AUTOMATE 5.5
Copyright 2003, Unisyn Software, LLC
Version 5.5.1
Date de Publication: septembre 2003

BIENVENUE DANS LE FUTUR DE L’AUTOMATISATION
AutoMate, considéré dans son ensemble, est une plate-forme pour construire, gérer et lancer des tâches automatisées sous Windows. AutoMate comprend différents composants distincts mais est géré de manière centrale depuis l’Administrateur de Tâches.

AutoMate 5  contient les composants suivants:

1)	Administrateur de Tâches
Utilisé pour Administrer AutoMate, à savoir la liste des tâches, les déclencheurs ainsi que les paramètres globaux d’AutoMate. L’Administrateur de Tâches remplace le « Gestionnaire de Configuration » (« Configuration Manager ») des versions précédentes d’AutoMate et sert de base de départ à AutoMate.
2)	Contructeur de Tâches
Utilisé pour construire et débogguer les tâches. Il contient plus de 100 actions. Le Constructeur de Tâches remplace le « Constructeur d’Étapes » (« Step Builder ») des versions précédentes d’AutoMate. Il permet de construire et de tester la portion de la tâche qui effectue le « travail » proprement dit et qui est  référencé par la suite comme « étapes de la tâche ».
3)	Service de Tâches 
S’exécute silencieusement en arrière-plan ( ou dans la barre d’état système) et surveille les événements déclencheurs. Lorsque ces événements déclencheurs se produisent, le service de tâches démarre la ou les tâches correspondantes en exécutant SPAWNTASK.EXE. 
4)	spawntask.exe
Une fois qu’une tâche est déclenchée, spawntask.exe charge les objets AutoMate et exécute les étapes de la tâche. Ce procédé est beaucoup plus sûre que celui des versions précédentes d’AutoMate car si un incident grave se produit pendant l’exécution de la tâche, seulement spawntask est susceptible de ne plus fonctionner et non pas l’application AutoMate elle même. Grâce à cette architecture, les tâches s’exécutent indépendemment les unes des autres et le Service de Tâches est isolé des problèmes potentiels liés à l’exécution d’une tâche.

Veuillez consulter le fichier d’aide à la rubrique “Concepts” pour de plus amples informations.

CONDITIONS REQUISES DU SYSTEME
Matériel
·	 60 MO d’espace disque (150 MO ou plus recommandés)
·	Processeur AMD Athlon™ ou Intel Pentium™ CPU avec une vitesse minimale de 300 MHz (800 Mhz ou plus recommandés)
·	Au moins 128 MO de RAM (256 ou plus recommandés)
Systèmes d’Exploitation Supportés
·	Windows XP
·	Windows 2000 SP2 ou plus
·	Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6 ou plus
·	Windows 98, ME (les systèmes d’exploitation basés sur NT tels que NT, 2000 ou XP sont recommandés pour des performances optimales)
Remarque sur les Systèmes d’Exploitation:
·	Windows 95 n’est pas supporté en raison des limitations internes de ce système d’exploitation et au manque de support fourni par Microsoft.
·	Veuillez toujours vous assurer que vous possédez les dernières mises à jour et Services Packs de Microsoft afin de garantir le bon fonctionnement de votre système d’exploitation. Pour obtenir ces mises à jour, visitez le service en ligne des Mises à Jour Windows de Microsoft.
Configuration du Système d’Exploitation
·	Internet Explorer 5 ou plus doit être installé (mais il n’est pas nécessaire qu’il soit le navigateur par défaut)
·	Le gestion de réseau TCP/IP doit être installé et fonctionner
·	Les paramètres d’affichage doivent être d’au moins 800x600 avec une profondeur de couleur Hautes Couleurs ou Couleurs Vraies (recommandé) (des paramètres inférieurs sont autorisés mais l’interface sera de mauvaise qualité. Il est également recommandé de vous procurer les pilotes vidéo les plus récents.)
·	Accès Réseau à Distance (RAS) requis pour les actions de connexion à distance
·	OLEDB requis pour les actions bases de données
·	SAPI 4 ou 5 pour l’action "Parler" 

CARACTERISTIQUES MAJEURES AJOUTEES

Les tâches peuvent maintenant être déclenchées lorsque la station de travail est verrouillée ou lorsque la session est fermée 
AutoMate peut à present déclencher et exécuter des tâches sur Windows NT/2000/XP pendant que l’ordinateur est verrouillé ou quand aucune session utilisateur n’est ouverte. Vous pouvez choisir la manière d’exécuter votre tâche parmi une large sélection d’options telle que ouvrir automatiquement une session ou encore exécuter la tâche de manière silencieuse en arrière plan sous un compte utilisateur complètement différent. 

