Total Newbie and Non-Programmer Question

[KenRyan]

I am not a programmer but I just got AA after the rep took me through a script over the phone. It was awesome, so I bought the program. But I've not done a lot of automation or scripting before. Is there a source for me to learn some of the basics?

Thanks.

Ken

[forumsupport]

Hello,

To get started easily, you can view the demo on Automation Anywhere 5.0 usage, at Automation Anywhere - Learning Center

We also have a manual for Automation Anywhere 5.0. For that, please refer the AAUserManual.pdf link given below:
http://www.automationanywhere.com/su...UserManual.pdf

To automate tasks in minutes, please refer templates at http://www.tethyssolutions.com/autom...etplace-aa.htm

In addition, there are many online sample tasks available at Automation Anywhere - Solutions

Hope that helps. If you could tell us more about your requirement, we would be able to help you more with specific task.

[KenRyan]

Thanks! I spent long time going through several of the tutorials on the site and learned a lot in a short time.

I posted my specific requirement in a separate post, but to summarize:

From a folder with 116 files (same ext.) in it, I need to purge all but 47 of them. The 116 file names look something like this: "voice_001," "voice_002," etc. all the way to "voice_116." I only need 47 very specific, BUT NOT SEQUENTIAL, of the files (i.e.-voice_013, voice_22, voice_112, etc.).

Any assistance appreciated. I LOVE this program!

Thanks.

Ken

[kylepyro]

Ken - one quick strategy might be to take the specific files you need and place copies of them in another folder. Then you can just delete all the files from your folder and replace the ones you need to retain with the copies from the second folder.

If these files that you need to retain change during use, then a second strategy would be to put the file names you want to retain into a database table with a key of filename. A simple Access database will do. You can then use a simple set of sql and file commands to delete the ones you don't want: something like

connect to mydatabase

loop for all files in a folder

select filename from mydatabase.list_of_files where filename = $FileName$

if $FileName$ = $DataSet Column(1)$

then Continue Loop (bypasses the rest of this iteration of the loop)

endif

// deletes a file not found in the list

delete $FileName$.$Extension$

end loop (gets the next file in the folder)

Disconnect from Database

Obviously this is a quick pseudo code example, but it gives you the general idea.

Good Luck

[KenRyan]

Thanks Kyle! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Ken

[kylepyro]

welcome - actually forum support supplied an easier method, using a list variable (which is why I'm a JM and he's forum support). Don't forget to check that out too.

[KenRyan]

Originally Posted by kylepyro

welcome - actually forum support supplied an easier method, using a list variable (which is why I'm a JM and he's forum support). Don't forget to check that out too.

Kyle,

I did try it out but had some problems. I posted my version of the task as an attachment in the other thread "Deleting Selected Files?"

I think I'm doing something wrong with the list. I'll give your method a try now.

Thanks again.

Ken