Start Browser
Description
Start Browser launches a web browser and navigates to a specified URL to begin a Web GUI [Classic] automation workflow. Use this step as the first step in any legacy web automation — it initializes the browser session and establishes the global settings that all subsequent Web GUI [Classic] steps rely on. You can choose from Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, IE Mode (32-bit or 64-bit), or Microsoft Edge, and configure options such as page load timeout, element delay, retry count, default download directory, browser profile, and incognito mode. A Clear All Browser Instances option is available to recover from stale or abnormally terminated sessions before starting a new one.
Configurations
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Step name | Name of the step. The name must be unique in a single workflow. |
| Web browser name | Select browser name from the list. Available browsers name: - BROWSER1 - BROWSER2 |
| Start node | Check Start node to set this step as start node. No other input steps are connected to this step. |
| Browser Configuration | |
| Browser | Select web browser to initialize from the list: - Mozilla Firefox - Google Chrome - Internet Explorer -with Ignore IE Protected mode checkbox (Refer Note 3) - IE Mode 32-bit - IE Mode 64-bit - Microsoft Edge |
| Web URL | Specify the URL to navigate to after the web browser initializes. |
| Default download directory | Specify default download directory. Every browser has a default directory path for downloading files. This feature lets you overwrite the default download directory. After you specify a new default directory, the browser saves all downloaded files in that directory. Notes: - The setting is only effective for the current browser instance. - The field is available only if you select Browser as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.[SG1] - If you specify the Profile directory path, then the Default directory path will not be considered. |
| Profile directory path | Specify the mandatory profile directory path for the selected browser. Important: Use the field when you want to open the browser with some existing settings that are already applied in the browser with the help of profile. - For Mozilla Firefox, you must specify the Root Directory path. To get the Root Directory path, type Mozilla Firefox: about:profiles, in the browser’s address bar. A list of Local and Root directories appears. Select and specify only the relevant Root Directory as your Profile directory path. - For Google Chrome, type chrome://version/ and for Microsoft Edge, type edge://version/ in the browser’s address bar and select Profile Path as the Profile directory path.[SG2] - If you are using a custom browser profile for Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome (not the standard Default, Profile 1, so on.), ensure that your profile folder is located one level inside another directory. Following are examples of correct Profile folder paths: - Microsoft Edge: D:\EdgeProfiles\MyEdgeProfile - Google Chrome: D:\ChromeProfiles\MyChromeProfile A profile folder placed directly at the root will not work. Always keep the profile directory inside a parent folder. Following are examples of incorrect Profile folder paths: - Microsoft Edge: D:\MyEdgeProfile - Google Chrome: D:\MyChromeProfile[SG3] Notes: - The field is not available if you select browsers as Internet Explorer or IE Mode 32-bit or IE Mode 64-bit. - When using the option, only one Web GUI workflow can be run at a time. In addition, none of the browser instances should be open, including normal browser window while running workflow because browser locks the profile directory and does allow access to the profile details when browser is already opened. - The field is not supported on Linux. |
| Maximize browser window | Select Maximize Browser Window to open the web browser in a maximized state. By default, the browser does not open maximized. |
| Ignore IE Protected Mode Settings | Check Ignore IE Protected Mode Settings to ignore the IE in the protected mode settings. Note: The field is available only if you set Browser as Internet Explorer, IE Mode 32-bit and IE Mode 64-bit. |
| General Settings | |
| Page load timeout (in milliseconds) | Specify the page load timeout in milliseconds. Page Load Timeout is the maximum time the web browser waits for a web page to finish loading before it stops and displays an error. The Web URL Navigation step can override the page load timeout. |
| Delay (in milliseconds) | Specify the delay in milliseconds for the workflow to execute. Delay adds a wait time before locating and performing any action on a web element step. Otherwise, the workflow may throw an error. |
| Retry count | Specify the retry count. The Retry Count defines how many times a Web-GUI [Classic] step should reattempt execution when an error occurs. The specified count is applied globally to all steps in Web-GUI [Classic]. - To modify the retry count defined in the Start Browser step, use the Web Set Retry Count step. - All steps added after the Web Set Retry Count step will use the updated retry count. - To skip retries for specific steps, set the retry count to 0 using the Web Set Retry Count step. Following steps are excluded from the functionality of Retry Count: - Begin - End - CloseWindow - Robot Handling - SetDelay - SetRetryCount - URL navigation |
| Clear all browser instances | Check Clear All Browser Instances to clear all browser instances before starting the browser. When you run a Web-GUI [Classic] workflow from Process Studio, the browser session doesn’t close automatically. The browser may stay open even if an error occurs or if you close it manually or unexpectedly. If you close the browser manually, the browser driver remains active. When you run the workflow again, the Start Browser step shows an error because the browser is already initialized. Similarly, in case Browser terminates abnormally then you need to clear browser driver instance before you can start a new browser session. Note: The option is also available on the Tools -> Clear all browser instances (Web-GUI [Classic] plugin). |
| Notify on browser version change | Select Notify on Browser Version Change to send a notification to the Workflow Administrator and Tenant Administrator when the browser version changes. Notifications are sent only if valid email addresses and SMTP settings are configured |
tip
- In case of multiple Initialize Web Driver steps in single process/workflow, make sure different drivers are selected.
- If delay is specified as 0, default considered is 30 seconds.
- In case of IE, starting version 7, notion of 4 Security zones; namely Intranet, Internet, Trusted Sites and Restricted Sites was introduced. The following two scenarios are to be noted in Web GUI [Classic]using IE.
- The default behavior in Web GUI [Classic]using IE is to check “Enable Protected Mode” settings for all the zones and throw an error when this setting is different for any two zones.
- In Web GUI [Classic]with IE When “Enable Protected Mode” settings are different for different security zones and you navigate from one URL in one zone to another URL in different zone having a different setting for “Enable Protected Mode”, IE internally launches a new process and from that point on, automation fails as it loses the process handle. In case of Web GUI [Classic]‘Ignore IE Protected Mode Settings’ checkbox has been introduced in Web-GUI “Start Browser” step and Web-Spy to handle the two scenarios above.
- When “Ignore Protected Mode Settings” is CHECKED in Web GUI “Start Browser” step and Web-Spy. “Enable Protected Mode” setting check for different zones is ignored and it starts without error no matter what “Enable Protected Mode” settings for different zones are. We already have the feature to start Web GUI [Classic]with an initial Browser URL. If during entire automation, browser doesn’t navigate to some other URL but URL specified as initial Browser URL, zone switching never happens and automation works fine.