Améliorations de la Vitesse et des Performances
Comme avec chaque nouvelle mise à jour, la version 5.0.4 comporte de nombreuses optimisations qui augmentent la stabilité d’AutoMate. La taille globale du produit sur le disque dur a été réduite. L’utilisation de la mémoire dans le Constructeur de Tâches, l’Administrateur de Tâches et le Service de Tâches a été diminuée de manière significative et les tâches démarrent et tournent plus rapidement. AutoMate surveille également que son utilisation du CPU ne dépasse pas 50%, et ce même lorsqu’il effectue des tâches intensives comme par exemple surveiller les changements fichiers qui se produisent sur un disque dur sous Windows 9x.

PROBLEMES RECENSES
-	Le fichier d’aide est toujours en anglais seulement et des traductions seront disponibles très bientôt. Veuillez consulter le Centre de Ressources Utilisateur d’AutoMate à <http://www.automate5.com> pour avoir la liste des mises à jour disponibles.

CHANGES IN 5.5.1

Task Builder
  - corrected error that caused Create Variable to add a 1 to the end of a variable name if the step was pasted from an outside source
  - corrected disabled steps becoming enabled once pasted into the Task Builder
  - corrected indented steps indenting further to the right on paste operations when Suggest Indent option was enabled
  - adjusted breakpoint and line number columns
  - removed check for valid line number when using On Error Goto Line Number because it prevented the use of valid expressions  
  - fixed Output window text becoming garbled when running very large tasks
  - fixed AV that occurred when double-clicking the Run, Run Selected or Pause buttons
  - removed automatic renaming of duplicate variable names contained in Create Variable step when pasting
  - added vertical scrollbar simplify editing large expressions
  - fixed minor leak that would occur if multiple AutoMate Basic scripts were edited in the same session

Task Service
  - On Error Set Variable is now evaluated after a step executes, allowing new variable values to be used in the Set Variable On Error
  - Logon/Unlock workstation now more reliable
  - corrected sporadic AV that occurred when running a task that contained an AutoMate Script step
  - Right-click menu in tray is now translated
  - corrected EAccessViolation that occured when running an embedded script within several subtasks
  - log entries are made when a task does not run because the workstation was logged off or locked and the task properties are set to Do Not Run
  - Brief Logging is now enabled by default
  - Running and Queued task count are now displayed in the tool tip of the tray icon
  - corrected service not stopping correctly when started with automated processing disabled and not enabling task processing before shutdown
  - fixed bug that caused Task Service to hang on shutdown if the service was started with automated processing disabled and triggers were never activated before shutting down the service

Task Administrator
  - fixed interface instability problems when using multiple remote connections
  - moving a task from one folder to another via remote administration would break the link to the task file of the managed task
  - deleting a folder no longer collapses the folder view on refresh
  - last logged event is now displayed in the status bar of the Task Administrator
  - superfluous or unnecessary information is no longer shown in the status bar of the Task Administrator
  - last recorded log message now appears in status bar of AMTA
  - removed useless messages from status bar of AMTA

IF Actions
  - fixed "Missing associated If step" error that occured when using embedded IF statements (usually affected only If and If File Exists actions)

If Text Contains Action
  - no longer errors if the text being examined is blank (condition now returns false when this is the case)
  
SpawnTask
  - added ability to trigger a task using a Managed Task Name and the /managedtask switch

Set Variable Action
  - was causing "Missing closing percentage to end expression" error when using variable contents that contained a percentage

Send Keystrokes Action
  - was causing "Missing closing percentage to end expression" error when using variable contents that contained a percentage

On Error Goto Label
  - fixed Continue On Error jumping to a label specified in the On Error properties by previously executed step

