Flow slows down

[alee001]

Execute 20 Excel files in the PAD loop, and the VBA for changing the internal cells. After the seventeenth execution, the CPU has been loaded to 95%. (but can still be done manually)

At this time, the process slows down to a standstill. It is necessary to wait for the CPU to drop below 80% (estimated) before continuing the process after VBA execution. Sometimes the process will be terminated for no reason in the middle of waiting.

How can I fix it?

[Agnius]

If your CPU cannot handle it, it's quite simple - you either need to get a more powerful machine or make your flow process less files at once. Add some delays or something like that. Process the files one by one, instead of all of them at once.

PAD consumes some CPU resources on its own, too. So, it is quite normal for it to require more processing power than it would if you were doing the task manually.

If it crashes completely, you might want to check the Application logs under the Windows Event Viewer to see if there are any errors there at the time of the crash.

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[alee001]

Thanks for your reply,

My workstation uses an 11th-generation i9 processor, and the high CPU load of 95-100% is only short (about a few minutes) when multiple VBAs are executed at the same time.

It is understandable that the PAD process is slow, but I don't understand why it terminates without reason?

[Agnius]

Like I mentioned, if there are crashes, check the application logs in Windows Event Viewer for any errors that occur at the time of the crash.

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[alee001]

PAD errors out with windows not found and terminates the process.

[Agnius]

That's not really "without a reason". It's a valid error. Your window is not being found. It is likely completely unrelated to the CPU consumption. It is much more likely to be related to a bad window selector or a bad flow where the flow does not wait long enough for the window to appear or become available.

PAD can usually operate under high CPU consumption. I have plenty of clients where that happens. But you then need to account for that and make sure your flow is robust and does not fail when the overall flow is slower than usual due to the machine taking more time to load some applications.

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[alee001]

The programming is correct, terminating the process doesn't happen very often, sometimes the process can be continued.

Maybe the process waits to a certain degree/time before terminating but I don't know？

[Agnius]

The error about a window not being found is exactly that - it doesn't find the window at the time the action runs. There are no hidden secrets there. Like I mentioned, the only way in which this can be related to your CPU consumption being high is if your machine itself slows down and the target window becomes unavailable (perhaps it stops responding for a while) or does not open in time (if it's a new window that is supposed to open). 

There's no such thing as PAD "waiting for some time before crashing". It simply runs the commands that you put in your flow. If the command cannot be completed, it will fail. It's as simple as that. So, if your flow fails you need to look at your flow. Not the CPU consumption.

[alee001]

The location of the error is that the normal process does not need to wait for the operation, and it can also continue manually.

I don't know if there is a bug, but I have doubts about the stability of the PAD under high usage.

[Agnius]

In that case, it is a selector issue. It usually is.

PAD can run fine under high CPU load. I have tested it numerous times on various environments. If there ever is a crash that is not related to a bad flow or a bad selector, you would see an error in the Application logs on the Event viewer. But then you would not have a "window not found" error being thrown by PAD.

So, once again, this is not because of the high CPU load. The fact that PAD throws a "window not found" error is a clear proof that there is an issue with either the selector or the logic of the flow. -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[alee001]

But my many experience is that most of the execution fails the first time, and it is normal the second time.

[alee001 · Accepted solution]

Finally, use [wait] to buffer the VBA operation in the loop to solve the flow and stop after slowing down.