AutoMate URC Sample Tasks & Workflows

In this task, we will show you how AutoMate connects to a terminal server, logs in, changes the directory/folder, lists the files in the folder, extracts the content from the terminal window, loops through the content, and writes the lines containing the files listed to a text file.

The scenario for this particular automate task was that we had text, CSV reports that we needed to import in to a MySQL database and needed to clear the particular table of all records before we started a new import. In order for this task to work we had to share the directory where the reports were at and need the task to loop through all of the files in the directory. The task steps are as follows: Create a variable named "var_FilePath" with an initial value of "\\\\192.168.1.1\\sharename\\" (Notice the double backslash. It's a small nuance of MySQL that a backslash is a command character so you need a double backslash to represent a single backslash) Create a variable named "var_FullPath" Establish SQL Connection using... Here you use the built-in ODBC connection browser to connect to the MySQL database. IMPORTANT: You need to install the MySQL for Windows driver to be able to make this connection. You can get the driver at: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc Execute the SQL statement: "TRUNCATE TABLE tablename" Why use the TRUNCATE TABLE statement rather than UPDATE TABLE? There's a great debate in online forums about the merits of both but in this instance we wanted a clean table so the TRUNCATE statement was more efficient. Loop through files in directory "\\192.168.1.1\sharename" Do not include the path in the variable. Create and populate dataset "ds_files" with details of the file(s). Set variable var_Fullpath to value "%var_Filepath & ds_Files.Name%" So what is this about? We need the MySQL statement to grab the files from the shared directory but we needed the value to be in the right format. So this step concatenates the variable var_FilePath and the file name of the report so that we get the final value of \\\\192.168.1.1.\\share\\report.csv Execute SQL statement: "LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE '%var_FullPath%' INTO TABLE tablename COLUMNS TERMINATED BY '|' LINES TERMINATED BY '\n' IGNORE 1 LINES (COLUMN1,COLUMN2,COLUMN3);". End Loop Close SQL Connection

This sample workflow demonstrates how to use Web Services and XML actions in AutoMate to schedule an automated process to connect and retrieve data from a Microsoft Access database. In this example we will be retrieving a list of stock symbols and their current prices. The data retrieved is then populated and stored in a shared dataset in the workflow.

This sample workflow demonstrates how to schedule an automated process to connect and retrieve data from a database, generate a date-stamped Excel report from the retrieved data and upload it to an FTP server.

The new AutoMate and BPA Server 9 OCR actions have the ability to read, extract and convert ANY type of image, such as a bitmap, jpeg, png, pdf or tiff file into text for electronic automation and importation. Our extensive set of Windows Active Directory actions provides creating, modifying and managing any type of Object, User or Group. This sample task will read a name, address and telephone number from an application image, and create an Active Directory User with AutoMate’s OCR, Active Directory, Loop and Flow Control Actions.

The sample program writes out a table text file to be used as input. Normally this would be created using a text editor such as Wordpad or Textpad. Excel could be used for table-driven processing as well. Excel is more powerful and versatile while text is faster and uses less memory. The text file of parameters is read in and separated by the character '#'. In the example it just displays the table parameters as they are read, but in general the parameters would be used to perform some table-driven process. Each line is split into three words using the Split() function and puts each word into a separate variable.

This example executes the DOS 'dir' command on the C: drive and puts output into a text file for further processing. It is based on the blog "Executing Command-line Applications Using The Run Action". The C:\ drive in this example could be substituted with any mapped drive or folder. The 'dir' command has many options to obtain a variety of directory/file information. Any DOS command can be substituted for the 'dir' command in this example to capture the output of the command in a file.

A radio button list is an example of how to display a menu of options. One way to populate the list is by using an array. This is a simple example of creating the menu with an array of values. After the prompt, the program displays the selection.

This sample workflow for Business Process Automation (BPA) will demonstrate how to solve a computer and/or server problem by adding resolution automation management, system gathering and reporting for troubleshooting and speedy recovery.

Are you diehard twitter-er? If you are one of them, you most likely tweet using one of the many different ways to post updates: from the web in the update box, from your phone, from your mobile web browser, or from a third party application. This sample task allows you to tweet at the comfort of your computer without logging on to your personal or business twitter account. In fact, use a hot key trigger (e.g., Alt + A) to open a dialog box, enter your tweet, and press Enter.