Application parameters

When creating a business object, you are required to supply information about your target application using the application definition wizard. This information can be changed at a later date using the Application Modeller.

The following paragraphs describe the information requested, explaining its purpose and nature.

Windows, Java and browser applications

The location of the target application on disk is required so that Blue Prism can launch the target application executable file. In the case of a windows or a browser application, this should be a file ending with the exe file extension; in the case of a java application, it should be a file ending with the jar extension.

If the target application is a Windows 10 store app then the application's name should be entered within angled brackets, for example <Microsoft.WindowsCalculator>. A list of installed store app names can be obtained using the Powershell command Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Select Name.

Some applications allow parameters to be supplied via the command line in order to influence their behavior. You may specify any such parameters here by typing them exactly as you would at the Windows command prompt. Remember to enclose file paths and web addresses in quotation marks if they contain spaces, as you would at the Windows command prompt.

Some applications depend on a working directory value to be set. You may specify a working directory here by typing one exactly as you would at the Windows command prompt. Remember to enclose the working directory in quotation marks if it contains spaces, as you would at the Windows command prompt.

This enables or disables hooking technology – an invasive technique for interacting with target applications. You should only select this option if you have good reason to; only use this option if ordinary Windows techniques do not prove to be useful. See the hooking help page for more information.

This parameter is used in conjunction with the ProcessName parameter when attaching to an application (rather than launching it directly from its executable). This value may be left blank, but at least one of ProcessName and Window Title must be supplied.

When attaching to an application, Blue Prism needs a reliable means of identifying the application of interest. One tactic is to supply a window title. Blue Prism will look for an application with a window having the specified name and use that application (if a unique such application is found).

The supplied value may contain the wildcards – *, ?, #. For example "Microsoft Word*", or "Accounts Manager plus – Customer ID #####".

This parameter is used in conjunction with the WindowTitle parameter when attaching to an application (rather than launching it directly from its executable). This value may be left blank, but at least one of WindowTitle and Process Name must be supplied.

When attaching to an application, Blue Prism needs a reliable means of identifying the application of interest. One tactic is to supply the name of the windows process in which the application is running. Blue Prism will find processes with a name matching the supplied pattern (see wildcards below) and use the application running in that process(if a unique such process is found).

The supplied value may contain the wildcards:- *, ?, #. For example "Microsoft Word*", or "Accounts Manager plus – Customer ID #####".

Application manager mode

Application Manager can run in several different modes to allow separation of the target interface process from Blue Prism itself. This can be useful, for example, if Blue Prism is running as a 32-bit process and the target application is a 64-bit process, or vice versa.

The available modes are:

  • Embedded (default) – This is the default mode, and was the only available mode of operation prior to Blue Prism version 4.2. In this mode, Application Manager runs in the same process as Blue Prism itself. There is no separation. The Application Manager process is always 32-bit..

  • External, 32-bit mode – Application Manager runs in a separate process when interfacing with the target application. The Application Manager process is always 32-bit.
  • External, 64-bit mode – Application Manager runs in a separate process when interfacing with the target application. The Application Manager process is always 64-bit.
  • External, OS address size – Application Manager runs in a separate process when interfacing with the target application. The Application Manager process matches the operation system address size. e.g. on 64-bit Windows, it will be a 64-bit process.
  • External, Blue Prism address size – Application Manager runs in a separate process when interfacing with the target application. The Application Manager process matches Blue Prism's address size. e.g. if Blue Prism is running as a 64-bit process, the Application Manager process will also be 64-bit.

Application timeout

This parameter determines how long Blue Prism waits for the target application to respond before throwing an exception. The timeout is applied to all application manager actions in Read, Write, Navigate, and Wait stages, and can be used to prevent the Blue Prism process from becoming blocked indefinitely if the target application becomes unresponsive.

A timeout value of 0 is interpreted as no timeout. This is the default value.

This parameter only applies if the Application Manager Mode is set to one of the external modes.

Options

This parameter allows additional options to be set which modify the behavior of the interface with the target application or enable special features. Normally it should be left empty, unless these specific features are required. To enable features, add them in a comma-separated list as required.

