Command line options

• Run Blue Prism as a resource PC exclusive to user "admin":

  automate /resourcepc /user admin mypwd

  or for a Single Sign-on user:

  automate /resourcepc /sso

• Run Blue Prism as a public resource PC:

  automate /resourcepc /public

• Run a process on the local PC:

  AutomateC /run "My Scheduled Process" /user admin mypwd

  or for a Single Sign-on user:

  AutomateC /run "My Scheduled Process" /sso

• Run a process on a remote PC with startup parameters:

  AutomateC /run "Excel Test" /resource YourPCHostName /user admin mypwd /startp "<inputs> <input name='Comment' type='text' value='Hello World' /></inputs>"

• Start background process alert monitoring without starting the main Blue Prism application:

  automate /alerts /user admin mypwd

  or for a Single Sign-on user:

  automate /alerts /sso

Prints some quick help tips to the command line standard output.

Starts Blue Prism in Resource PC Mode. The /public switch can be added to make the resource PC available to all Blue Prism users. Otherwise it will be available only to the user specified with the /user option, or the /sso option.

This option should not be confused with the /resource switch.

Please be aware that starting and running a runtime resource with elevated permissions might affect the interaction with the application that is being automated. Generally, the permissions of the runtime resource must match those of the user context of the target application.

Used in conjunction with the /resourcepc switch only. Makes the resource PC publicly available, as described in the run modes help.

Used in conjunction with the /resourcepc switch only, this enables transport security (SSL/TLS) on connections to the resource PC, using the certificate with the given thumbprint, which must be installed in the user or machine's certificate store.

Enabling transport security will affect both connections from Control Room and the Scheduler, as well as exposed web services routed to the resource. The CN in the certificate will need to match the address used to connect to the resource, and the connecting client will need to trust the CA the certificate is issued by.

(Advanced) Used in conjunction with the /resourcepc switch only, this overrides the displayed addressable location of published web services and the associated resources such as WSDLs hosted on this device. The specified value will need to contain the full path address e.g. "https://blueprismws.myorg.com:8181". Blue Prism will automatically append /ws/ and associated paths to the locally available resources.

It is essential that appropriate network routing is manually applied to ensure the specified prefix is a valid address that routes to this device.

(Advanced) Used in conjunction with the /resourcepc switch only, this instructs the runtime resource to ignore any HTTP communications received on it's listening port. This option should only be used where the resource is not required to expose any web services and does not need to be controlled via the HTTP interface.

On startup, wait for the database to become available for the specified number of seconds before giving up. Connection will be retried at intervals during this period. This may be useful on small installations when running a resource PC on startup with a database 'server' on the same machine – in this case the database may not be immediately ready to accept connections when the resource PC starts. For example, using /dbwait 120 will retry for 2 minutes before giving up.

The /dbwait command can be used to set the length of time that the Blue Prism Login Agent Server service waits for a connection, before it times out. This is useful for situations where all resources are rebooted at the same time. In such cases, it is recommended that the /dbwait time is set to 300 (five minutes).

Used in conjunction with the /resourcepc switch only. The resource PC information form is made invisible by default. It can be shown again using the context menu in the notification area (look out for the following icon: ).

Used in conjunction with the /resourcepc switch only. The resource PC will only be controllable from the local machine; remote resources will not be aware of its presence.

Used in conjunction with the /resourcepc switch only. Specifies the port on which Blue Prism should make itself available as a resource PC. In this manner, you may run several resource PCs from the same machine.

This option may be useful in specific rare situations. E.g.:

• Overriding the default port

  If the default port of 8181 is already used for another service on your network, you may wish to use another. Be sure to use the same port for all resource PCs on your network, unless you have a specific reason not to do this.

• Using Terminal Services

  When interacting with a terminal services host Blue Prism can only run one session at a time on each resource PC. This is due to a technical restriction of the Microsoft Terminal Services implementation. By running several resource PCs on different ports, a single machine can run several sessions as normal.

This determines the target resource PC for process alerts. If this is not specified, the local PC will be used.

This option should not be confused with the /resourcepc switch.

