Automation Anywhere Version History

Version 4.5.2 - Current Version

New Features & Enhancements

1. Log to File action now supports milliseconds in timestamp. This will allow users to measure performance at milliseconds level.

2. Added advance button for Command button in web recorder. Now user can search command button based on name, caption and index.

3. Added option to open website in existing browser.

Bug Fixes

1. When auto login unlocks the machine, it was not able to access network resources. Fixed it.

2. Date comparison and date operation was not working as expected. Fixed it.

3. If you open CSV file using Excel and close it, it used to give save as dialog. This was hindering automation. Fixed it.

4. In web recorder action, if a link is set to match based on URL in some cases it didn't work. Fixed it.

Version 4.5.1

New Features & Enhancements

1. Added support for nested tables in Extract Table functionality.

2. Now Run Task action supports filenames with $ signs in Create Exe feature. (Available in Premier & Enterprise Versions only)

Bug Fixes

1. In Auto Login, a task containing a keystroke in IE used to take longer to play back. Fixed.

2. In Auto Login, a task containing a Run Task with a variable used to show error "Variable not found". Fixed.

Version 4.5

New Features & Enhancements

1. Added over 25 new actions for Windows Controls for background execution. Now you can access many common Windows controls like Drop down, Radio button, Check box, List box, Tree Control, Status Bar, command Buttons, etc. Using these new actions you can get total number of items in a drop down or select a specific item in a drop down or click a Submit button and so on. This feature takes reliability of automation to a new level. All of these actions can also happen in background offering a huge leap in reliable automation. (Available in Premier & Enterprise Versions only)

2. New Auto login model allows you to automatically login even if computer restarts.

3. Now Create Exe and Remote Deployment allow nested Run Task support. With this feature even if your task calls another tasks, which calls other tasks and so on, you can create a deployable single exe file that will automatically account for all dependencies. (Available in Premier & Enterprise Versions only)

4. Enhanced support for databases. Now you can run stored procedures in databases from Automation Anywhere.

5. In "See the Screen" technology aka "Image recognition" a new much faster technology is used. Image recognition can now happen as much as 50 times faster. This opens up possibility of many large image comparisons. You can use this to automate any application using visual elements. In automated testing this can be used for user interface validation. You can compare current application screen to expected application screen and ensure all user interface elements are as expected. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

6. Send mail action supports attachments. Now for example Automation Anywhere can send reports as attachment in an email.

7. Made quite a few enhancements in System Log. Many new event types are added to ensure compliances to various industry requirements like healthcare and government. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

8. Wait for screen change action is enhanced to include a Window name. So now you can monitor changes in a specific window and not just screen at large.

9. Enhanced wild card support in all actions allows more choices on how you use wild cards.

10. New Interactive action added that allows you to ask end user "Yes/No" type of a question and decide path of the task based on it.

11. You can now assign null values to variables.

12. Web recorder is now easily accessible from Start Page and 'New' dialog.

13. Performance improvements in data extraction module allow faster data extraction.

14. Performance improvements in web recorder allow significant speed improvements. For example, 'If web control exists' actions can now find controls almost instantly. Even if there are hundreds of links in page, Automation Anywhere can find the required link almost instantly.

15. Web data extraction from a drop down allows additional option to continue in the event of an error in a web page.

16. Made quite a few usability improvements.

Bug Fixes

1. In case of nested loops, "Exit loop" was exiting from all loops. Now it just exits from immediate loop.

2. In rare cases regular keystroke action was not working correctly with web recorder task. Fixed it.

3. If user has used Wild card in IE window, the logic to check if web page has loaded was not working correctly. Fixed it.

4. Data extraction from a drop down on a webpage was possible only from Index 1. Now it supports Index 0, i.e. 1st value as well.

5. In some cases the progress window shows wrong total number of lines. Fixed it.

6. In rare cases the task file was getting corrupted. Fixed it.

7. If a SQL query returns 0 rows and the task uses dataset variable, it didn't work. Fixed it.

8. In some cases extra TAB key was inserted in the task. Fixed it.

9. If task is open in 2 editor windows, there were some issues. Fixed them.

10. In previous version it was not possible to drag and drop an action at line #1 (the very 1st line). Now you can.

11. In Excel actions now when you close a workbook, Excel process also closes.

12. In Web recorder sometimes unexpected dialogs were creating problems. Fixed it.

13. In Workflow if the task outgoing arrow points to itself, it used to terminate the Workflow. Fixed it.

14. In rare cases 'Loop for each folder in a folder' action used to show error "Object variable not set". Fixed it.

15. In Excel, get cells used to get all values correctly, but in some cases it also showed additional formatting characters. Fixed it.

