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Community site session details

Session Id : n+98QMOyGOMPtSNfWpi+95
Power Automate - Building Flows
Unanswered

UI Flow - Desktop App - Internet Explorer launch work around

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Posted on 20 Jan 2020 21:14:04 by 40

My organization uses a CRM/ERP tool called Deltek Vision that is cloud hosted and whose data is not easily accessible outside of the tool.  I want to use a UI Flows on this tool to run/save pre-defined reports as a means of extracting the data from this tool.  The catch is, the tool is launched by browsing to a specific URL within Internet Explorer only, where then a small application is downloaded/ran, and after a login window, you interface with the tool as if it were simply a desktop application.

 

I know IE is not compatible with UI Flows at this time, so to get around this I simply set IE's homepage to the required URL to launch the tool (since I don't use IE for any other purpose than launching this tool) and then recorded a UI flow to see if it would work.  I recorded the following starting from a blank screen:

1. double-clicked the IE icon (this opened the browser to the launch URL, it downloaded/ran the small application and displayed the login window, exactly as it is supposed to)

2. selected the header of the login window so it is the focus

3. selected the password input and typed "123", only to show the flow could input text in the relevant field.

4. then I stopped the recording.

 

This did not launch the ERP/CRM tool; instead, I got an error message from the tool's application saying it was "unable to reach the remote server".  When I checked the launch step, I saw the "Application Path" field was not what I anticipated - I replaced the path with the path to IE - "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"

 

When I retested the flow, the log in window was displayed (so I thought this was good progress), however the flow failed on the first step with the following error:

error message.png

 

Note, I did not modify the "Application ID" input on the launch step, I only modified the "Application Path" field to point to the IE location. launch inputs.pngI cannot find any documentation on the "Application ID" field.  How is the ID generated?  Is the GeneralScriptExecutionError I'm getting on the second test because I changed the "Application Path" without updating the "Application ID"?

 

Bottomline, am I asking Power Automate to do something that it simply cannot do?

 

I'm sure I'm leaving out important information.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks in advance for your input.  

  • abm abm Profile Picture
    32,506 Most Valuable Professional on 03 Feb 2020 at 17:02:52
    Re: UI Flow - Desktop App - Internet Explorer launch work around

    Hi @bfing 

     

    I was away for couple of weeks. Can we have a screen share? Could you message me your screen share details?

     

    Thanks

  • bfing Profile Picture
    40 on 03 Feb 2020 at 16:48:59
    Re: UI Flow - Desktop App - Internet Explorer launch work around

    Since I'm not getting a response, I wanted to restate my questions from above that I feel might help me get resolve my problems

     

    1.  The Application Path assumes the path to Deltek Vision instead of to Internet Explorer.  I simply want to launch Internet Explorer so it opens to the home page I've assigned to Launch Deltek Vision.  Can I do this?  Can I launch Internet Explorer?

    2.  When recording myself launch Internet Explorer, the Application Path is automatically assigned to the path that Launches Deltek Vision (not Internet Explorer).  If I manually override the Application Path that is automatically assigned from Deltek Vision to Internet Explorer, the flow fails on the Launch Step and provides the following error: error message.pngCould someone assist deciphering this error message?

    3.  I suspect the issue that arises from manually changing the automatically assigned Application Path is that the Application Path no longer corresponds to the Application ID.  How is the Application ID assigned?  And do I need to change the Application ID if I change the Application Path manually to launch Internet Explorer only?

     

    Thanks in advance.

  • bfing Profile Picture
    40 on 30 Jan 2020 at 04:12:06
    Re: UI Flow - Desktop App - Internet Explorer launch work around

    Thank you for the feedback @abm .

     

    I re-recorded the steps by:

    • clicking start + typing "Internet Explorer" + pressing "Enter"
    • pressing the Windows Key + typing "Internet Explorer" + pressing "Enter

     

    While creating the recording for each scenario above, they all properly opened the browser to the launch URL, then automatically downloaded/ran the small application and displayed the login window.  

     

    When I test the updated flow, I get the same results as I described in the initial post where I see the tool's error message ("unable to reach the remote server") instead of the login window.  Also the Application Path is populated with something other than the path to Internet Explorer.  Here is a screen shot of the Application Path:

    application path.png

    If (outside of a recording) I simply browse to this location and double-click/launch DeltekVision.exe, I get the same error message ("unable to reach the remote server").  This tells me the flow launching this DeltekVision.exe Application Path directly (rather than launching IE to browse to the launch URL), appears to be why I get the error.  So again, it appears I need to simply launch IE from the flow, and let IE launch Deltek Vision.  Any other thoughts on this?

     

    Note: as I've recorded this several times, I know the Application Path always shows up the same as the photo above, however the Application ID is different each time I record it.  And again, manually updating the Application Path field to the path for IE does result in the successful opening of the Deltek Login window by the flow, but then causes the flow to fail before proceeding to the next step of the flow.  My questions about the Application ID are the same as the initial post.

     

    Thanks for your assistance.

  • abm abm Profile Picture
    32,506 Most Valuable Professional on 20 Jan 2020 at 23:49:16
    Re: UI Flow - Desktop App - Internet Explorer launch work around

    Hi @bfing 

     

    Could you record the steps again with the following:

     

    1. Click the windows desktop icon and strart typing Internet Explorer.

    2. Click the open link

    3. Then continue your other steps.

     

    image.png

     

    Thanks

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