Used to provide Blue Prism login credentials when required. When your database is configured for Single Sign-on you should use the /sso switch instead.

Instructs Blue Prism to authenticate the command based on the current user's credentials in a Single Sign-on (SSO) configuration. If your database is not configured for Single Sign-on, then you should use the /user switch instead.

Makes all Blue Prism configuration options applicable to the currently logged in operating system user. By default, the configuration applies to all users.

Use these parameters together to create a new database connection with the same name as the given database name (see also /dbconname), or update that connection if it exists. For SQL Server Authentication, which is recommended, all four parameters must be supplied. For Windows Authentication, the username and password should be omitted. The connection is also set to be the current one. After this, Blue Prism will exit.

Use with /setdbserver to specify an Availability Group connection instead of a direct database connection. In this case the 'databaseservername' will be the name of the Availibility Group Listener.

Use with /ag to specify the port for the Availability Group Listener. If not given, the default of 1433 will be used.

Use with /ag to specify that Multi Subnet Failover should be enabled.

Creates a new Blue Prism server connection with the same name as the given host. (See also /dbconname, /connectionmode and /bpserversecure) The connection is also set to be the current one. After this, Blue Prism will exit.

Used with the /setdbserver or /setbpserver options to specify a particular connection name rather than using the default. If used without one of those parameters, it specifies the name of the database connection to use.

Used with the /setbpserver option to select the connection mode used for connection between the client and the Blue Prism Server. Note that this option must match the corresponding value set in the Blue Prism Server configuration.

Default value is 0. Available connection modes are:

• 0 – WCF: SOAP with Message Encryption & Windows Authentication
• 1 – WCF: SOAP with Transport Encryption & Windows Authentication
• 2 – WCF: SOAP with Transport Encryption
• 3 – .NET Remoting: Secure
• 4 – .NET Remoting: Insecure
• 5 – WCF Insecure

Used with the /setbpserver option to disable security on the Blue Prism Server connection. This should never be used unless alternative arrangements are made to secure the connection.

The /bpserversecure option has been deprecated and the /connectionmode option should now be used instead.

Starts background process alert monitoring. Needs to be used in conjunction with one of the /User or /sso switches so the correct user's Process alerts configuration is used.

Sets the Blue Prism application's priority to the given mode. Normally used in to control the priority of the Blue Prism Windows process when Blue Prism is functioning as a resource PC. This can be useful when Blue Prism needs a higher priority than other processes on the PC which may otherwise hog CPU resources and prevent Blue Prism from operating efficiently. Valid modes are:

• below – below normal priority
• above – above normal priority
• high – high priority
• realtime – the highest possible priority

Used in conjunction with the /run parameter in order to supply startup parameters to a session.

The paramsxml parameter should contain valid Blue Prism parameters xml, enclosed in quotes (""). Since quotation marks are used to delimit the start/end of the parameters xml string on standard input, Blue Prism recommends that you delimit your xml attributes using single quote marks (''). Example:

AutomateC /run "Excel Test" /resource YourPCHostName /user admin mypwd /startp "<inputs> <input name='Comment' type='text' value='Hello World' /></inputs>"

Alternatively, you may escape any quotation marks present, by entering two quotation marks, for each quotation mark within the parameters xml. For example:

AutomateC /run "Excel Test" /resource YourPCHostName /user admin mypwd /startp "<inputs> <input name=""Comment"" type=""text"" value=""Hello World"" /></inputs>"

Single Sign-on users should substitute the /sso switch in place of the /user switch in the examples above. For example:

AutomateC /run "Excel Test" /resource YourPCHostName /sso /startp "<inputs> <input name=""Comment"" type=""text"" value=""Hello World"" /></inputs>"

Displays the database configuration form. Once the user exits this form (using either the "OK" or "Cancel" buttons), the application exits.

Prints some quick help tips to the command line standard output.

Creates a database using the already configured database connection (see Automate.exe /setdbserver). The required password is the one supplied as part of the configured database connection.

This differs from the /replacedb switch in that it drops any existing database with the same name, whereas the /replacedb switch drops existing tables within the database, without dropping the database itself.

