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By modifying the default options on the Recording page, you can change the way the designer generates recognition rules, handles error actions, and sets timeout parameters for the current project. As you record your task, Task Builder automatically creates a recognition rule for each task step. These settings modify the task step recognition rule, not the recorded task itself.
You can modify recognition rules in review mode, using the Recognition Rule Editor, after your task is recorded.
To display the Options dialog box, from the Tools menu, choose Options.
Recognition Rule - Protected Fields to Use: Specify the protected fields to use when creating your screen recognition rule.
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It is important to remember that only protected fields are used when creating recognition rules. |
If you select this... Then this All Use all the protected fields on the screen in the recognition rule. First and last fields Specify the number of protected fields used to create your recognition rule. You can select different values for the first and last number of fields selected. For example, if you type 2 in the first field and 3 in the last field, then the first two protected fields on the screen and the last three protected fields on the screen are used to create the recognition rule. To create a recognition rule that uses fields from just the beginning or just the end of the screen, leave the appropriate field empty. By default, the first two protected fields on the screen and the last two fields on the screen are used in the recognition rule. Use fields listed below Create a custom list of fields to use when building your recognition rule. List the particular fields you want to use by counting from either the beginning or the end of the screen. Those fields will be used when creating the screen recognition rule. For example, to use the 46, 47, and 48th fields from the beginning of the screen in your recognition rule, enter 46, 47, 48 in the From the beginning text box and leave the From the end text box empty. If you enter values in both text boxes, then the recognition rule will be built from the combined fields listed in both text boxes. Field values must be between 1 and 9999 inclusive. If a screen does not contain any of the fields specified, then the first "x" number of fields are used, where "x" is the number of fields entered in the From the beginning text box and the last "y" number of fields are used, where "y" is the number of fields entered in the From the end text box. However, fields will only be used once. If your screen contains five fields and "x" and "y" both equal "3", then the first three fields and the last two fields will be used.
For example, if you entered 46, 47, 48 in the From the beginning text box and 65, 66 in the From the end text box and none of these fields actually exist, then the recognition rule will be built using the first three fields from the beginning of the screen and the last two fields at the end of the screen.
Recognition Rule - Field Handling: Specify the options to use when using fields in your recognition rules.
Exclude Fields Containing Numbers: Ignore all fields containing numbers. This is selected by default.
Exclude Numbers: Replace any numbers contained in a field with a wildcard. This is particularly useful in fields where the numbers change often, such as date fields.
Remove Leading Blanks: Remove all blank spaces before the first non-space character. This is selected by default.
Remove Trailing Blanks: Remove blank spaces after the last non-space character. This is selected by default.
Use All Characters in Fields for ID: Use all the characters in a field in the recognition rule. When this option is selected, the Number of Characters in Fields for ID option is unavailable.
Number of Characters in Fields for ID: Type the number of characters you want to appear in a field. For example, typing 10 limits each field to ten characters, thus controlling the size of the recognition rule. By default, the value is 10. This option is unavailable when Use All Characters in Fields for ID has been selected.
Subrule: Choose which function to use in default recognition rules.
This function Does this <Field> like Verifies that the field's starting position on the screen, the field's size, and the <string> all match. This is the default function used when creating recogition rules. An example,
HostField7 like '*abc*'<Field> StringAtPosition like Verifies that the field's starting position on the screen and <string> match. The length of the field is not verified. This function is commonly used for screens that contain variable length fields. An example,
HostField7.STRINGATPOSITION ( ) like '*abc*'<Field> StringNear like Verifies the text matches in each field that has a start position in the range determined by the value specified in the StringNear parameter text box. This function is commonly used for screens that contain fields with variable start positions or of variable lengths. In this example,
HostField7.STRINGNEAR (5) like '*abc*'the text is verified in host field 7, whose field position can vary within a 5 space range.StringNear parameter: This option is available only when <Field> StringNear like is selected. Type the number of starting field positions to use when verifying a string. For example, if you type 5, then a field's start position can vary on the screen by five spaces without causing the recognition rule to fail. The integer must be greater than 0.
