SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESILIENT AUTOMATION UPGRADE

• US 20160019049A1
• Filed: 08/25/2015
• Published: 01/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automation Anywhere, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Automation Anywhere, Inc.
• Inventors: KAKHANDIKI, ABHIJIT, GUNAPU, SRIDHAR
• Granted Patent: US 10,430,180 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

This invention generally relates to a process, system and computer code for enabling users to create adapters that enable application automation by collecting automation information; locate application controls and tracking changes between an older and a newer version of the application, such changes to include addition of one or more new data fields, removal of one or more data fields, change in data field type (i.e. type of data held in the field); change field layout; and change the underlying technology framework of the application; to present the changes using an exception management model to the user, so user can by way of example provide feedback in a visual instead of programmatic manner; store the changes, so as to make the adapters resilient to application changes and upgrades; and incorporating the changes to upgrade the application.

Claims

1. A computerized method operable in a computer system to create adapters that enable application automation, the method causing the computer system to execute steps comprising:

(1) collecting automation information related to a computer application;

(2) locating application controls;

(3) tracking changes (a) between an older and a newer version of the application, (b) including one or more of;

(i) an addition of one or more new data fields, (ii) a removal of one or more data fields, (iii) in data field type, (iv) field layout, and (v) underlying technology framework of the application;

(4) presenting the changes, utilizing an exception management model, employed by a user, whereby the user provides a feedback;

(5) storing changes, whereby the adapters are resilient to application changes and upgrades;

(6) and incorporating the changes to upgrade the application.

2. The method of claim 1, further including locating candidates for change by control identification.

3. The method of claim 1, further including determining if a unique control found and control type match exits.

4. The method of claim 1, further including eliminating all candidates with a selected reference control type.

5. The method of claim 1, further including assigning weights to compute a match probability.

6. The method of claim 1, further including computing attribute differences for each candidate.

7. The method of claim 1, further including observing if a higher overlap percentage gets a higher weight.

8. The method of claim 1, further including computing a reference control path ends, with a match in target screen.

9. The method of claim 1, further including determining if a longest path overlap gets higher weights.

10. The method of claim 1, further including locating proximity to neighbors on actual visual placement on a screen.

11. The method of claim 1, further including determining if a percentage of control types and text labels match a reference screen.

12. The method of claim 1, further including eliminating all controls under a probability threshold limit.

13. The method of claim 1, further including presenting control mapping to a user to confirm.

14. A computerized method operable in a computer system to create adapters that enable application automation, the method causing the computer system to execute steps comprising:

(1) opening a new application related to an existing application;

(2) navigating to a specific display screen;

(3) generating a screen fingerprint of the existing application;

(4) checking existing versions;

(5) determining if the screen exists and if (a) the screen does not exist, then (6) serializing the screen for storing into a repository and then exiting;

otherwise if (b) the screen exists, then (7) generating semantic differences between the new application and the existing application;

(8) finding closest screen match;

(9) presenting differences to a user with a probability score dependent on the differences;

(10) providing feedback from a user;

(11) updating a semantic model;

(12) serializing the screen repository and exiting method.

15. A computerized method operable in a computer system to execute steps comprising:

(1) extracting source field data from an existing application and target field metadata from the new version of a related application;

(2) storing the source field data from existing application and target field metadata from a new version of the related application to a process repository;

(3) transforming and transferring stored data from steps (2) to an adapter; and

(4) updating the existing adapter to work with the new version of the related application, utilizing the data obtained by the adapter in step (3).

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions for creating adapters that enable new and updated applications including steps of:

(1) opening a new application related to an existing application;

(2) navigating to a specific display screen;

(3) generating a screen fingerprint of the existing application;

(4) checking existing versions;

(5) determining if the screen exists and if (a) the screen does not exist, then (6) serializing the screen to repository and exiting method;

otherwise (b) if the screen exists, then (7) generating semantic differences between the new application and the existing application;

(8) finding closest screen match;

(9) presenting differences to a user with a probability score dependent on the differences;

(10) providing feedback from a user;

(11) updating a semantic model;

(12) serializing the screen repository and exiting method.

17. A computer system for creating adapters comprising:

(1) an inspector to perform an analysis of an application and retrieve information on at least one of an underlying application framework, object metadata and properties, object type, associated actions, user interface layout and application response time;

(2) an exception manager to filter out (a) mismatched objects between versions of objects that semantically have a high probability of being synonyms and (b) one or more object properties that indicate that an object structure has changed;

(3) a sematic difference engine that employs two object hierarchies, (a) a source object and (b) a target hierarchy;

(4) a fingerprint generator to analyze (a) a screen writer for objects and (b) respective locations;

(5) a calibration manager to compare and analyze similar functional screens from different versions of an application;

(6) a screen repository to represent a set of screens to carry out selected business process;

(7) a screen serializer to store screen, related metadata and control structure in a machine readable format; and

(8) a learning mechanism to build an upgraded resilient automation adapter.