Creates a database using the already configured database connection (see Automate.exe /setdbserver). The required password is the one supplied as part of the configured database connection.

This differs from the /createdb switch in that if a database of the same name already exists, then it merely drops the existing tables within that database, whereas the /createdb command will drop the entire database and recreate it.

Upgrades an existing database, if needed. The required password is the one supplied as part of the configured database connection.

The usage for these commands under AutomateC.exe, corresponds exactly to the usage under Automate.exe. See above for details of each (/dbconname, /user, /sso, /resource, /port, /startp).

Adds the license key in the specified file to the Blue Prism database. Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

Licenses can also be managed using System Manager in the client application.

Removes the license key in the specified file from the Blue Prism database. Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

Licenses can also be managed using System Manager in the client application.

Registers a COM business object for use on the local machine. This is equivalent to visiting the "External Business Objects" area in System Manager.

The clsid parameter refers to the COM class ID.

Registers a web service for consumption in Blue Prism processes. This is equivalent to registering a web service via the wizard in the "Web Services" area in System Manager.

• Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.
• May optionally be used in conjunction with the /objectname switch.
• The /timeout switch may optionally be specified.
• If credentials are required in order to retrieve the WSDL document, then the /wsauth switch may be used.

The <servicename> identifier must match the name of a service which appears in the web service's WSDL document (see the Web services Glossary for more information about WSDL documents). This is required because one WSDL document can describe several different web services. The name provided is distinct from that given using the /objectname switch, which specifies the name by which the web service will be known internally, within your Blue Prism processes.

The <WSDLURL> parameter must specify the location (URL) of a WSDL document for the web service of interest. This will be retrieved using either http or https, as appropriate.

/unregwebservice <servicename>

Unregisters a web service This is equivalent to deleting a web service via the wizard in the "Web Services" area in System Manager.

• Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

The <servicename> identifier must match the name by which the web service is known internally, within your Blue Prism processes.

Used in conjunction with the /regwebservice switch to specify the business object name that will be given to the web service, once registered.

Used in conjunction with the /regwebservice switch to specify any user credentials to be used in the http request when downloading the WSDL document. The use of this switch is only necessary when the WSDL is password-protected by the hosting server.

Used in conjunction with the /regwebservice switch to specify the timeout value to be associated with the web service, (measured in milliseconds). This will be the timeout applied at runtime when waiting for a response from the web service. It may later be modified by visiting System Manager and editing the web service.

The use of this switch in conjunction with the /regwebservice command is optional. If not used then the default value of 10,000 milliseconds will be applied.

Generates a report on all the roles and associated permissions for each user in the system.

/elementusage <filespec>

Writes an element usage report out to the specified file, in CSV format. Use the /process option to specify the business object to report on. The report will contain details of the Page and Stage where each element from the Application Model is used.

Imports a Blue Prism process (or visual business object) into the database, by default using the ID found in the file (if one exists – otherwise a new ID is generated). See /forceid to override this behavior.
The filespec parameter refers to location of the file to be imported.

By default, if the imported process / object already exists in the selected environment, this operation will fail. See /overwrite to avoid this.

Imports a Blue Prism release file (.bprelease) or Blue Prism Skill file (.bpskill) into the database. This action is functionally the same as performing the import interactively via the Blue Prism client (see Release tab), except that it is non-interactive and any conflicts are handled automatically where possible. In general, the default action will be to Overwrite where the item being imported already exists within the database. However, some conflicts will prevent a release from being imported non-interactively. The following table summarises the handling of conflicts:

When importing new credentials interactively, the user is prompted to enter the username and password (as this information is not written to the export file). When importing non-interactively, the credentials will be imported with a blank username/password and will require updating manually in the Blue Prism client.

The filespec parameter refers to location of the .bprelease file to be imported.

Exports a Blue Prism process (or visual business object) from the database to the local file system.

Exports the current version of the named Blue Prism package from the database to the local file system. To export a previous release of a package, use the optional [/release <releasename>] parameter.

Use with /import to force use of the given ID for the process, instead of using the one defined in the file being imported.

The 'new' keyword will generate a new ID for the imported object, otherwise a valid GUID should be provided.