16. In Files->Print File->Advanced View->Date setting was allowing only one value when you select between dates option. Fixed it.

17. In case of nested loops, the counter variable was not getting incremented correctly. Fixed it.

18. In some cases Workflow log was not showing correct line number if Workflow fails. Fixed it.

19. During task editing if you recapture control; it used to reset "time to wait for" field. Fixed it. Now original value is preserved.

Version 4.0

New Features & Enhancements

1. Added a new feature of Excel Integration with actions to Create Spreadsheet, Open Spreadsheet, Close Spreadsheet, Get Cells, Set Cell, Goto Cell, Run Excel Macro within the task and even Delete Cells. Sessions base allows you to work with multiple spreadsheets.

2. Added 'Windows Action' command like Activate Window, Maximize Window, Minimize Window and Resize Window.

3. Added a new feature of Remote Deployment with 'Deploy' and 'Deployment Manager'. With Deploy capability now you can manage many remote machines from a single computer. Automation Anywhere features zero footprint, agent less deployment. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

4. New Visualize Technology makes it easier to see tasks in pictorial view. There is also a new “Visualize” view that allows you to see your entire task as a series of screenshots like a storyboard. Using SnapPoint feature you can also add custom screenshots to a task or recapture the screenshots at runtime. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

5. Automation Anywhere 4.0 uses a new version of SMART Automation Technology. The improved technology gives even more intelligence to your automated task, making them more reliable and easy for you to create.

6. Added intuitive business process Workflow Designer. Workflow Designer allows you to define a business process graphically. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

7. New Windows actions like Get Text, Get Check Box Status, Get Radio Button Status allow you to work directly with fundamental Windows controls.

8. New Interactive actions like Prompt for File and Prompt for Folder allow you to ask user for a file or a folder name while the task is running.

9. New Variable Operation allows you to perform many arithmetic operations with variables. You can add, subtract, multiple, divide and more. It also allows date arithmetic. This makes it easier if you want to generate report for last month or for yesterday.

10. Enhanced the Loop action by adding Nested Loops. Now you can have any number of nested loops.

11. Loop action now supports ‘Each Row in Excel Dataset’ option. With this features you can easily loop through each row and column in Excel.

12. Now ELSE action is supported with IF.

13. Added many advanced IF conditions like ‘IF Web Control Exists’, ‘IF File Size’, and ‘IF File Date’. ‘IF Web Control Exists’ can be easily used to see if certain conditions exist on a webpage and decide the flow of task depending on that.

14. IF command now supports trapping the return values of VBScript and Java Script in a Variable. This makes it easier to integrate other scripts with Automation Anywhere. IF Variable action now allows comparison of Null Values.

15. Added IF Image Recognition. Now compare current image to Static image and click based on it. This can allow you to better work through remote desktop windows where direct access to window and objects on remote desktop is not available. (Available in Enterprise Version only).

16. Significantly improved Task Editor usability by adding drag-n-drop feature. Simply drag the action where you want to insert it. If you want to move actions within the task editor, simply drag and drop as well.

17. Enhancement to Run Script command. Run Script now allows execution of VBScript and JavaScript files irrespective of the path where they exist. It also supports of trapping the return values of VBScript and JavaScript in a Variable.

18. Added new OpenFile, OpenFolder actions in Files/Folders. Also, enhanced the Advanced Options in File/Folder action to incorporate 'Before than' in the Date Format.

19. Enhanced Insert Mouse Click action to incorporate image at mouse click. This will make it easier to see what it is clicking (Available in Enterprise Version only).

20. Added option in ‘Launch Website’ to allow tabs support for IE7.

21. Enhanced the Variable Manager by adding new System Variable called Excel Column.

22. Now you can find any text within the task using the find box or using a shortcut 'Ctrl + F'. This will make it easier to identify specific action you are looking for.

23. Added new System Logs capability that provides you with a single database of all events in your automation environment. Any changes made to the task, errors, deployment events, workflow creations or any other actions can be viewed in the System Log. It can help you identify and diagnose the source of a problem, track changes to your automation system and even help you predict potential problems. System Logs can be exported to a .csv file and can be filtered by Date and Type of the event. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

24. Also enhanced Tools > Options Settings. In Email Notification, now authentication of outgoing Mail Server (if required) allowed.

25. Added new "My WorkFlow" folder in main folders Pane. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

26. Enhanced advance settings option for not recording mouse moves. Now avoid unnecessary mouse moves by not recording mouse moves. More advanced users can also choose to record just keystrokes or mouse click. 

