AUTOMATE 5.5
Copyright 2003, Unisyn Software, LLC
Version 5.5.1
Freigabedatum: September 2003

WILLKOMMEN IN DER ZUKUNFT DER AUTOMATISIERUNG
AutoMate ist eine Plattform für die Erstellung, Verwaltung und Ausführung von automatisierten Tasks in Windows. AutoMate umfasst mehrere Komponenten,
die zentral vom Task Administrator verwaltet werden.

AutoMate 5 besteht aus den folgenden Komponenten:

1)	Task Administrator
Mit dem Task Administrator verwalten Sie AutoMate, insbesondere die Taskliste, die Trigger und die globalen AutoMate-Einstellungen. Der Task Administrator ersetzt den “Configuration Manager” aus früheren Versionen von AutoMate und dient als AutoMate-Zentrale.
2)	Task-Editor
Mit dem Task-Editor (Task Builder) können Sie Tasks erstellen und debuggen. Er stellt mehr als 100 leistungsstarke Aktionen bereit. Der Task-Editor ersetzt den “Step Builder” aus früheren Versionen von AutoMate. Mit dem Task-Editor können Sie die Taskschritte erstellen und testen - das sind diejenigen Taskteile, die die eigentliche Arbeit durchführen.
3)	Task Service 
Der Task Service wird im Hintergrund (oder in der Systemleiste) ausgeführt. Er überwacht Triggerereignisse. Beim Auftreten eines Triggerereignisses führt der Task Service SPAWNTASK.EXE aus, um den zugehörigen Task zu starten.
4)	spawntask.exe
Wenn ein Task getriggert wird, geht die Steuerung an das Programm spawntask.exe über, das die AutoMate-Objekte lädt und die Taskschritte ausführt. Dieses Verfahren ist erheblich zuverlässiger als die Vorgehensweise in früheren Versionen von AutoMate, da im Falle eines Absturzes nur spawntask und nicht die AutoMate-Anwendung selbst abstürzt. Mithilfe dieser Architektur wird jeder Task unabhängig von anderen Tasks ausgeführt, und der Task Service ist vor allen Problemen, die in einem Task auftreten könnten, vollständig abgeschottet.

Weitere Informationen finden Sie in der Hilfedatei unter “Concept”.

SYSTEMANFORDERUNGEN
Hardware
·	Mindestens 60 MB freier Speicherplatz auf der Festplatte (150 MB empfohlen)
·	AMD Athlon™- oder Intel Pentium™-CPU ab 300 MHz (800 MHz oder mehr empfohlen)
·	Mindestens 128 MB RAM (256 MB oder mehr empfohlen)

Unterstützte Betriebssysteme
·	Windows 98, Windows ME (wir empfehlen NT-basierte Betriebssysteme wie z. B. NT, 2000 oder XP, um die optimale Leistung zu erzielen)
·	Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6 oder höher
·	Windows 2000 SP2 oder höher
·	Windows XP
Hinweise zum Betriebssystem
·	Windows 95 wird aufgrund der internen Einschränkungen des Betriebssystems und der fehlenden Unterstützung von Microsoft nicht unterstützt.
·	Installieren Sie in jedem Fall alle "wichtigen Aktualisierungen" und Service Packs von Microsoft, um die korrekte Funktionsweise des Betriebssystems sicherzustellen. Sie können diese Aktualisierungen auf den Download-Seiten des Microsoft Windows Update Online Service downloaden.
Betriebssystemkonfiguration
·	Internet Explorer 5 oder höher muss installiert sein (aber nicht notwendigerweise als Standardbrowser).
·	TCP/IP Networking muss installiert und funktionsfähig sein.
·	Die Anzeigeeinstellungen sollten wie folgt eingestellt werden: Auflösung mindestens 800 x 600 Pixel, Farbtiefe "High Color" oder "True Color" (empfohlen). Niedrigere Einstellungen sind zulässig, verzerren aber möglicherweise die Darstellung. Es wird zudem empfohlen, die neuesten Treiber für die Grafikkarte zu installieren.
·	Der RAS-Dienst (Remote Access Service) ist für Aktionen auf DFÜ-Netzwerkverbindungen erforderlich.
·	OLEDB ist für Datenbank-Aktionen erforderlich.
·	SAPI 4 oder 5 ist für die Aktion "Sprechen" erforderlich.

BEKANNTE PROBLEME
-	Die Hilfedatei ist derzeit nur in Englisch verfügbar. Übersetzungen in weitere Sprachen sind in Kürze verfügbar. Überprüfen Sie im AutoMate User Resource Center unter <http://www.automate5.com>, ob Aktualisierungen vorliegen.

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