Robot

Using path: locator strategy with Windows library

Using the path locator strategy with the RPA.Windows library to access elements using indexing.

This Robot demonstrates how to use a path: locator strategy with RPA.Windows.

The path: locator strategy is available starting with rpaframework==22.0.0. (although we recommend you to update to the latest version to benefit from all the fixes and features we brought lately)

The element path is the last resort method of accessing a Windows application's element structure, when normal accessibility properties are not available or do not contain enough information to properly identify elements.

Understanding the window element tree and element paths

Main idea

The Basic idea of the element path is that any element in the application's element structure can be indexed in a set state given its structure. If the application's element structure is changing unpredictably, then even the element path itself can't be used to identify elements.

The Windows Calculator is used here as a sample application to show how the element path works with the RPA.Windows library.

Note: The Calculator application provides excellent accessibility properties, so in usual scenarios, you don't need to rely on paths given this.

Inspecting the element tree and understanding its value

The code below displays output with the Print Tree keyword in the robot file. I am specifically logging elements as warnings so that the output is visible in both the terminal and on top of the log file.

Additionally, you can return the Windows element structure and interact directly with those WindowsElement objects, as they are compatible with all our RPA.Windows keywords.

Each entry is prefixed with 2 numbers (check the image below): <element level> - <child position>

The first number indicates the depth level of the element in the element tree. As a reminder, the default search depth in RPA.Windows is 8 (which applies also to the Print Tree keyword). Search depth can be changed with the search_depth/max_depth parameters, see library documentation for more. (a level of 0 indicates the root and your path composition starts with the first child under that)
The second number indicates the position of the element under its current level (number 1 indicating the first child) in the element tree. These positions are used as values when creating a path for the element locator.

⚠️ The root element position (here the WindowControl of the Calculator application) is not part of the element path-based locator. Indexing starts from the depth level of 1. (as 0 is the singular root level which is already your default active window if it was previously controlled; you can also set it as an anchor)

How the value of the `path:` locator is formed

In our Calculator robot, all the elements of interest are descending from the root element assigned to the variable ${path_to_mainview}.

To get an element path for the ${path_to_mainview}, I can see from the image below that its locator starts on the second position (under the parent window), which is "1-2", and then we select the third child ("2-3"), and finally the 2nd next child ("3-2"). This translates into the final element path-based locator of value: path:2|3|2.

The pipe character (|) is used for separating the positions when jumping from level to level. (starting with level 1 and onwards until you stop at the element of interest)

Now I can use this as a new parent/prefix (instead of the Calculator root window) for the rest of my locators. (to avoid redundancy)

The path: strategy can be combined with other locator strategies as well.

The rest of the locator variables, based on the path: strategy, are computed in the same way I described above.

Tree printed log:

Tree returned structure:

An element recorder for your convenience

Tired of counting child positions and remembering indexes? We've got your back with our own windows-record script which is capable of displaying such complete paths starting with the currently controlled window (the root of the element tree) until the element you just clicked.

Get a shell into the robot environment and run the script with windows-record -v.

Windows recorder script