Blue Prism Desktop 1.1: May 2023

A new Activity screen has been added to the Desktop client. This displays recently run processes. By default the Activity screen is now the first to display when the user logs into Desktop.

The display of the Activity tab and the number of processes listed is controlled by a new Activity option in the Settings tab. The setting is applied per user and is retained when they close or log out of the application.

A new History screen in Desktop Settings enables users to control how sessions display on the Session history tab. When Show folders in the session history is enabled, the sessions on the Session history tab are grouped into folders by process name.

The History settings are individual to each user, and are retained when users close or log out of Desktop. These settings are held in a new configuration file, Desktop.Prefs.config, which is stored in C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Blue Prism Limited\Desktop.

A new Language screen in Desktop Settings enables users to change the language of the Desktop interface while logged in.

Previously, this feature was only available from the Welcome screen before logging in, so users had to log out of Desktop to change the language.

Sessions now display as single lines on the Session history tab instead of as tiles, so more sessions can be seen without scrolling. The sessions may also be grouped in folders by process name, depending on the option selected on the new Settings > History screen.

Users can click the ellipsis (...) against a session to view session details, including startup and mid-process parameters, and issues for a failed process; or they can choose to re-run the process. Processes that failed to complete are indicated by an exclamation mark icon.

Users can now click View details for a session on the Session history tab to display the startup and input (mid‑process) parameters they entered for a particular session. Previously, only startup parameters were shown. The name and path of image and binary files used as process startup parameters are now also included in the parameter display.

If logging is turned off for an Input stage, a message informs users that the parameters they specified are not available.

Users can now re-run a process directly from the Session history tab. If startup parameters were previously entered, most of these are pre‑populated for the re‑run, but can be changed if needed. The following startup parameters are not pre‑populated and must be re‑entered:

• Image files
• Binary files
• Passwords

This is available for both the tile view, and for the compact mode.

A new Remote connection configuration screen has been added to the Desktop client installer, which enables users to specify the name and location of a shared connection file. In addition, a new Allow local connections to be configured option can be used to control whether users can configure their own connections using the Desktop client.

By editing a Desktop client user’s local Desktop.Machine.Config file, Desktop system administrators can control:

• The name and location of a shared connection file.
• Whether the Desktop user is given the option to add or configure a local connection, independently of installation.

The Publish this process to Control Room option on the Process Information window in Process Studio has been replaced with two new options Publish as Desktop process, or Publish as Enterprise process to Control Room. These options can be used to publish processes for use with Desktop or Blue Prism Enterprise – only one option can be selected for a process at any one time. If the process contains functionality, such as an Input stage, that is not compatible with the selected option, a warning displays and the user is prompted to cancel or continue.

The availability of the options is dependent on the license type(s) applied to the Blue Prism database.

The mandatory session limit, which is automatically applied to all processes running in Desktop, has been increased from 10 minutes to 60 minutes. All other rules surrounding this functionality are unchanged. For more information, see Session timeout.

A new Output stage type has been added to Blue Prism for use in Desktop processes. An Output stage can be added to a process to display to the Desktop user a summary of the data that they input during the automation. This stage type is only available in Blue Prism if a Desktop license has been applied to the environment.

This enhancement includes the following:

• Output parameters that are included in Output stages can be viewed in the Session Log Viewer.
• Output stages can be used to make any images uploaded using an Input stage available for download by the Desktop user.
• The mandatory session limit of 60 minutes, which is automatically applied to all processes running in Desktop, is paused when an Output stage displays.

For more information, see Output stage.

A new RadioButtons data type has been added to Process and Object Studio for use with an Input stage to display a list of options to a Desktop user. The new data type is only available in Blue Prism environments with an active Desktop license applied, and cannot be included in published Enterprise processes.

The values in the RadioButtons data type used in a process or object are added to the process and object logs. For more information, see Input stage.

A new Radio buttons internal business object, which includes a Get selected as text action, can be used in a Desktop process to output the selected radio button option as a Text data type.

New View Desktop Resource and Control Desktop Resource permissions have been added to Blue Prism Enterprise. The permissions can be used in a dual license Blue Prism environment to enable system administrators to control access to Desktop resources in Control Room. These permissions are enabled by default for the following roles:

• Desktop Users
• Process Administrators
• Runtime Resources (Control BPD Resource only)

• System Administrators

• Testers

For more information, see User permissions.

A new Enterprise session stage has been added, which can be used in Desktop processes to trigger an automation to run on a specified Blue Prism Enterprise runtime resource, or resource pool. This stage type is only available in a dual license Blue Prism environment. For more information, see Enterprise session stage.

Process filters are now available in dual license environments when right-clicking a process or object in the tree view on the processes and objects tree. These enable users to view all processes (the default), only processes published for Desktop, or only processes published for Enterprise.

A new icon is now used for Desktop processes so that users can easily distinguish them from Enterprise processes.

Processes that have been published to Desktop are not included in the processes view in Control Room. They cannot be assigned to resources in Control Room or used in Scheduler to create sessions, and cannot be run in AutomateC. Enterprise processes cannot be dragged onto Desktop resources. The Available Processes panel is now called Available Enterprise Processes.

All columns are now available in the resources view. Previously, users of environments with a Desktop license applied could only view a restricted number of columns.

