Can't access UI elements

[julian1994acuna]

Hi,

I've been trying to run an application to my flow (Notepad ++), but it doesn't work.  If I use send mouse click, nothing happens, the flow still runs but there is no error message. But when I used Click UI element, I receive this message:

I tried running PAD as admin, but it still does not work. I tried running Notepad++ as admin, but does not work as well. How can I use Notepad++ on my automation? Just to add more info, I'm using Notepad++ on a csv file to remove commas at end of each line. When I open the csv file on excel, it does not show. 

Thanks in advance

[Nived_Nambiar]

Hi @julian1994acuna 

One thing to remember, Comma Seperated File (CSV) file does not show the commas when file is opened in excel, the comma would be serving as delimiter for columns.

Regarding the automation, i would suggest to do string manipulation instead of UI Automation on notepad ++. The way to do would be like this:

1) Read the text file 

2) Replace the ending commas for each line with ''

3) write the updated text back to excel.

Hope this helps !

Mark it as solution if it resolves your query 🙂

[julian1994acuna]

Hello,

Thank you for the suggestion. I think this will do. Now my only problem is how can I replace the ending commas only to make sure that the other commas are not affected. Only the end of each line.

Thanks in advance 

[Agnius · Accepted solution]

The easiest way to do that would be to use Replace text with a regular expression pattern that replaces commas that are either followed by a newline or are at the end of the string.

You can use the following code to copy and paste to your PAD flow and the actions will be automatically created for you:

SET FilePath TO $'''C:\\RPA\\Test.csv'''
File.ReadTextFromFile.ReadText File: FilePath Encoding: File.TextFileEncoding.UTF8 Content=> FileContents
Text.Replace Text: FileContents TextToFind: $''',(?=(\\r?\\n)|($))''' IsRegEx: True IgnoreCase: False ReplaceWith: $'''%''%''' ActivateEscapeSequences: False Result=> Replaced
File.WriteText File: FilePath TextToWrite: Replaced AppendNewLine: True IfFileExists: File.IfFileExists.Overwrite Encoding: File.FileEncoding.UTF8

What it does is as follows:

1. Reads the text from a CSV file located at %FilePath% (you will need to provide the correct path to your file in this variable);
2. Replaces all commas that are either followed by a newline or are at the end of the entire string with nothing;
3. Writes the result into the same file.

Try this and see if it works for your case.

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[julian1994acuna]

Hi Agnius,

It worked. But not 100% on my end. Apologies if I'm not that clear on my scenario. So what really happened is it did remove the comma, but there are still commas remaining. Each line there are 1 to 5 commas. So I need to remove all the remaining commas at the end of each line. Not just one. Is that possible?

Thanks!

[Agnius]

Are you sure you want that in a CSV file? Several trailing commas in a comma-delimited CSV file indicates empty fields. If you remove them from some lines, but not all of them, the structure of the file will break, because it will contain different numbers of fields in different rows.

[julian1994acuna]

Yes. As this is the file format the I'm following for my project. I am able to do this on notepad++ but I wanted to try this approach if possible. Is that still doable?

This is a sample file that I need to fix

[Agnius]

You can use the same code but adjust the regex pattern to this: ,+(?=(\\r?\\n)|($))

 This will replace one or more commas that are followed by a new line or the end of the string.

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If I have answered your question, please mark it as the preferred solution. If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.

I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

[julian1994acuna]

Hi Agnius,

I tried replacing it and able to run without errors. But nothing has changed when compared to the original file. I just copied and paste the new pattern. Did I do something wrong or missed something?

[Agnius · Accepted solution]

I included too many backslashes in the pattern when I copied it from the code above. Try using this instead: ,+(?=(\r?\n)|($))

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If I have answered your question, please mark it as the preferred solution. If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.

I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

[julian1994acuna]

Hi Agnius,

It worked!!! Thank you so much!