By default, an /import will fail if the process / object being imported already exists on the database.
If the /overwrite option is used, this will import a new version of the process / object over the top of the currently existing one.

If a different process / object exists with the same name as the imported process / object, but with a different ID, the import operation will fail – /overwrite works only if a process / object with the same ID is found. To deal with this case the Import Wizard can be used from within the product.

Publishes the named Blue Prism process. If the process' name contains spaces then you will need to enclose the name in quotes.

Unpublishes the named Blue Prism process. If the process' name contains spaces then you will need to enclose the name in quotes.

Exposes the named Blue Prism object or process as a web service, for consumption by external applications. If the object or process name contains spaces then you will need to enclose the name in quotes.

If the optional /forcedoclitencoding is present, then the web service will always return SOAP messages in Document/Literal form for WS-I compliance.

If the /forcedoclitencoding parameter is not present, then you can force the use of a Global Namespace.

Conceals a Blue Prism object or process that had previously been exposed as a web service. If the object or process name contains spaces then you will need to enclose the name in quotes.

Sets the encryption scheme that will be used by the specified queue. The specified scheme must be configured within this environment to succeed. The default scheme name, set in the configuration of the Blue Prism Server, is referred to as Default Encryption Scheme.

To disable the encryption key of a queue, see the /resetencrypt switch.

Must be used in combination with /queuename . Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

Resets the encryption scheme on the specified queue such that it is no longer encrypted.

Must be used in combination with /queuename . Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

This option re-encrypts any credentials, resource screen captures, or queue item data that is not encrypted according to the currently selected scheme. It is commonly used when revoking an old key prior to deleting an encryption scheme. The /batchsize parameter controls how often updated records are committed to the database (default is 1000), and /maxbatches controls how many batches are processed (default is 1).

When the command is run:

• Any credentials or exception screen captures that are currently encrypted using a different scheme to the one that is configured as the default encryption scheme will be decrypted; and then re‑encrypted using the default encryption scheme.
• Any encrypted work queue items that are currently encrypted using a different scheme to the one that is configured on the work queue will be decrypted; and then re-encrypted using the encryption scheme associated with the work queue.

Based on the configured /batchsize parameter, processing will repeat until the configured /maxbatches value is reached.

This requires user credentials to be supplied using either the /user or /sso switches, and access to the Security – Manage Encryption Schemes permission.

Applies the required encryption method to the Blue Prism server configuration. You can elect to use default Blue Prism encryption or install specified certificate. Options for this command are:

• /configencrypt – Show the current encryption method used in the server configuration.
• /configencrypt default – Apply default Blue Prism encryption. Requires the Blue Prism system administrator password to be specified.
• /configencrypt thumbprint – Change configencrypt method to own certificate with specified thumbprint. Requires the Blue Prism system administrator password to be specified.
• /configencrypt thumbprint /forceconfigencrypt – Force override of an error. This may result in a warning being displayed. Requires the Blue Prism system administrator password to be specified.

For example:

Show current encryption method:

AutomateC /configencrypt /user admin password

Set to default encryption method:

AutomateC /configencrypt default /user admin password

Set to use the specified certificate thumbprint:

AutomateC /configencrypt bc6269e89048cbf5553601cc0314b291609d9f3 /user admin password

Creates a work queue with the keyfield, running and maxattempts values, as would be required when creating a queue by hand in System Manager.

Must be used in combination with /queuename . Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

Exports data from a work queue, and stores it at the location specified by <filespec>. Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches. Must be used in combination with /queuename. May be accompanied by one or both of /queuefilter and /clearexported.
Note that /exportqueue requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches, and access to one of the following permissions: Full Access to Queue Management, Read Only Access to Queue Management

Clears worked cases (i.e. cases marked as completed or exception) from a work queue. Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches. Must be used in combination with /queuename.
If the /age switch is used only worked items older than the specified age will be deleted from the queue, otherwise all worked items will be deleted from the named queue.

You may wish to use the /exportqueue command in combination with the /clearexported instead, as it allows you to generate a record of which items were deleted in the process – this command creates no such record.