Move Mouse Action
  - corrected iss ue that caused pause after mouse movement to be ignored if specific errors are ignored at the step level

Message Box Action
  - non-modal message boxes would sometimes paint improperly when a task contained many CPU intensive steps

FTP Actions
  - fixed infinite loop caused by some servers that return . and .. as valid directories

FTP Rename Action
  - corrected issue that caused action to fail improperly and sporadically on some FTP servers

FTP Download
  - now respects data type setting for all supported servers

Unzip Action
  - no errors were logged when a file failed to be unzipped properly

Create Folder Action
  - creating a folder on the root would cause an error even though the folder was created

Case Action
  - now supports spaces as possible cases

Start Another Task Action
  - fixed instability when running mutliple Start Another Task steps in a row
  
Schedule Watcher Trigger
  - corrected problem with monthly scheduling (e.g. run on a specific day of the month) causing CPU utilization spike upon rescheduling of the task

Folder Watcher Trigger
  - when watching a directory on a mapped drive, disabling and re-enabling automated task processing was causing the CPU utilization spike
  - TRIGGEREDON action parameter would contain garbage data

Window Watcher Trigger
  - trigger failed while watching for window to open after one instance of the window was already open
  - watching for window to close not triggering if the window was open before the service started
  - corrected Window Trigger failing unexpectedly on Windows ME machines

Script Action
  - corrected random number generation not working correctly
  - corrected sporadic AV that occured after executing many scripts or a script in a loop
  - now correctly supports #uses clause in external script files
  - fixed minor memory link in script editor
  - when creating a new script, the cursor is placed inbetween the Sub Main and End Sub keywords for easier editing

Synchronize Folders
  - now properly replicates empty folders
  
Check Action
  - on non-English OS with AutoMate language set to other than Default, a Check step would not check work correctly

Send Keystrokes Action
  - corrected minor memory leak

Service Actions
  - now works correctly on Windows Server 2003

Interactivity and Window actions
  - corrected issue introduced in 5.5 that caused controls located inside a grouping control (GroupObject type) to be ignored, causing AutoMate to freeze when enumerating the controls via the Browse button.   
  - when using the browse button to display the lists of accessible enumeration of objects when Browsing can now be aborted by pressing Ctrl+Q
  - fixed infinite loop in Window Watcher that was causing the trigger to never launch the task
  - fixed leak at design time when clicking the Browse button on interactivity action and the window did not exist

Copy Files Action
 - filenames with a number surrounded by square brackets would return "file does not match mask" error

CHANGES IN 5.5

NEW TRIGGERS

Process Watcher
  - triggers a task when a specified process starts, ends or stops responding
  
Service Watcher
  - triggers a task when a service starts, stops, pauses, resumes, is installed or uninstalled, or stops responding, 
  
Startup Watcher
  - triggers a task when the AutoMate Task Service starts, or when a specified user logs onto a Windows NT/2000/XP computer
  
NEW ACTIONS

Advanced FTP
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - send any command to an FTP server that was connected using the FTP Login action.  Allows complete control over an FTP session established by AutoMate.
  
Select/Case
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - quickly jump to a block of steps based on the result of an expression 
  
Goto/Label
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - send task execution to a section of the task tagged with a named label
  
Trigger Task
  - start another Managed Task name from within another task as if it were triggered
  
Enable/Disable Task
  - enable or disable any Managed Task by managed task name from within a running task
  
If Text Contains
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - conditional execution of code depending on whether or not the specified text is contained within another text string
  
If File Exists
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - conditional execution of code depending on whether or not a specified file (or file mask) exists
  
If Folder Exists
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - conditional execution of code depending on whether or not a specified folder exists
  
If Window Exists
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - conditional execution of code depending on whether or not a specified window is open and/or focused while the task is running
If Process Running
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - conditional execution of code depending on whether or not a specified process is currently running
  
Create Date/Time
  - a new, powerful yet easy to create custom formatted dates and/or times
  - supports adding days, months, years, hours, minutes, etc. statically or dynamically
  
Trim Text
  - removes the specified characters from beginning and/or end from a string of text
  
