless we install the ‘UiPath UIAutomation Activities’ package.

? ? ? ? ? ? Debug is where we debug our workflow, while using debugging tools to set breakpoints, monitor the execution of activities step by step, and adjust the debugging speed. Open logs to view details regarding execution and any changes made to the project.

The options available in the ribbon differ based on the general project design experience selected. Modern, or Classic.

To run a workflow or project, we have three options to choose from:?

? ? ? ? ? ? Run Current File, to run the current workflow.

? ? ? ? ? ? Debug Project, to find and remove errors.

? ? ? ? ? ? And Run Project, to run the whole project.

Let’s right-click the Log Message activity, select ‘Toggle Breakpoint’, then run the project in debug mode.?

Debugging is the process of finding and removing errors that prevent the project from functioning correctly.

Debugging of a single file or the whole project can be performed both from the Design or Debug ribbon tabs. However, the debugging process isn't available if project files have validation errors.?

Breakpoints are used to purposely pause the debugging process on an activity which may trigger execution issues.

? ? ? ? ? ? Use Step Into to debug activities one at a time. The debugger opens and highlights the activity before it’s executed.

? ? ? ? ? ? When used, Step Over doesn't open the current container. It debugs the next activity, highlighting containers, such as sequences, without opening them.

? ? ? ? ? ? Step Out is used for stepping out and pausing the execution at the current container level.

? ? ? ? ? ? Focus Execution Point helps to return to the current break-point or the activity that caused an error during debugging.

? ? ? ? ? ? Slow Step enables us to look closer at any activity during debugging.?

? ? ? ? ? ? Execution Trail ribbon button is disabled by default. When enabled, it shows the exact execution path at debugging.

? ? ? ? ? ? If the Highlight Elements option is enabled, UI elements are highlighted during debugging.

? ? ? ? ? ? If Log Activities option is enabled, debugged activities are displayed as trace logs in the Output panel.

? ? ? ? ? ? The Continue on Exception feature is disabled by default.?

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Meaning that it throws the execution error, stops debugging, highlights the activity which threw the exception, and logs the exception in the Output panel. ?

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When enabled, the exception is logged in the Output panel, and the execution continues.

? ? ? ? ? ? The Picture-in-Picture mode runs in an isolated Windows session, thus allowing us to use the machine while the process runs.

? ? ? ? ? ? Remote debugging enables us to run, and debug attended and unattended processes on robots deployed to remote machines.

? ? ? ? ? ? Using Profile Execution, we can identify performance bottlenecks in the #workflow . It provides an analysis of the performance of all operations by providing us with a cumulative percentage of the execution time of each activity.

Let’s click Continue to finish debugging the project and examine the Output panel.

Here we can see the output of the Log Message, Write Line activities, and package exceptions.

#uipath

From the Output panel, we can show or hide messages that have different log levels, errors, or warnings, by clicking the buttons in the panel’s header.

Double-clicking a message displays further details about it, having the option to copy the information.

We can now ‘Save’ and close Studio.

Let’s do a quick recap of some of the most important aspects that we’ve covered in this demo:

? ? ? ? ? ? When creating a new project in the Studio profile, selecting compatibility based on the environment in which the project will be executed is essential.

? ? ? ? ? ? The Data Manager panel allows us to manage various types of data in our automation projects.

? ? ? ? ? ? Debugging of a single file or the whole project can be performed both from the Design or Debug ribbon tabs. However, the debugging process isn't available if project files have validation errors.?

? ? ? ? ? ? Breakpoints are used to purposely pause the debugging process on an activity which may trigger execution issues.

? ? ? ? ? ? From the Output panel, we can show or hide messages that have different log levels, errors or warnings, by clicking the buttons in the panel’s header.?

Great! This concludes our walk-through of the UiPath Studio interface.?

?? ? ? ? ? ? Can you recall how to debug activities one at a time?

?Thank you for watching and until next time, happy automation!