Used with /queueclearworked this deletes all worked items which are older than the specified age (this includes items marked as an exception before this time).
Used with /archive and /restorearchive, this bypasses date-range-based selection and selects sessions older than a particular age. The value is a number followed by one of 'y' (years), 'm' (months) 'w' (weeks) or 'd' (days). For example, "6m" specifies that logs older than 6 months should be archived.

Specifies the name of a queue, when used in conjunction with a queue-related command, such as /exportqueue or /createqueue.

Specifies the name of a filter to use when exporting a queue with /exportqueue. This is the name of a filter created in the "Queue Management" area of Control Room.

When used in conjunction with /exportqueue, causes the worked and referred items exported to be deleted from the queue.
Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches, and access to the Full Access to Queue Management permission.

Creates a resource pool with the specified name.

Deletes the specified resource pool.

Adds a resource to the specified pool.
If no resource name is specified, the local resource is added to the pool.

Removes a resource from the pool in which it resides.
If no resource name is specified, the local resource is removed from its pool.

Specifies the name or names of the schedules to be used in conjunction with the /startschedule, /deleteschedule, /viewschedtimetable and /viewschedreport actions.

Any parameters following a /schedule switch will be treated as schedule names until another switch is reached (ie. a parameter starting with a "/" character) or the end of the command is reached.
When no schedules are specified, the commands are generally treated as running on all schedules.

Initiates the specified schedule at the current time. If the scheduler is running it should execute the schedule within 30 seconds.

If the specified schedule has never been run, the schedule and any related logs are deleted. If the specified schedule has previously been run, the schedule is marked as deleted, but any existing logs are retained.

Specifies the output format of the schedule report or timetable, either 'txt' (human readable) or 'csv' (comma-separated-variable). The default is 'txt' if no format is explicitly specified.

Outputs the specified timetable.
You can specify a named timetable which has been created and configured in the Blue Prism client.
Alternatively, you can specify an ad hoc timetable by indicating the date from which the timetable should run, the number of days to show and the format in which to download it.

Outputs the specified report.
You can specify a named report which has been created and configured in the Blue Prism client.
Alternatively, you can specify an ad hoc report by indicating the date up to which the report should include, the number of days back to show and the format in which to download it.

Archives session logs to files. See Archiving for more details. With no options, all session logs will be archived. To limit the range of logs archived, use either the /age option, or a combination of the /from and /to options. You can also use /process to limit the archiving to logs for a particular process.

To delete the session logs, without exporting them, you can add the /delete option.

Restore session logs from files to the database. See Archiving for more details. With no options, all session logs will be restored. To limit the range of logs archived, use either the /age option, or a combination of the /from and /to options.

Set the archiving path. This is the path used by the /archive and /restorearchive commands, as well as in the System Manager interface.

Used with /archive and /restorearchive, this sets the inclusive start of a date range.

Used with /archive and /restorearchive, this sets the non-inclusive end of a date range.

Used with /queueclearworked this deletes all worked items which are older than the specified age (this includes items marked as an exception before this time).
Used with /archive and /restorearchive, this bypasses date-range-based selection and selects sessions older than a particular age. The value is a number followed by one of 'y' (years), 'm' (months) 'w' (weeks) or 'd' (days). For example, "6m" specifies that logs older than 6 months should be archived.

Used with /archive, this limits the archiving to sessions that ran the named process. Used with /elementusage, this selects the process to generate a report on.

Used with /archive, causes the logs to be deleted without exporting them first.

Gets the status of a running session. SessionID is a unique identifier in the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx. Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

Report sessions for a given resource name, the results can be limited to a specific period. To list all resources use [All] as the resource name.

You can also provide a limit number and type (m = minutes, h = hours, d = days, mm = months) to limit the results returned, for example /resourcestatus ABC:8181 1 d would return all sessions for the named resource that started in the last day.

Requires user credentials to be supplied via the /user switch.

Creates or updates the BP server configuration identified by the specified name, setting the database connection name and listening port to the provided values.

An optional /connectionmode switch can be used to set the connection mode.

If no Encryption Schemes have been configured for the BP server configuration, a new Encryption Scheme record will be created. By default the scheme will be named Default Encryption Scheme and it will be configured to use AES 256 (AESCryptoService) and a randomly generated key. Alternatively use the /encryptionscheme switch to define the settings that will be used.