Insert Text
  - inserts one string into another at the specified index position
  
Get Subtext
  - returns a substring of the specified string based on index values
  
Replace Subtext
  - replaces specified section of text with other text
  
Convert Case
  - converts text into all uppercase or all lowercase characters
  
Pad Text
  - places specified character repeatedly to the front and/or the end of a string until the specified string length is reached
  
Find
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - finds specified text in a string
  - returns index of found string so that subsequent finds can be offset by an index to find multiple occurrences of text
  - supports regular expressions
  
Replace
  - AutoMate Professional Only
  - finds specified text in a string and replaces it with specified text
  - supports regular expressions
  
Increment Variable
  - increment the value of an AutoMate variable by any number
  - can be used to easily implement a counter
  
Decrement Variable
  - decrement the value of an AutoMate variable by any number
  - can be used to easily implement a counter

NEW FEATURES

Per Task Error Handling
  - set an error handler for the task.  If an error occurs on any step, the Per Task Error Handling is invoked.  Can be used to send emails, write a message to the log, etc.
  
System Wide Error Handling
  - handles errors that occur when any task fails.  Can be used to send email messages, write to log, etc. when a task on the system fails to execute properly.
  
Steps button
  - new toolbar button added to quickly edit the steps of the selected task in the Task Administrator
  
Suspend
  - Suspend toolbar button and menu option in Task Administrator allows easy access to all tasks currently running or holding on the AutoMate system.  Allows user to stop any running task easily without having to press Ctrl-Alt-End
  
Deploy
  - quickly copy a task from one machine to multiple connected machines at one time
  
Status Column of Task Administrator
  - a new column replaces the Triggers column to show the current status of a task (Idle, Running, Waiting, or Aborted)
  
Next Launch Date/Time Column
  - a new column shows the date and time of next scheduled launch for each task (where applicable)
  
AMError Object
  - dataset object which can be used in AutoMate tasks to retrieve information about the last error the task occurred, including line number, error text and error number
  
Triggers
  - can now be set to trigger only after the trigger condition has been met a specified number of times in a row
  
File Trigger
  - now uses default user (as defined in Task Administrator Options) to gain access to network drives
  
FTP
  - now uses an updated FTP engine that supports the following features:
    - resume download
    - custom FTP commands
    - direct sending of FTP commands
  - now supports 35 different FTP servers including:
    - DOS
    - Unix
    - Vax
    - VMS
    - Novell Netware
    - AS400
    - Hewlett Packard HP 3000
    
Extended Functions
  - added new function FolderCount() that returns the total number of folders within another folder or drive

ENHANCEMENTS

Task Administrator
  - added option to turn off "Running Task Indicator" window transparency
  - when using "Edit | Duplicate", the task steps are now properly duplicated.  Before, the steps of the duplicated task would still refer to the original task steps.
  - added option to never show AutoMate Tray icon
  - added option to prompt, never or always remove associated task files when a managed task is removed
  - added option to prompt, never or always recreate a missing task file on export
  
Task Service
  - customizable TCP/IP port used for AutoMate Task Service communication
  - On Error now supports Goto Line or Goto Label
  - all triggers now populate the following AMTrigger fields:
    TriggerTag - the trigger the fired
    TaskName - the name of the task
    TriggeredDateTime - the date and time the trigger fired
    Triggered On - machinename that triggered
  - On Error handling works correctly regardless of whether Stop Task or Continue Task is selected
  - support for logging onto workstations that use a Novell Client
  - added Run Task to popup on AMTA
  - service will log information about improper configuration and refuse to start if the service's properties have been improperly altered
  - the caps lock key is toggled off before AutoMate attempts to log on a workstation, then turns it back on if necessary once logon is complete
  
Task Builder
  - Edit | Find functionality added to quickly find a step in a task file
  - much faster task execution speed
  - pressing F2 key from On Error tab of step properties now invokes the Expression Builder
  - added more options for error control on Failure Causes tab of step properties
  - changed verbiage of Failure Causes and On Error screens to clarify their purpose
  - Expression Builder now shows system objects such as AMError object and per trigger AMTrigger variables
  - task file loading errors display more precise information about the cause of the error: error text, line number, character number, filename and
the last successfully read in tag
  - added "Format Steps" command under Edit menu to indent and outdent steps into a more visually pleasing and readable format
  - added "Reset Interface" command under View menu to reset customized menus, toolbars and windows to their default settings
  - added shortcut key text to Indent and Dedent menu options
  - "Auto Indent" uses indentation of surrounded steps to automatically indent added steps

