Answered

Output Tabs with "Write to text file" action

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by shawn_eary

I'm trying to generate a TSV (Tab Separated Values) file instead of a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. Unfortunately, this statement (See Picture), is outputting literal \t sequences:

so I get something like this in my completed scrapedOutput.tsv file:

Laura\t83\tBlue
John\t42\tBrown
Jeff\t40\tBrown

What I actually want is for the ASCII 0x09 [1] character to be inserted in between each column of my TSV file.

Is there an easy way to output a Tab to a file in Power Automate Desktop?

[1] - https://www.asciitable.com/

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

All responses (6)

Answers (1)

Sort by

Verified answer

fraenK 2,125 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

There doesn't seem to be another way then using replace text with a regex
shawn_eary 65 on at

Like
a
(0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

@fraenK - I think you are right. This seems to work. See Pictures.
Power2Dppl 13 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

I am experiencing a similar issue, but with the "Populate text field in window" with a legacy program. UI element won't recognize text field (doesn't highlight when selected) and if it could output a Tab it would work. The "Focus text field in Window" doesn't work either because UI.
shawn_eary 65 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

I think I get what you are saying there, but as a workaround until this is resolved, you might consider trying:
Selenium for C# for WebApps: https://zetcode.com/csharp/selenium/
and
Coded UI Tests for Desktop Apps: https://azuredevopslabs.com/labs/tfs/codedui/

Unfortunately, it seems Coded UI tests are now deprecated and they require the Enterprise version of Visual Studio. The Enterprise version of Visual Studio is pretty pricey from my understanding.

Per Malik on SO,
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23805817/alternatives-to-coded-ui-test-for-visual-studio
there may be a new driver called WinAppDriver that you can use to test Desktop apps without having to have Visual Studio Enterprise. There seem to be some really good examples of how to use it here:
https://github.com/microsoft/WinAppDriver/tree/master/Samples

It doesn't look like you need Visual Studio to work with WinAppDriver. VisualStudioCode, Notepad++, EMACS, vi (or whatever) will probably work fine as long as you stay on a Windows machine.

Most developers trying to do automated Desktop testing will likely have a better experience with WinAppDriver than PowerAutomateDesktop.
Power2Dppl 13 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

I ended up using the "Click UI element in window" option, then adjusted the UI element position in advanced setting. Much appreciated though.
Power2Dppl 13 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

There is also a "Send Keys" option to use on a UI element.