27. Added configurable option to define Internet Timeout. If you have slower connection or a large file to download, you can increase this configurable setting.

28. Recent Tasks moved to File Menu and new shortcut key 'Ctrl + E' added to open new editor.

29. Added new "Right Click" key in Insert Keystrokes.

30. Added Variable support in Delay command. Now you can define a variable for a delay. Just by changing value of the variable you can control speed of the task.

31. Extract Data feature added to Web Recorder. Extract Data allows you to capture any text, images and values from a website into a specified program like word, clipboard, etc. It also offers more advanced data extraction where you can specify to extract data before and after a specified keyword. For example, from “Price: $450 USD” if you want to extract $450, you can specify to extract a word that comes between “Price:” and “USD”.

32. Another enhancement to Web Recorder is Variable Support in Extract Table. Now you can extract all/multiple tables from a particular website by defining a variable. So instead of writing multiple commands for download of multiple tables, variable support has made extracting multiple tables easy.

33. Enhancement in Play Sound action to incorporate Media Files.

34. Now a progress bar is shown when task runs. This makes it easier to see how far task has run at any given time.

35. Added “Alt-GR” key to support many European keyboard layouts.

36. Enhanced wild card support. Now you can specify wild card '*' in the beginning of the window titles in commands like Keystrokes, Mouse Clicks, etc.

37. Loop action now support intelligent error handling. You can specify to continue with the next loop if an error occurs and log your custom text upon error. (Available in Enterprise Version only)

38. Option to specify a configurable string to unlock the computer in Tools->Options->Auto-login. This will allow you to click extra dialog box, etc. that may come when you auto-login in the corporate network.

39. Now Double Byte OS is supported in Premier and Enterprise version for distributing Exes.

40. If your task uses a script, it is now supported in distributed Exes.

41. In ‘IF Application Running’, matching is now done only with Exe name instead of matching with whole path. This makes it easier when Exes are distributed if the application path is different.

42. Increased the length of the filename box in Variable Manager to accommodate longer file paths.

43. To make Exes (generated using Automation Anywhere ‘Create Exe’ or ‘Deploy’) more portable, dependency on Zip.dll, unzip.dll and MsComCtrl.ocx is removed. This will make it even easier to deploy and run Exes on remote machines.

44. In 'Wait for Window' command the maximum number of seconds was only 999. Increased the limit to 99999 seconds.

45. To give more flexibility, the the 'Name' field in the Manage Web Controls action is now editable for the 'Link' control.

46. In the help file, added more examples and explanation for many actions and tools.

Bug Fixes:

1. Fixed bug in Filtering option of Task Editor. Now Open Program/File, Zip and Unzip is not shown when filtered by Mouse Click.

2. When Error occurred in Window Does Not Exist, it did not show current window title. This is now fixed and current window title is shown.

3. If database SQL query returned 0 rows and if you try to access Dataset Column variable, the task used to stop. Fixed the problem.

4. Under some cases prompt command displayed old variable values. Fixed it. Now it shows the correct values of the variable.

5. In ‘Create Exe’ feature, ‘Show Errors’ preference setting was ignored. Now if you uncheck ‘Show Errors’, exes will not show errors if an error occurs.

6. In Web Recorder ‘Show Errors’ preference setting was ignored. Now if you uncheck ‘Show Errors’, Web Recorder will not show errors if an error occurs.

7. With enhanced Extract Table technology fixed some bugs where the import table did not import the data correctly.

Version 3.5.1

New Features & Enhancements:

1. Added a new "Wait for Screen Change" command in the Task Editor. With this Automation Anywhere can compare screen images and perform an action if screen image has changed.
2. Significantly improved response time for hotkeys. Now when you press a hotkey, task runs instantly.
3. Improved web data extraction capability to identify and extract many more types of tabular data. Also web data extraction now automatically removes unnecessary spaces when it extracts data from web.
4. Enhanced Trigger capability so that all types of file/folder changes are now recognized. Triggers are now able to recognize if files/folder change on shared drives or if FTP or other 3rd party applications modify the file/folder.
5. Increased limit in Wait for Window command from 999 seconds to 99999 seconds. This helps long running tasks.
6. 'Find broken links' command was enhanced to remove unnecessary spaces in log file.
7. Automation Anywhere used to start in the middle of the screen. Now it remembers the location where it was closed the last time. This will allow user to customize their screen space.