A new icon is now used for Desktop resources in the resources view, so users can easily distinguish them from Enterprise resources.

A new resource type column and filter have been added to the resources view so users can filter resources by resource type (Desktop or Enterprise). The new column and filter are only available in dual license environments.

Desktop resources are not visible in the Scheduler and cannot run schedules. Desktop processes can only be run from the Desktop client.

Desktop and Enterprise licenses can now be applied to the same Blue Prism database. This means that it is no longer necessary to provision separate environments for these products. The System > System - License screen has been updated to display both license entitlements.

In addition, the Desktop license details on the System - License screen now include any associated restrictions and license limitations, in line with the display of Enterprise license details.

Desktop license entitlements (resources, processes, and sessions) do not contribute towards the limits in an Enterprise license.

In Processes - Management, a new icon is now used for Desktop processes so users can easily distinguish them from Enterprise processes.

In Audit - Process Logs, a new Session Source column and filter enable users to filter sessions by session type (whether the process was run in Desktop or Enterprise). The new column and filter are only available in dual license environments.

An Authentication Server confirmation screen no longer displays when a user clicks Forgotten password on the Desktop login screen. Now, a Desktop confirmation screen displays, which confirms that a reset email will be sent, and includes a link to the Desktop Welcome screen.

In the History tab, the View parameters link now displays for archived Desktop session logs which contain input parameters. Previously, this option was not available for archived session logs.

After a user has run a process from the Recent or Library tab, they are now returned to the same position on the tab from which it was run. This happens regardless of whether the process was successfully or unsuccessfully run, or was canceled or stopped.

When a user opens a folder on the Session history tab and views a process, and they then use the breadcrumbs to go back to the History tab, they are now returned to the same screen position as when they started. Previously, they were returned to the top of the History tab.

When entering parameters into a Desktop form, users can now easily distinguish non‑editable fields from editable fields, as non‑editable fields now have a plain background. Previously, both field types displayed with a shaded background.

A warning is now displayed to users when they close Desktop, informing them that if a process is running, the session will be terminated.

When a process includes an input stage requiring users to enter mid-process parameters, a new message displays when users run the process to inform them that they may be asked for more information, and that the time available for them to do this might be limited.

If processes that were originally published to Desktop in Blue Prism are re-published as Enterprise processes, they are now no longer listed in the Library tab in Desktop client. They are still listed on the Activity and Session history tabs if they have previously been run, but cannot be re-run.

The History tab now displays more granular detail about process end states when a process fails to complete. The possible values are:

• Stopped – The process was manually stopped by the user.
• Not completed – The process terminated before completion.

Previously, both these end states were marked as Not completed.

When a Desktop process encounters a Wait stage, the mandatory Desktop session limit of 60 minutes is now automatically paused. Time spent running the Wait stage does not now count towards the maximum session run time limit, and is not included in the Time remaining at end notification in Desktop.

The amount of white space between list items in Desktop (for example, folders on the Session history tab, and connections on the Saved connections screen) has been reduced, to minimize the need for scrolling.

When a process with an input stage containing radio buttons has been run, users can now see all the radio button options from the Session history tab, with the option they selected indicated. Previously, only their selected option was displayed.

An issue has been fixed where exception messages in Desktop did not display in the same language as the rest of the Desktop user interface (UI) in the following scenarios:

• Messages in Desktop displayed in the language that the Windows operating system (OS) was set to on the user’s machine (or in US English if the OS language was not supported by Desktop), and not in the language selected by the user for their Desktop UI via the language drop-down on the Welcome screen.
• Exceptions were logged in the language selected at the time the messages were generated. If the user then selected a different language for their Desktop UI and viewed the process history, the logged error messages still displayed in the language selected when the processes were originally run.

The message displayed to users when a process is running that warned them not to interact with their machine has been updated, and is now also customizable for each process to more accurately reflect application‑specific limitations.

The default, customizable message is now: “Your process is currently running and you will not be able to interact with the application(s) being used by this process”.

Image files are now validated when users upload them via Input stage forms, to ensure that they are valid image files, and are not too large to use in a process. If a user submits an invalid file type a warning message displays, and the file is not uploaded. Valid image file types are: PNG, BMP, JPEG, JPG, GIF, X-ICON, and TIFF.

An exception is now raised and a friendly message tells users why the process has failed if, when running a process that requires startup parameters, they upload binary and/or image files that are too large.

The URL entry for Authentication Server in Desktop connections has been made consistent with the URLs for the Blue Prism API and the Digital Worker API. The hard coded https:// prefix has been removed from the URL for Authentication Server field on the Create new connection screen in Desktop, and the URL can now be entered with or without the prefix.

To improve performance, pagination has been added to the Library tab. Folders and processes are now loaded ten at a time as the user scrolls down.

Users cannot now interact with applications launched via external application models when they are launched via Desktop.

A new field has been added to the Information tab on the Process Information window in Process Studio: Enter text to show whilst a Desktop process runs. This enables the message displayed to Desktop users when they run a process to be customized for each process, and can refer to specific applications if necessary. The default message is: Your process is currently running and you will not be able to interact with the application(s) being used by this process.

An issue has been fixed in which two validation errors were displayed for a single missing object. This occurred if an object was created in an environment with a Desktop license applied, the object was referenced in a process, and was then deleted. Now in this scenario only one error displays.