Recognition Rule - Strings to Exclude: All strings added to the list are excluded from use in the recognition rule. For example, excluding Customer Name fields ensures that customer names do not appear within a recognition rule.
Enter String to Exclude: Type the string you want to add to the list, and then click Add to move the string to the Strings Excluded During Default Selection list.
Strings Excluded During Default Selection: Displays the list of strings to exclude from use in your recognition rules. To remove a string, select it, and choose Delete.
Host Response Timeout: The Host Response Timeout option provides the Runtime Service and Task Builder with a default selections to use when running a NavMap and testing tasks.
Wait <time> milliseconds when testing task in Task Builder: Set the interval time (in milliseconds) for the Task Builder, when testing a task, to wait for your host to respond to a request for data. You must enter a value greater than 1. The default setting is 12000 milliseconds or 12 seconds.
Wait <time> milliseconds during runtime execution: Set the interval time (in milliseconds) for the Runtime Service, when executing tasks, to wait for your host to respond to a request for data. You must enter a value greater than 1. The default setting is 120000 milliseconds or 2 minutes.
Additional Options for VT Hosts There are additional recording options available for VT hosts. These options are not available with 3270 or 5250 host types.
VT screens: VT host types differ fundamentally from other hosts in that they do not contain host or user fields, in fact they do not contain fields at all. Because Task Builder depends on fields for both screen recognition and navigation, a single host field (that contains no attributes) is created for and encompasses each screen. These screens are unformatted.
You can choose to have Task Builder automatically format the recorded screens with user fields during record-time. When tasks are recorded in this mode, each screen will contain one host field and any number of automatically created user fields. Task Builder defines the field boundaries at the edge of the screen or whenever there is a change in character attributes, such as color or highlighting.
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When you select an automatically formatted user field on the screen it is identified as an auto-field. For example, AutoField15. This is to differentiate them from user fields that you create by drawing a rectangle around the area you want to define as a field. AutoFields are automatically created user fields as opposed to user-defined user fields. |
Any changes you make to the screen formatting options will take effect with the next task you record. For example, if you switch from the default setting, Use unformatted screens when recording tasks to Automatically format screens when recording tasks, the next task recorded will reflect the change. Once a screen contains automatically created fields, it retains them in all subsequent tasks where the screen is used, regardless of which option you've selected for the task. For example, if you record a screen in automatic format mode, and then re-use that same screen in another task, despite the option selected, the screen will still be formatted with the original automatically formatted fields.
This option Does this Use unformatted screens when recording tasks. Select this option to record tasks using unformatted screens. Unformatted screens contain one recorded host field; the entire screen. This option is selected by default. You can create user fields for use as task outputs or in recognition rules after you have finished recording your task. Automatically format screens when recording tasks. Select this option to have Task Builder automatically format the recorded screens with user fields.
VT Recognition Rules: As you record your task, Task Builder uses the created user fields to automatically build a recognition rule for each task step. You can modify the default settings used to create these rules to more accurately and easily match your VT host screens. These settings modify the task step recognition rule, not the recorded task itself.
This option Does this Use last text received Uses the last data received from the host regardless of its location on the screen. The number of characters used in the recognition rule is determined by the value you entered in the Number of Characters in Fields for ID field on this page. This is the default method used to build recognition rules when creating VT tasks. When you are working in unformatted mode, this setting is always enabled. Use cursor row Uses an integer to represent the current row location of the cursor. Use cursor column Uses an integer to represent the current column location of the cursor. Use cursor position Uses a change in the position of the cursor to determine a screen match. For example, you can use this option with a host that positions the cursor at a prompt after processing is complete.
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Modifying Screen Recognition Rules |
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Modifying Screen Recognition Rules, Overview |
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Recognition Rules for VT Hosts |
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Using Functions to Create Expressions |
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Task Builder for Screens Help Links |
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