? multiple similar windows? how to tell them apart?

[philkryder]

Background:
Some of our AA exe's are used in INTERNET EXPLORER windows that are similar.

Our workers have 3 flat panel monitors.
They may be working on CASE NUMBER 1234
and
Then get a call to work on CASE NUMBER 4567

We use AA to navigate and paste standard text into the case notes.

Unfortunately,
AA sometimes Navigates and Pastes into the "first opened" rather than the "most recently used" window.

Is there any way within AA to discern which window was the most recently used?

I don't want/CAN'T use web recorder because it (insert curse word here) opens new instances of INTERNET EXPLORER.
I need AA to:
NOT open a new instance of IE.
always type/navigate in the MOST RECENTLY USED IE window.

?how can I reliably insure this will happen?

Thanks much!
Phil

[forumstaff]

Hello Phil,

As of now Automation Anywhere does not have a command or a feature that will help you to identify the most recently used window except 'Currently Active Window'. However to deal with your situation we would like to request you to send us the screen-shots of both the windows ('first-opened' and 'most recently used') along with their window titles. This will help us to understand the issue in a better way and come out with a possible solution.

Regards.

[philkryder]

Thanks
but
I'm going to wait till I see the FAQs
and
The new editor
to see if they make any difference.

Any ETA on when they will be available?

[philkryder]

since there is no ETA on either the FAQs or the editor,
please take a look at the attached file.

It shows the extracted source from a web page

how can I tell two of these apart?

[forumstaff]

Hello Phil,

You can try by selecting the "child window" option and then select the window title that you are searching for.

Please let us know if this helps or send us the screen shoot of the application widows on which you are trying to automate.

Thanks & Regards

[philkryder]

both windows would have the same title
how could that help?

[forumstaff]

Hello Phil,

If both the windows have the same title then it will create a confusion state for the tool to identify the needed window which will lead to error. The only way to identify such window is to use the "child window" technique.

Thanks & Regards

[philkryder]

both of the windows are "new" instances of IE - what does CHILD WINDOW mean?

[forumstaff]

Hello Phil,

Child Window refers to sub-windows of an application. It also refers to those windows which has a prompt message or commands.

For example: The window that pops up in an application asking for "Yes" or "No" or "OK"

Child windows are those windows which are linked with the main window of the application and which can be related with the main window.

Thanks & Regards

[trentonponder]

This is one of those situations AA cannot currently address and I don`t see how future versions can discern which one was most recently opened...I`d be happy to be proven wrong.

You may need some other solution to hack this one out. You can consider adding a clause into your task to detect if multiple sessions are open. Then if there are, prompt the user within AA to click on the relevant window. Then AA will set it in the `currently active window.`

There are other ways to solve this programmatically while still employing AA, but you would have to develop them within your application to work with AA rather than the other way around.