Bug Fixes:

1. In some cases even if the unzip command runs successfully it used to log an error in the log file. Fixed.
2. It was not allowing to schedule the task on windows 2000 if the password was not provided. Now it allows it.
3. In some cases zip file was not zipping the folder structure correctly. Fixed.
4. Random delay didn't work correctly in debug mode. Fixed.
5. If Ping command didn't work correctly in Windows Vista due to change in Vista OS. Fixed.
6. Sometimes in Tools->Options->AutoLogin settings the password was not shown correctly. Fixed.

Version 3.5

New Features & Enhancements:

1. Automation Anywhere now supports Windows Vista.
2. Added unique auto login feature. Auto Login allows scheduled tasks to run even when computer is locked. When Auto Login is enabled, Automation Anywhere will unlock the computer if it is locked, run the task and lock it back. This works great when you have to run few reports in middle of the night, but you cannot leave your computer unlocked.
3. All tasks and exes are now stored in My Documents for easy backup etc.
4. Insert Keystrokes, Insert Mouse Click and Close Window command now supports wild card in the Window Titles. For example now you can specify "Microsoft - Excel*"
5. Nested-If is supported now. You can insert as many levels of If commands within another IF commands in your task.
6. Web recorder now allows easier selection from the drop down list on a website. You can simply specify what values or index value you want to select.
7. Web Recorder now supports iFrames controls.
8. Now when you rename or copy the task, new task is automatically selected for easy editing.
9. Previously in IF conditions you can wait for up to 999 seconds for condition to be true. Now that limit is increased. Now tasks can wait for up to few days for IF conditions to be true. This is very useful for long running tasks.

Bug Fixes:

1. Import Table in Web recorder was not importing the data in correct format in some instances where Java script code was involved. Fixed.
2. In some instances drop down menu was not getting recorded correctly using Web Recorder. Fixed.
3. Automation Anywhere used to error out if the value of the variable itself had a $ in it. Fixed.
4. List variable used to increment every time it was used inside the Loop. Fixed.
5. MsgBox command did not display the long string correctly. Fixed.
6. The task used to stop after executing an Escape keystroke. Fixed.
7. In Files/Folders command it used to change the sub command selection once you save the task or edit it. Fixed.
8. In some cases the "Enable this task to run with other similar files flag" used to make hotkey selection disappear. Fixed.
9. If the task name is too long, it used to overlap the Task Report section in the General Properties. Fixed.
10. If task is waiting for the condition to be true in IF command, it did not stop when you hit Escape. Fixed.
11. It used to show empty title while capturing some controls using Web Recorder->Manage Controls. Fixed.
12. Import Table did not import in desired format if the imported data had double quotes and comma. Fixed.
13. If you insert an empty IF condition then in Debug mode it did not work correctly. Fixed.
14. $Table Column$ system variable sometimes did not give correct values in Debug mode. Fixed.
15. Renaming a task folder had some issues. Fixed.
16. FTP was not using the correct Port number. Fixed.
17. In some cases creating folder on a network drive was not working. Fixed.

Version 3.0.3

New Features & Enhancements:

1. Added more intelligence to Web recorder. Now no matter how web sites change or even if there are similar looking controls, web recorder can identify the correct control. This new intelligent pattern matching technology significantly improves reliability of web automation.
2. Improved Data backup template. Added new features and usability improvements.

3. After web recorder finishes the task, IE toolbar is loaded to make it easier for user to use that window.

4. Better command access in Editor by displaying all sub commands in the left hand command window.
5. Added more examples and detailed description in help file.
6. Improved usability for few templates.

Bug Fixes:

1. Fixed a problem where multiple actions selection was slower.
2. Task involving double click on desktop was not executed correctly through debug mode. Fixed.
3. The extra space at the end of the Window name in If command was trimmed previously which caused the command to fails in some instances. Fixed.
4. In few instances, deleting the actions in the Editor, incorrectly re-assigned the line numbers. Fixed.

Version 3.0.2

New Features & Enhancements:

