Operating System actions enable you to interact with elements of the resource's operating system. For example, you can use this action to end processes and interact with the clipboard.

This page describes the Operating System actions.

Using the Operating System actions

When you build the robotic process workflow, you'll see the following actions available in the Operating System module:

• End process
• Get active window title
• Get clipboard value
• Set clipboard value
• Does desktop window title match?

End process

This action ends a process, using its name to identify it. The action first tries to end the process gracefully, but the action will force the process to end if necessary. This action is only supported on Windows and Ubuntu resources.

You can configure CONFIGURATION and AFTER COMPLETION parameters for this action.

Configuration

In the CONFIGURATION area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters:

• Name: Enter the name of the process to end. This field lets you enter a text string, choose a variable, or use the expression editor. The process name much match exactly. This field doesn't support regular expressions.
• End process for all users: Check this box to end the process for all users, not just the user account currently using the resource.

After completion

In the AFTER COMPLETION area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters:

• Wait before executing next action: Enter the number of seconds the robotic process waits before it continues to the next action in the workflow.
• Take a screenshot: If you select this option, the robotic process takes a screenshot of the resource immediately after the action completes successfully.

Get active window title

This action returns the title for the active window on the resource. This action is only supported on Windows and Ubuntu resources.

You can configure OUTPUTS and AFTER COMPLETION parameters for this action.

Output

In the OUTPUTS area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters to store this result:

• Operator: Select an option to store the result as a single-value variable (is stored as) or add the result as a multiple-value variable (is appended to).
• Target: Enter the name of the robotic process variable where you want to store or append the result. If your process variable is type CDT, you can specify which field of a CDT to store the result into using dot notation.

After completion

In the AFTER COMPLETION area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters:

• Wait before executing next action: Enter the number of seconds the robotic process waits before it continues to the next action in the workflow.
• Take a screenshot: If you select this option, the robotic process takes a screenshot of the resource immediately after the action completes successfully.

Get clipboard value

This action returns the content of the system's clipboard as text.

You can configure OUTPUTS and AFTER COMPLETION parameters for this action.

Output

In the OUTPUTS area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters to store this result:

• Operator: Select an option to store the result as a single-value variable (is stored as) or add the result as a multiple-value variable (is appended to).
• Target: Enter the name of the robotic process variable where you want to store or append the result. If your process variable is type CDT, you can specify which field of a CDT to store the result into using dot notation.

After completion

In the AFTER COMPLETION area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters:

• Wait before executing next action: Enter the number of seconds the robotic process waits before it continues to the next action in the workflow.
• Take a screenshot: If you select this option, the robotic process takes a screenshot of the resource immediately after the action completes successfully.

Set clipboard value

This action sets the content of the system's clipboard as text.

You can configure CONFIGURATION and AFTER COMPLETION parameters for this action.

Configuration

In the CONFIGURATION area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters:

• Text: The text you want to capture on the resource's clipboard. This field lets you enter a text string, choose a variable, or use the expression editor. If you leave the field blank, the clipboard is cleared.

After completion

In the AFTER COMPLETION area of the action pane, configure the following parameters:

• Wait before executing next action: Enter the number of seconds the robotic process waits before it continues to the next action in the workflow.
• Take a screenshot: If you select this option, the robotic process takes a screenshot of the resource immediately after the action completes successfully.

Does desktop window title match?

This action waits for a window with the specified title to appear on the resource, using the specified timeout. You can use regular expressions with wildcards in the Window title field. You can configure the action to activate the window if the title is found, or to throw an exception if the robot does not find the window. This action is only supported on Windows and Ubuntu resources.

You can configure CONFIGURATION, OUTPUTS, and AFTER COMPLETION parameters for this action.

Configuration

In the CONFIGURATION area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters:

• Window title: Enter the title of the window you want the robotic process to locate. This field lets you enter a text string, choose a variable, or use the expression editor. You can use wildcards to search for the title. Use * to match any sequence of characters and and ? to match a single character.
• Wait time: Choose whether to Use the default max wait time (30 seconds), Enter a max wait time, or Don't wait.
• Interaction: Check the box to Activate window once found.
• Fail if…: Choose whether the action should fail if it doesn't locate any windows with titles matching your configuration.

Output

This action returns a Boolean. It returns true if the robot locates a window with a matching title, and it returns false if it's unable to locate it.

In the OUTPUTS area of the action pane, configure the following parameters to store this result:

• Operator: Select an option to store the result as a single-value variable (is stored as) or add the result as a multiple-value variable (is appended to).
• Target: Enter the name of the robotic process variable where you want to store or append the result. If your process variable is type CDT, you can specify which field of a CDT to store the result into using dot notation.

After completion

In the AFTER COMPLETION area of the ACTION CONFIGURATION pane, configure the following parameters:

• Wait before executing next action: Enter the number of seconds the robotic process waits before it continues to the next action in the workflow.
• Take a screenshot: If you select this option, the robotic process takes a screenshot of the resource immediately after the action completes successfully.