Find Window

Finds a window that is not currently being automated and attaches it to the automation context.

Command availability: IBM RPA SaaS and IBM RPA on premises

Description

The command identifies a specific window that is not currently being automated, assigns it to a variable and attaches it to the automation context. Allowing the bot to interact with the identified window.

Script syntax

IBM RPA's proprietary script language has a syntax similar to other programming languages. The script syntax defines the command's syntax in the script file. You can work with this syntax in IBM RPA Studio's Script mode.

findWindow [--useregex(Boolean)] [--title(String)] --regexPattern(String) [--regexOptions(DisplayableRegexOptions)] [--id(String)] [--classname(String)] [--processid(Numeric)] [--processname(String)] [--byparent(Boolean)] [--window(Window)] [--recursive(Boolean)] [--safesearch(Boolean)] [--styles(Nullable<AutomationWindowStyles>)] [--minimumheight(Numeric)] [--minimumwidth(Numeric)] (Window)=value (Numeric)=processId (Boolean)=success

Dependencies

At least one of the following parameters is required:

  • Title
  • Identifier
  • Class Name
  • Process Id
  • Process Name
  • Styles
  • Minimum Height
  • Minimum Width
Tip: You can use IBM RPA Studio's recorder tool to map the controls and obtain all the necessary data for this parameter.

Input parameter

The following table displays the list of input parameters available in this command. In the table, you can see the parameter name when working in IBM RPA Studio's Script mode and its Designer mode equivalent label.

Designer mode label Script mode name Required Accepted variable types Description
Use Regular Expression useregex Optional Boolean Enable to use a regular expression to find the window.
Title title Optional Text Title of the window to be found.
Regular Expression regexPattern Only when Use Regular Expression is True Text Regular expression used to search for the window.
Options regexOptions Optional DisplayableRegexOptions Filters the search for matches by using the regular expression.

See the regexOptions parameter options for more details.
Identifier id Optional Text Id of the window to be found.
Class Name classname Optional Text Class name of the window to be found.
Process Id processId Optional Number Id of the process to which the window belongs.
Process Name processname Optional Text Name of the process to which the window belongs.
Search in attached window byparent Optional Boolean Enable to allow searching for child windows of an attached window.
Window window Optional Window The main window within which to find a child window.
Recursive recursive Optional Boolean Enable to search for windows within windows.
Safe Search safesearch Optional Boolean Enable to use a higher performance search algorithm.
Styles styles Optional AutomationWindowStyles The style of the window to be found.

See the styles parameter options for more details.
Minimum Height minimumheight Optional Number Minimum height of the window to be found.
Minimum Width minimumwidth Optional Number Minimum width of the window to be found.

regexOptions parameter options

The following table displays the options available for the regexOptions input parameter. The table shows the options available when working in Script mode and the equivalent label in the Designer mode.

Designer mode label Script mode name Description
Compiled Compiled Compile regex expressions instead of interpreting.
Culture Invariant CultureInvariant Ignore cultural differences in language.
ECMA Script ECMAScript Interprets ECMA Script expressions.
Ignore Case IgnoreCase Case-insensitive search.
Explicit Capture ExplicitCapture The only valid captures are explicitly named or numbered groups of the form (?<name> subexpression).
Ignore Pattern Whitespace IgnorePatternWhitespace Ignore whitespace characters, and enable comments after a number sign (#).
Right To Left RightToLeft Read regex expressions from right to left, or from last to first.
Singleline Singleline Changes the meaning of the dot (.), which matches every character except
.
Multiline Multiline Allows the caret (^) and dollar sign ($) symbols to match newline characters.

styles parameter options

The following table displays the options available for the styles input parameter. The table shows the options available when working in Script mode and the equivalent label in the Designer mode.

Designer mode label Script mode name Description
Child Child Indicates that you are looking for a child window within the context of a main window.
Dialog Dialog Indicates that you are looking for a dialog window.

Output parameter

Designer mode label Script mode name Accepted variable types Description
Window value Window Returns the found window.
Process Id processId Number Returns the process Id.
Success success Boolean Returns True if the window was successfully found, and False otherwise.

Example

The following code example demonstrates how to use the Find Window command to locate a Notepad window that was opened by the Launch and Attach Window (launchWindow) command.

defVar --name foundWindow --type Boolean
defVar --name Id --type Numeric
launchWindow --executablepath "notepad.exe" Id=processId
findWindow --processid ${Id} foundWindow=success
logMessage --message "Result found the window: ${foundWindow}" --type "Info"
// Displays on the console whether or not the window was found.
Important:To run the sample script, you must be using Microsoft™ Windows 10 operating system

Limitations