1. All templates were significantly improved. Now templates features new user interface and many new features.
2. Web recorder now supports dialog boxes while recording for e.g. dialog boxes like login box, security certificates, JavaScript boxes, download file, save file boxes etc.
3. In web recorder, added ability to go "back" in the Internet Explorer page during recording.
4. Web Recorder->Find Broken Links now supports a single click test to check entire website for broken links. It crawls and find all pages and checks all links in all pages.
5. FTP command has now 'Test Connection' button to test the connection at the time of task creation.
6. FTP command now supports deleting and renaming files.
7. FTP Get File and Put File options are enhanced to supports getting and putting multiple files as well wild card support.
8. Changed the Advanced layout of FTP command for Connect option.
9. Before executing any System commands like 'Restart', 'Shutdown' etc. it prompts the user and if unanswered for 30 seconds it executes the command.
10. Better user interface for advanced layout of Files/Folders.
11. Using 'Automate Data Backup' template, you can zip the backup.
12. Now you can save the task in editor using the shortcut 'Ctrl + S'.
13. Many performance enhancements were implemented like when you right-click any folder in the tree view it does not refresh the list view. When you click on a task in 'Recent Tasks' and if that folder is already open, it does not refresh the list view, simply selects that task etc.
14. IF command used to allow only 3 digits of wait time for the condition to be true. Now it supports 5 digits.
15. Find Broken Links command was enhanced to check bookmarks.
16. Enhanced 'Message Box' command so that if other dialog boxes are open it shows up on top of all windows so that user knows it is waiting for input.
17. Added few validations to variable manager screen.
18. Web recorder was enhanced to support more types of image links.
     

Bug Fixes:

1. When 'Stop Task' command is executed, now it stops the task completely i.e. Including repeats set using repeat property set in main Automation Anywhere window.
2. In debug mode Stop Task did not stop the task. Fixed.
3. In debug mode, zip/unzip commands did not work. Fixed.

4. In debug mode, F5 key did not work correctly in some cases. Fixed.
5. When you close editor window, it used to open the main Automation Anywhere window. Fixed.
6. 'Message Box' command used to cut some uppercase characters. Fixed.
7. In some cases List variable was not working in Web Recorder. Fixed.
8. Fixed a bug in Web Recorder for playing of links that were not visible, for e.g. present under some drop down etc.
9. Fixed a bug in 'Send Email' command where it used to close the window when ENTER key was hit in the message area.
10. Fixed a bug in Send Email command where it used to skip the first line of the message area.
11. Fixed a bug in playing Import Table feature of Web Recorder where if the CSV file is already open, it used to end the task without any message.
12. Fixed the bug in CHM Help file where the search functionality was not working
13. Fixed few bugs in 'Import Table' feature of 'Web Recorder'. It is more reliable.
14. Fixed a bug in IF command when under some cases, after copying, it used to disappear when you save the task.
15. Fixed a bug in Manage Controls of Web Recorder where any page launched from there, did not support navigation in that page.
16. Fixed a bug in Web Recorder where some of the controls were not getting recorded correctly.
17. Fixed a bug in 'Web Recorder' where 'Loop for each row in Internet Explorer window', did not work correctly in Debug mode.
18. During Web Recording if you click on a link which opens the download dialog box and then press cancel in that dialog box and then click on any link or control on the webpage, it returned error, "object or variable not set". Fixed.
19. Fixed a bug where it used to stop the task when it comes across a null value while executing 'Loop for each row in dataset'
20. In command dialog, if 'Examples' or 'How to use' link is clicked; it used to minimize the command window. Fixed.
21. When you collapse any folder in folder tree view, now it refreshes the list view.

Version 3.0.1

New Features & Enhancements:

1. Help file was improved to add more examples for each command.
2. Insert mouse move command now uses 'capture' feature instead of specifying coordinates.
3. Added performance improvements to start Automation Anywhere faster.
4. Added separate dialog box for Wait command.
5. Many small usability improvements.

Bug Fixes:

1. Arrow keys didn't work in trigger and schedule tab. Fixed.
2. If you open or save a tasks in 3rd level sub folder, it used to show error. Fixed.
3. Few minor bug fixes in web recorder.

Version 3.0

New Features & Enhancements:

1. Award winning, redesigned user interface makes it even easier to automate task.
2. New Web recorder tool significantly improves web automation reliability
3. An auto-response capability allows you to trigger task in response to many events like opening of new windows or when new file is created etc.
4. New Internet automation templates allow easy web data extraction.
5. Added new startup page to make it easier for beginners to get started quickly.
6. Many new automation commands like Manage web controls, test all links, more loop and if commands, Import table etc.
7. Historic and detailed task log is now available. When task fails you can also see which line it failed.
8. Many Bug fixes and usability improvements.

Version 2.5

New Features & Enhancements:

1. New CHM help file to allow searching etc.
2. Added more IF and Loop commands.
3. Added database commands.
4. Added feature to rename the task from general properties.
5. Added better support for remote access software.
6. Uses next version of SMART Automation Technology engine. Tasks automatically adjusts to more changes.
7. Added more advance options for FTP command.
8. Added more file/folder commands.
9. Improved Task to Exe capability.
10. Added more features in variable manager.
11. Added more configurable options.
12. Many Bug fixes and usability improvements.

Tags: automation software, automate, Windows automation, automate Windows, batch file