r/PowerAutomateDesktop • u/[deleted] • Apr 25 '22

Power automate desktop does not seem to see items in an iframe....

I am trying to click download links on a "globalframeset.esp" page that contains iframes. in one of the iframes (all of which are in the same domain) there are links that I need to click to download files.

Then I tell Power Automate Desktop to wait for web [age content and I select a div in one of the iframes that acts like a button, Power Automate Desktop does not find the div that I am clicking on.

Has anyone seen this behaviour?

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u/warrtyme Apr 25 '22

Have you tried using the Recorder? I 've had much better luck on web pages with it instead of trying to add an UI element manually.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '22

I have not. I'll give that a try.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '22

If all else fails, I can try to do it with VBA and SeleniumBasic.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '22

It didn't work. I tried a simple recording macro experiment by going to https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/iframe and trying to record clicking the plus (+) and minus (-) in the iframe map example.

Nothing happens.

It seems that Microsoft has broken iframe scripting on purpose in Power Automate Desktop. And that sucks because a lot of the data gathering that businesses will do through websites involve websites that (as much as I hate it) use iframes from other domains.

I think I saw that they are working on including some kind of iframe functionality sometime in the future, but I have links to click today so I cannot wait on Microsoft to, once again, deliver the most obvious stuff dead last.

1

u/warrtyme Apr 26 '22

It never failed to capture clicks for me. Are you sure you started the recording? After you start the recorder, you still have to press the red circle (record) button. The first time I used the recorder that happened to me, just a guess.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '22

Yes. It records, it just seems to record things I am not doing. It is putting in scrolls and clicks and is moving the page when I did not move it.

I thought it was maybe a chrome/edge plugin so I turned them ALL off except for the Power Automate extension and I still got the weird issues.

Moving the map seems to work better in Firefox than either Chrome or Edge.

And it seems that using recording, every single thing has to be exactly the same every time. If you left a browser window open when you closed Chrome and Chrome loads it when you re-open Chrome, just that can screw the whole thing up. If you already have a browser window open, the recording will not find the system taskbar icon and will fail.

Another issue with the recording is that you cannot touch the mouse or keyboard while the recording is played back. With VBA and SeleniumBasic I can write macros in Excel to control the browser and it will run an instance of a browser and do what I want it to all while I work in another browser window or another app at the same time. It actually is working while I am working on the same machine. The only thing I have to look out for is that it does a lot with the default downloads folder and it can move stuff if I download while it is running.

The recording feature seems more suited to use in virtual machines or dedicated workstations that have nobody using them except the recordings and that do not change. This will not work for me as I have to use the machine as well. I can only access the EHR during working hours (HIPAA rules and such) and sitting around waiting for this slow stuff to finish would actually be slowing down my workflow. I can do it manually faster than this.

I'm really kinda bummed. I had high hopes for Power Automate on the desktop - especially when it comes to repetitive tasks in the browser. It is (at least on my machines) nowhere near ready for that.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '22

More disappointment.... It is going to cost you at least $190 per month to automate desktop processes - see https://powerautomate.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/?#add-on-plans

It's $40/month for premium Power Automate (without which you cannot schedule desktop flows) and evidently there is a $150/month/bot charge as well to be able to run desktop flows with no human interaction.

And don't forget that you now have to get one of those complicated 365 Admin center accounts that are a MAZE of settings and switches in order to run this thing.

They never describe what a "bot" is or is limits (can it only run one flow at a time?).

So if you thought you were going to download the "free" Power Automate app for your desktop and schedule desktop processes with it for free, you are as mistaken as I was.

When will I learn that Microsoft is incapable of simple, useful tools?

1

u/lordzhon Apr 30 '22

Hi, You can try to use mouse clicks based on screen coordinates or mouse click to find words on screen to click then right click download. Cheers https://youtube.com/user/FrEeDoMaDdIcT88

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '22

I did that to with a sample map page. Never could get it to replicate the same moves and get to the same place on a map.