Windows Vista

With Vista, a higher level of security has been introduced. WinTask supports Vista with some restrictions due to this high level of security.

In order to access to the Windows/Web objects that WinTask automatizes, the user account must have enough privileges for replaying the actions listed in the script. Here are some cases where you need to be careful :

• If the WinTask script launches a process which makes the UAC dialog box appear, for Security reason, Vista prevents automation in this UAC dialog box, and the script execution will be suspended. So for a smooth automation, you need to check that in your automation process, the UAC dialog box will not appear.

• If you have a user account with less privileges than the applications that you want to automate, Vista does not allow that you access those applications. Again, check manually that you are allowed to interact with the applications under automation.

• Internet Explorer is always launched with Low-level privileges. It can prevent some menu options in IE7/IE8 to be recorded. In this case, use the keyboard shortcuts. See an example at Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts.

• An "about blank" page is seen by IE8/IE9 under Vista as a suspicious page. So avoid to use StartBrowser("IE","about blank"), prefer to use StartBrowser("IE","www.my_site.com").

• Pure text capture is not allowed in a web page under IE8/IE9, use WinTask Capture Wizard to capture the object content instead of a rectangle.

•  If you use WinTask Registry functions, be aware that Vista allows to write only within the current user part of Registry. If you write to local machine for example, the written key is virtualized and so is stored somewhere else that what you think.

• If the WinTask script saves on hard disk, the specified directory must have the Write privileges. Again, check manually that you are allowed to copy a file to this directory.

• File extensions are not displayed by default, which can lead to a confusion between the .SRC, the .ROB and .LST. To have the extension displayed, go to Explorer, select Organize and Folder & Search options.

 
Vista prevents an automatic logon, so WinTask Scheduler is not supported in Vista as it would not implement more features than the ones available in Vista Scheduler. You can see how to use Windows Scheduler to schedule WinTask scripts. Scheduled tasks using WinTask interactive functions (the ones interacting with the desktop such as UseWindow, UsePage, ...) can replay correctly only if a desktop is opened.

IMPORTANT : do NOT use Remote desktop as it interferes with the interactive session.
In Vista, Windows makes the difference between Window stations and desktops. The interactive window station, Winsta0, is the only window station that can display a user interface or receive user input. It is assigned to the logon session of the interactive user. So when Windows is logged out or locked or when you disconnect from a Remote session, the session still exists but not the interactive window station. So any interactive script that you try to run will fail. And when you minimize a Remote desktop session, the session is locked and so any interactive script stops running properly.
See http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms681928.aspx for all the details.
For connecting to a remote PC without interfering with the user desktop, use for example the VNC software.

 

For our Web functions, we load our browser add-on. Check that our WTBho add-on is enabled in IE : select Tools menu in IE, then Internet options. Click Programs tab, then click Manage Add-Ons button ; in the displayed list, check that the add-on named WTBHo is enabled.

If you use KillApp function to kill all the instances of Internet Explorer, the next time you open IE, you will get the message "Your last browsing session closed unexpectedly". To avoid this message, in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer, select Internet options and click the Advanced Tab. Under Browsing session, uncheck "Enable automatic crash recovery".

Never use Windows Start menu when you record your actions : the programs list in that menu varies from one Windows start to another. When you record your actions and want to start a program, use Shell statement and its wizard. And for ease of use, when you start Recording mode, you are asked if you want to launch a program.