The Step Builder is perhaps the most important component of AutoMate™. It is used to design the step by step actions you wish AutoMate™ to perform when the task is launched. The task is designed by organizing the available actions into the correct sequence you need to complete the task.
(Click a spot on the figure below for more information)
For example if you need to create a task that reboots the machine, simply expand the plus (+) sign next to the System group in the left pane of available actions, select the Reboot action, and drag it across to the list of Current Steps
The Step Builder is organized into two major sections: the Available Actions and the Current Steps. The Available Actions section is a list of all the actions AutoMate™ can perform for you.
Moving an action from the Available Actions section to the Current Steps section creates a step. To do this:
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Expand the group where the desired action is contained (on the left pane)
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Highlight the action you wish to add to the task (on the left pane)
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Either Click the Add button, drag the action into the list current steps (on the right pane), or double click the action
Some actions require parameters, like Open a Document Action or Starting an Application, while others do not, such as Reboot Action or Quit AutoMate™. See Actions for a complete explanation of each action and their parameters.
The Step Builder provides a great environment for manipulating steps. You can copy and paste steps from one task to another, or within the same Step Builder by selecting the steps you wish to copy, and pressing Ctrl-C. Then, select the position you wish to paste the steps and press Ctrl-V. (Special note to users of the NT Service Edition: for security reasons, LOGIN steps cannot be pasted or copied; they must always be manually added). You can drag-and-drop tasks from the Available Actions section to the Current Steps section or drag-and-drop steps within the Current Steps section. You can even delete multiple steps by multi-selecting the steps and pressing the Delete key.
For debugging, you can turn off individual steps by unchecking the box to the left of a particular step in the list of current steps (on the right pane). This prevents that specific step from processing when the task is run.