Used in conjunction with the /serverconfig switch, this is an optional switch that can be used to define the settings that will be used when an encryption scheme is created.

<name> defines the name of the encryption scheme.

<encryptionmethod> (optional) defines the encryption algorithm to be used.

• 1 = Triple DES (192 bit)
• 2 = AES-256 RijndaelManaged (256 bit)
• 3 = AES-256 AesCryptoService (256 bit) – default

Triple DES (192 bit) is provided for backwards compatibility. It is strongly recommended that new encryption schemes are not configured to use this method.

Creates a new credential using the specified name, password and username.
Username and password can both be represented with "" if not required.
A General credential type will be created is none is specified.
Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches, and access to the Security – Manage credentials permission.
The credential created will be universally available to all user roles, resources and processes by default.

Updates an existing credential found using the specified name.
Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches, and access to the Security – Manage credentials permission.

Use with /updatecredential to update the credential password.

Use with /updatecredential to update the username held in the credential.

Use with /updatecredential or /createcredential to set the text held as the description for the credential.

Use with /updatecredential or /createcredential to set the date upon which the credential will expire. Date must be in format yyyyMMdd.

Use with /updatecredential or /createcredential to specify if a credential should be marked as invalid.

Use with /updatecredential or /createcredential to specify the credential type. Must be a supported value.

Create a new credential property or update it if it already exists.

Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches, and access to the Security – Manage credentials permission.

This is only available from Blue Prism 6.10.5 onwards.

Forces Microsoft Negotiate Security Package to select New Technology LAN Manager (NTLM) as the Security Support Provider (SSP) for the last used or specified connection (using the /dbconname switch) when authenticating the Blue Prism server connection. This option is provided so that NTLM can be used when Kerberos is unavailable or not configured (see SPN configuration). For example, /forcentlm true

This is only available from Blue Prism 6.10.5 onwards.

Must be configured for each Blue Prism Server connection in the interactive client where the user's Kerberos realm is different to that of the account configured to run Blue Prism Server. For example, /setkerberosrealm mycompany.com

The Kerberos realm is usually the same as the domain name, however, please check with your IT team for the correct value. This should be the realm of the service account running the Blue Prism Server service. In some environments, it may be necessary to apply the same configuration where the service account exists in another domain within the same forest.

Standard function for SQL queries run by the product which sets the time limit for a command to execute and return results before timing out; set to 60 seconds by default.

Sets the time limit for a command to execute and return results before timing out for SQL queries that typically take the longest to return results, e.g. queries that interact with work queues; set to 600 seconds by default.

Sets the time limit for a command to execute and return results before timing out for logs that generally take longer; set to 0 (infinite) by default.

These commands implement a system-wide irreversible change and should only be used when advised by the Blue Prism support team.

Used to run a process from the command line. The processname parameter must be enclosed in quotes if it contains a space. The named process must be published in order to be run (see /publish). Input parameters may be specified using the /startp parameter.

User credentials are required to run a process – see /user and /sso, for example:

AutomateC.exe /run Process1 /user admin pwd

or

AutomateC.exe /run Process1 /sso

Sends a 'Stop Request' to the specified session, setting a flag that the running process can check using the IsStopRequested() function in a decision stage.

One of the session ID (a GUID) or the session number (a number) must be provided to indicate the session which should be flagged with the stop request.

Note that this can only be executed by an authenticated user (provided using the /user or /sso switches) with the Full Access to Session Management permission.

Enforces the permissions of the controlling user for create, start and delete session.

Requests that the object/process dependency repository be refreshed if it has been marked as out of date by a Blue Prism upgrade. If the 'force' keyword is specified then the repository will be refreshed regardless of it's current state.

Gets the log of the specified session. SessionID is a unique identifier in the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx. Requires user credentials to be supplied via one of the /user or /sso switches.

The log is written to standard output, line by line. There is a data limit of 2³² -1 rows; however this limit is irrelevant in practice, corresponding to hundreds of gigabytes of data.

Output a list of processes and business objects.