Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent for Manifest V3 Extensions

The Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent is a complementary application to Blue Prism Enterprise that is launched by a compatible Blue Prism Manifest V3 (MV3) browser extension. This application is provided as a separate installer that:

  • Detects the installed version of Blue Prism.
  • Removes selected Manifest V2 (MV2) extensions installed on the machine.
  • Installs the appropriate MV3 browser extension.

The application provides the ability to insert and invoke JavaScript on web pages using a Chrome or Edge MV3 browser extension; and allows customers using previous versions of Blue Prism to deploy MV3 browser extensions without needing to upgrade their Blue Prism Enterprise installation. There is no additional license required to deploy the Browser Automation Agent.

The Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent is not valid for use with the Blue Prism Firefox browser extension as this uses MV2.

Prerequisites

  • Before installing the Browser Automation Agent, you must install a compatible version of Blue Prism from 6.4.2 to 7.1.2.

    If using BAA version 2.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for use with Blue Prism versions 6.8 and later using the installer. The Edge browser extension is not supported in Blue Prism versions earlier than 6.8.

    If using BAA version 1.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for use with Blue Prism versions 6.9 and later using the installer. For Blue Prism versions 6.8.x, the Blue Prism Chrome extension must be installed manually from the Chrome web store to use with Chromium-based versions of Microsoft Edge. For more information, see Upgrade notices for Blue Prism version 6.8.

  • Installing the Browser Automation Agent should remove your currently installed extensions if they were installed using the Blue Prism installer. If you downloaded the extensions from the web store or via sideloading, you must remove them manually prior to installation.
  • The Insert and Invoke JavaScript functions require the appropriate version of the Chrome or Edge web driver to be installed on the machine on which Blue Prism is installed. For more information, see Install the web drivers.

  • The Browser Automation Agent and associated MV3 browser extensions require version 104 or later of the Chrome and Edge browsers. For more information, see the browser extension compatibility.

Install the Browser Automation Agent using the installer

You can either install the Browser Automation Agent with all associated MV3 browser extensions or with selected ones from the Advanced install screen.

Follow the steps below to install the Browser Automation Agent and all associated MV3 browser extensions:

  1. Double-click the provided MSI and open the installation wizard.

  2. Click Get started.

    The License agreement screen displays.

  3. Read the End User License Agreement and if you agree to the terms, select the check box and click Next.

    The Install location screen displays.

  4. Click Install.

  5. Click Yes on the User Account Control (UAC) prompt screen.

    The installation is complete and the Chrome and Edge browser extensions are installed by default.

    The availability of the Edge browser extension is dependent upon the version of Blue Prism and the version of the Browser Automation Agent you are using:

    • With BAA 2.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for Blue Prism 6.8 or later.
    • With BAA 1.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for Blue Prism 6.9 or later.

    For more information, see Prerequisites.

  6. Click OK to close the installation wizard.

Advanced installation

  1. If you want to install only one of the browser extensions, on the Install location screen select the Advanced install option and click Next.

    The Advanced install screen displays.

  2. Clear the selection for the browser extension you do not want to install, and click Install.

    The availability of the Edge browser extension is dependent upon the version of Blue Prism and the version of the Browser Automation Agent you are using:

    • With BAA 2.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for Blue Prism 6.8 or later.
    • With BAA 1.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for Blue Prism 6.9 or later.

    For more information, see Prerequisites.

  3. Click Yes on the User Account Control (UAC) prompt screen.

    The installation is complete.

  4. Click OK to close the installation wizard.

Install the Browser Automation Agent from the command line

The following command line options can be used to install the Browser Automation Agent and set the registry key for the Chrome and Edge Manifest V3 extensions. The example below assumes the MSI name to be BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent.

The availability of the Edge browser extension is dependent upon the version of Blue Prism and the version of the Browser Automation Agent you are using:

  • With BAA 2.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for Blue Prism 6.8 or later.
  • With BAA 1.0, the Edge browser extension can only be installed for Blue Prism 6.9 or later.

For more information, see Prerequisites.

Command

Description

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x64 /qn

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x86 /qn

Installs the Browser Automation Agent and sets the MV3 extension registry key.