File Actions
  - significant speed improvements over previous versions
  
Delete File Action
  - added ability to delete files to user's Recycle Bin
  
Delete Folder Action
  - added ability to delete folders to user's Recycle Bin
  
Get Text Action
  - added option to select whether to return the Value or Name property of an object
  
Send Email Action
  - can now use wildcards in Attachments to attach more than one file
  - fully functional Attachment editor
  - added error handling for Authentication Failed.
  
Move Mouse Action
  - added "Relative to current position" option
  - corrected Move Mouse visual description to be more clear about what it does when moving the mouse relative to the foreground window
  
Move Window Action
  - now supports negative coordinates (to move windows off-screen if desired)
  
Run Action
  - added "Act as Windows Explorer" option; when used, the Windows Explorer shell is used to open/start applications.  This could allow some problem applications to work correctly through AutoMate, however, it could prevent some applications from working when a task is run in the background
  
Wait For Pixel
  - pixel coordinates used in Add/Edit in action interface can now be relative to screen or relative to window depending on user's choice
  
Input Action
  - checkbox to mask input box entries at runtime (e.g. to use for passwords, etc.)
  - added option to bring input box to the foreground
  
Choice action
  - added option to bring dialog box to the foreground
  
All Window Actions
  - added ability to populate an AutoMate variable with the window handle of the affected window
  
HTTP Upload
  - added the ability to specify Post or Put commands
  
FTP Actions
  - added error handling for "No Session"
  - added error handling for "Connection reset" error 
  
FTP Upload
  - added the ability to append
  
FTP Download
   -added the ability to resume
   
Wait For Window
  - added option to automatically focus found window
   
Loop Windows Action
  - added include and exclude masks to restrict window titles used in loop
  - added sorting option
  
Loop Processes Action
  - added include and exclude masks to restrict process names used in loop
  - added sorting option
  
Loop Files Action
  - added sorting option
  
Loop List Action
  - added sorting option
  
Loop Dataset Action
  - action interface was erasing previous text from the dropdown
  - added option to sort returned dataset on a particular field before looping
  
Stop Task Action
  - can now act as an error and return custom error codes and text
  
Send Keystrokes action
   - added right/left Alt, Ctrl, Shift and Windows key fields
   
Release keys action   
-  keys are now localized in Visual description

Start Task Action
  - major speed improvement when running subtasks from a parent task with many public variables

Key Watcher Trigger
- added "Keys" field to AMTrigger; returns the key (or keys) that caused the task to trigger

CONTACTING UNISYN SOFTWARE

Unlike some software companies, we don't want to hide from our customers.  Call us, 
e-mail us, fax us, or write us, let us know what you think -- we'd love to hear from you.

UNISYN SOFTWARE, LLC
654 South Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90005

(888)7-UNISYN Sales

(213)738-1700 Main Line
(213)738-7665 FAX
(213)738-6966 Technical Support

http://www.unisyn.com

frontdesk@unisyn.com
sales@unisyn.com
automate@unisyn.com

To be notified of product updates, sign-up to the AutoMate Newsletter, visit: http://www.unisyn.com/newsletters/

Participate in discussions with other AutoMate users in the AutoMate User Resource Center, visit: 
http://www.unisyn.com/automate/user/

CREDITS:

Dustin Snell 
Scott Robinet 
Nathalie Nahmani
Jeff Easton
Alexey Surkis
Jani Järvinen

…and our customers, who provide the incredible feedback that guides our product development.

Translators:

Spanish: German Acevedo
Italian: Carla Zanoni
German: Klaus Hofmann

We thankfully acknowledge the hard work of the “Venom” Beta Test Team.
Our special thanks and appreciation to:

Gijsberth de Ruiter  
Danny Kohn
Jean Delfosse 
Morgan Erickson 
Jeff Evans 
Alan Watson
George Martin