Options currently defined are:

  • descendtree – For Java applications, causes element searching to be done by descending the tree of elements within the target application. The default (i.e. when this option is not set) is to directly retrieve a list of visible Java elements for each Java-associated window in the target application. Descending the tree is usually slower, but some target applications and JREs can crash using the default method.
  • ignorenotshowing – For Java applications, when descending the tree, ignore branches of the tree below elements which are reported to be not showing. This may result in a significant performance improvement.
  • nodisconnect – For terminal emulators, when enabled this option will result in the underlying terminal emulator API not being closed down when disconnecting, terminating, or detaching from the emulator. Dependent to the API specifications, its usage may lead to memory leaks (both in Blue Prism and the Terminal Emulator software) and other associated problems such as crashes (known to happen with Attachmate). However, the resulting behaviour has been found to be desirable and free from obvious problems with some emulators. This option should be used with caution, and tested before use within a production environment.

Browser applications

Enabling this option allows you to use java integration techniques for interacting with java applications within the web browser. These techniques are the same ones used for interacting with stand-alone java applications.

Please note that this feature is subject to licensing restrictions, meaning that you will have to purchase a license which permits you to use it.

Mainframe applications

For mainframe applications that use a session file, you must supply it here. The session file typically contains information about the connection (eg the target hostname and port number), and user preferences. Examples include hep files for a Hummingbird HostExplorer™ session and zms files for Zephyr Passport™ session.

Mainframe applications which do not use a session file usually use a session identifier. This consists of a single letter in the range A..Z. The details of the connection are configured within the mainframe application itself, meaning that the mainframe application will look up the connection information based on the identifier. Blue Prism will pass this identifier onto the mainframe application when it is launched.

The mechanism for specifying the connection information (ie setting up the session identifiers) varies from vendor to vendor. Please consult your mainframe application documentation for details on how to complete this task.

Specifies the timeout value (in seconds) that should be used in mainframe wait operations. Once this interval has elapsed the wait operation will be cancelled.

This is not related to Blue Prism wait stages, but rather the internal wait operations carried out in the mainframe emulator against the emulator's own API. Such waits are induced by Blue Prism after each read or write – Blue Prism waits for the host to become idle once again before continuing. This eliminates the need for the user to use a wait stage after each and every input/output operation

If a value of zero is specified then a default value will be selected by Blue Prism. Thus the minimum value is 1 second.

Specifies the time (in milliseconds) for which Blue Prism should sleep whilst waiting for the mainframe emulator to become idle. Blue Prism repeatedly checks the status of the emulator whilst waiting for it to become idle. Between checks Blue Prism will sleep for the specified period.

A high value will add to the load of the mainframe emulator thus reducing performance somewhat, whereas a low value will allow Blue Prism to proceed at an earlier opportunity (because Blue Prism detects the readiness of the emulator at an earlier time), thus increasing performance. You should choose a high value to begin with, and gradually reduce it until there is no further performance gain from an additional reduction.

This is not related to Blue Prism wait stages, but rather the internal wait operations carried out in the mainframe emulator against the emulator's own API. Such waits are induced by Blue Prism after each read or write – Blue Prism waits for the host to become idle once again before continuing. This eliminates the need for the user to use a wait stage after each and every input/output operation

If a value of zero is specified then a default value will be selected by Blue Prism. Thus the minimum value is 1 millisecond.

Various types of Attachmate terminal emulator are available. Please choose the variant that matches your specific type most closely.

When using Generic HLLAPI support this is the name of the HLLAPI dll to use. To find the correct name for your terminal emulator look in the Program Files directory for the folder name relating to your terminal emulator. The folder will contain a dll, but the required DLL has no standard name. It may include the text "HLL", "API" and may end with "32". Some examples are "EHLAPI32.DLL", "PCSHLL32.DLL", "HLLAPI.DLL", "HA7EHLL.DLL", "HLLAPI32.DLL"

When using Generic HLLAPI support this is the name of the entry point in the HLLAPI dll. This will nearly always need to be set as "hllapi", but in the rare case that dosen't work try "WinHLLAPI" instead. Other entry point names may work if this information is known or provided by Blueprism support.