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x64 ADDLOCAL=BrowserAutomationAgent /qn

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x86 ADDLOCAL=BrowserAutomationAgent /qn

Installs the Browser Automation Agent without setting the MV3 extension registry key.

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x64 ADDLOCAL=ChromePlugin /qn

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x86 ADDLOCAL=ChromePlugin /qn

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x64 ADDLOCAL=EdgePlugin /qn

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x86 ADDLOCAL=EdgePlugin /qn

Adds the MV3 extension registry key to an existing installation of the Browser Automation Agent.

The ADDLOCAL property can also be used to install multiple Blue Prism components by separating them with a comma. The following command installs 64-bit versions of the Blue Prism Automation Agent, plus the Chrome and Edge extensions:

msiexec /i BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent_x64 ADDLOCAL=BrowserAutomationAgent,ChromePlugin,EdgePlugin /qn

Install the web drivers

The Insert and Invoke JavaScript functions rely on having the appropriate version of the Chrome or Edge web driver installed on the machine on which Blue Prism is installed. The web drivers are browser and version specific.

The web driver major version must match the web browser major version, however, the final version number may be different. For example, for Microsoft Edge v111.0.1661.62, you may be able to use web driver v111.0.1661.54, or for Google Chrome v73.0.3683.01, you may be able to use web driver 73.0.3683.20. However, if the web drivers do not behave as expected, you should install the matching driver for your browser.

Edge recommends that you use the same version of the web driver as your web browser (see the Edge WebDriver download page). For more information on Chrome web driver compatibility, see ChromeDriver's information on Version Selection.

Download the required drivers as ZIP files. Extract the web driver executables and save them either in the Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent installation folder (default location is C:\Program Files\Blue Prism Limited\Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent) or in a folder under your PATH environment variable.

Launch a browser from Blue Prism

Prerequisites

Perform the following before starting any browser automation:

  • In an Edge browser, navigate to Settings > System and Performance and ensure that the following settings are disabled:

    • Startup Boost
    • Continue running background extensions and apps when Microsoft Edge is closed
  • After installing the web drivers as described above, open Task Manager and check that no instances of browsers are currently running. If any browser instance is running, terminate the browser tasks before attempting any automation. This will ensure a fresh launch for browser automation with the latest settings.

This must be carried out on all machines on which a browser will be launched by Blue Prism.

Enable JavaScript functionality

To enable JavaScript functionality, the browser must be launched with remote debugging enabled. This can be done on the Application Modeller main page (not in the wizard) by adding the following parameter to the URL field:

--remote-debugging-port

A commonly used port is 9222, for example:

--remote-debugging-port=9222

However, any valid, unused port can be used. The Browser Automation Agent detects that the port is available and will launch the BluePrism.JavaScriptInvoker when the browser is launched.

This must be carried out every time you launch a browser from Blue Prism.

The functionality for using Insert and Invoke JavaScript functions has not changed and should work with no further changes in the majority of cases. If using Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent version 1.0, some processes may need to be updated to invoke JavaScript functions following an insert, see this upgrade notice for more details.

To verify that everything works as expected, open Task Manager and make sure you see the following:

  • If launching the browser without a debugging port, you should see BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent.exe.
  • If launching the browser with a debugging port enabled, and the appropriate web driver is correctly installed, you should see BluePrism.BrowserAutomationAgent.exe and BluePrism.JavaScriptInvoker.exe.

Any errors will show in: C:\ProgramData\Blue Prism Limited\Blue Prism\Logs\BluePrism.BrowserAgent.txt. Errors can be viewed in NLog if configured, otherwise they display in the Windows Event Log.

Uninstall the Browser Automation Agent

Follow the steps below to uninstall the Browser Automation Agent and all associated MV3 browser extensions:

  1. Close all browser windows.
  2. Open Control Panel > Programs and Features.
  3. Right-click Blue Prism Browser Automation Agent and select Uninstall from the shortcut menu.
  4. Click Yes in the confirmation message and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you have manually installed any browser extension from the web store or by sideloading, you must manually remove these after uninstalling the Browser Automation Agent. For details on how to manually remove an extension, see the appropriate guide for your version of Blue Prism: