I have a process in UiPath to automate PyCharm, a really simple one like just running a Python script and copying the run message into a text file. Now I want to convert it into a binary file to be executed on a windows machine.
I came to know that UiPath did have an option for exporting projects into executable files but sadly it was also removed.
I also reviewed the orchestrator for UiPath but that does seem meaningful to me. I didn't understand why a company would remove such a crucial feature (conversion to executable) and provide a messy solution like this. May be I'm missing something.
My question is....
Is there any workaround, any third party trick that can convert an UiPath project into windows executable file.
UiPath does not want users to be able to run executables directly. They are forcing users to use Orchestrator. So they always have the full control about the users and their licensing model. If they would still offer the executable way, someone could easily create a Task with UiPath and send this to any other PC without using a UiPath account. So this is mainly the reason they stopped offering this method. But you still have some other options to run your process so don't worry.
Those ways are:
Use Orchestrator. Run process from your Orchestrator dashboard (via Jobs manually or time triggered or even another starting trigger).
Use Orchestrator and use UiPath Robot (comes already with the UiPath installation). Now you can simply start it from tray icon.
Use UiPath Studio and start process from here.
Create a batch file that runs the start command script for your process. This line UiRobot.exe_Path /file:"Main.xaml" will run your process.
Create a Visual Studio application (exe) that runs the batch file from #4.
Use REST API to run the process.
As you can see you have several options but unfortunately the exe workaround is just a wrapper for the batch file.
I would recommend you to use Orchestrator, as it gives you so many possibilities and control on your processes and a good logging.
The simplest way to do this would be to call the UiPath Robot Command Line Interface within a batch file. I suggest that you package the process first and then refer to that package in the batch file using the UiPath.exe execute command with the --process {Package_ID} argument. You can add UiPath.exe to your PATH environment variable so you don't need to use an absolute path to the exe in your batch file. The batch file will be able to run on your Windows VM just like an executable. Alternatively, you could add a shortcut to UiPath.exe and add the arguments to the target of the shortcut in the properties menu of the shortcut.
I'm using AutoHotkey script for this purpose and thought I'd share my method,
Create a *.ahk script using below code,
#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
#SingleInstance force
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir% ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
SetTitleMatchMode,2
DetectHiddenWindows, On
; you don't need to modify below code unless UiPath Studio changes its shortcut name
EnvGet, LocalFolder, LocalAppData ;use windows Env variable to get local appdata folder
UiPath=%LocalFolder%\UiPath
UiPath_ShrtCut=%A_Programs%\UiPath Studio.lnk
UiPath_Prcss:="UiPath.Studio.exe"
UiPath_Asstnt:="UiPath.Assistant.exe"
FileGetShortcut, %UiPath_ShrtCut%, , OutDir ;get parent directory of shortcut.lnk
;modify your_script_path\Main as per your script and its path
Script=""%OutDir%\UiRobot.exe" "-file" "your_script_path\Main.xaml"" ;script folder and script name
; you can add additional clause in here
If (FileExist(UiPath) "D")
{
Process, Exist, %UiPath_Asstnt%
if ErrorLevel = 0
{
Runwait, %UiPath_ShrtCut%
WinWait, ahk_exe %UiPath_Asstnt% ;wait for UiPath.Assistant to load
Sleep, 2500
Runwait, %comspec% /c TASKKILL /im %UiPath_Prcss% /f ,,Hide ;now kill UiPath main window
;Run, %A_AHKPath% %Rec_Script% ;run record
Run, %comspec% /c %Script%,,Hide
}
else
{
;Run, %A_AHKPath% %Rec_Script% ;run record
Run, %comspec% /c %Script%,,Hide
}
}
return
Then create a task schedule as per your desired trigger and use following in action tab,
Program/Script: "C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\AutoHotkey.exe"
Add Arguments (optional): "Script_path\Script_name.ahk"
Related
Preferably a command line tool to do this...
I understand that there is a program called tasklist.exe in Windows systems, and it has many powerful features to view processes currently running on the system.
Unfortunately it does not have the functionality to view the path of the .exe file that created or spawned the process in the first place.
I finally decided to take a tour of my system and I've noticed some shady looking processes and I want to check if they live in equally shady looking places on my system.
Any ideas?
You can use PowerShell.
Click Start -> Run, and type powershell to invoke Power Shell.
View all processes currently:
tasklist
Show full path of .exe file (Example command for Notepad++):
Get-Process notepad++ | Select-Object Path
You will see output:
Path
C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
I'm writing myself a GUI utility for use in a CMD window to navigate between folders,
rather in the style of the old Norton Change Directory utility for DOS.
When run, the app pops up a folder tree to allow the user to select a folder to which
to navigate and then closes and returns to the CMD prompt. At the moment, the way it
works is that it is run as the first command in a "main" batch file. It writes a secondary batch
file, in my app's folder under AppData, containing the commands to change drive and
directory to the folder the user selected, and the main batch file then invokes this
second batch file using CALL.
It works fine, but this way of actually changing the CMD window's current directory
strikes me as inelegant both from the point of view of needing to be run from a batch file
(so that the user's selection can be acted upon after my app has closed) and of
needing the secondary batch file to do the actual navigation.
So, my question is, how can my app send the instructions to the instance of CMD
that owns the window in which the app is run to the folder the user selected? I've tried doing a ShellExecute
of "CMD /K ..." but although that does indeed navigate to the
selected folder, it does so in a new CMD window, not the one my app is run in. The
conceptual gap I have is how to get the current CMD to act on my app's instructions
after my app has terminated.
Fwiw, I thought of trying to write the user's folder selection into an environment variable in the CMD window's environment for the CMD processor to
act upon from there, but this seems to require that the CMD window be opened via "Run as Administrator", which I definitely don't want.
Your program cannot influence the environment variables of the command interpreter because they're separate processes. Your program cannot change the directory of the command interpreter directly, either, because, again, they're separate processes.
You need to use a batch file because the command interpreter executes batch files internally. Since it's all the same process, the batch file has the power to change the current directory, and for that change to remain in effect after the batch file finishes running.
Therefore, you need some way for your interactive program to communicate the directory selection back to the batch file so that it can act on it.
Instead of writing the instructions to another batch file, you could write the result to standard output. Have the batch file capture that output into a variable, and then execute cd on that variable. The batch code would look something like this:
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('[select_dir.exe]') do (
set DIRSELECTION=%%a
)
cd /d %DIRSELECTION%
Your Delphi code would look like this:
writeln(selected_dir);
To allow that command to work, you'll need to make sure your program is marked as a console program, as with {$APPTYPE CONSOLE}. If it's not, then the batch file won't receive any output, and probably won't even wait for your program to finish running before proceeding. It's OK for a console program to display a TForm, just like a GUI program.
I'm trying to install a driver with a remote framework that lets me run shell commands spawned as children of the remoting/monitoring app on the remote machine, run as cmd /c "command". But the driver refuses to install due to a security feature which thinks the driver may be unsafe.
The driver also has quotes(spaces in path) so its something like
Dim command: command = "\\\\server\\driver\\folder\\Autorun.exe" /passive /norestart";
Set retVal = remote.Shell(command)
which runs
cmd /c " "\\server\driver\folder\Autorun.exe" /passive /norestart"
on the remote machine
I've tried and have had trouble using setx SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS 1 /m in a previous statement, I'm guessing that the subprocess don't see new global enviromental variables that weren't around when it's parent started, and won't work without a restart. I'd like to avoid a restart.
I tried running
cmd /c " set SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS=1 & "\\server\driver\folder\Autorun.exe" /passive /norestart"
but it doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?
You got a bit lost on the way SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS is used. It is not an environment variable and cannot be tinkered with from the command prompt, it is an option for ShellExecuteEx(). A winapi function that you indeed use to start programs. It isn't very clear what programming tools you have access to, using it in a batch file or VBScript isn't going to work. You'd need at least, say, VB.NET and pinvoke the function. You can get the required declarations from the pinvoke.net web site.
Let's talk about what's really going on, you might find a simpler solution. When you download a file from an Internet web site, Windows adds an extra stream to the file that indicates where the file came from. Which basically states "this file did not come from a safe place" and makes the driver installer balky. Which is rather an important feature if you think about it, your user is going to install software that can do a lot, you pretty much have free reign of the machine if you can get a driver installed.
If you right-click the file in Explorer and click Properties then you'll see this at the bottom of the window:
All that's needed is to click that Unblock button. So this is a simple way for your user to solve the problem. You could document the extra step in the install instructions. Also with the advantage that it is now the user that took responsibility of allowing potentially unsafe code to be installed.
Other ways to get the file unblocked is with PowerShell's Unblock-File command and the SysInterals' streams utility, -d option.
And you probably ought to consider the option of writing your own installer. Which will keep the driver packaged in the setup file so it won't be tinkered with by Windows. And the user gets the warning when he starts the installer instead. And it can be signed so the user has some confidence in where the file came from and that it didn't get messed with on its way to his machine. There are many utilities that help you write an installer, like InstallAware, InstallShield, NSIS, etcetera.
I beg to differ to Hans' answer:
Of course, SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS is as well a predefined environment variable. Changing it in a process and then starting a child process (e.g. msiexec.exe) which by defaults inherits the environment, has just the same result as using ShellExecuteEx() and providing SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS as a parameter to the SHELLEXECUTEINFO structure. The first method is preferred by admins or quick hacks, e.g. if you work with batch or script files which set the environment variable- or when the final call to the .msi file lying on the unsafe network drive is not done by your own code.
For example:
#echo off
set SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS=1
call msiexec.exe /i "\\MY_UNC_DRIVE\installs\mysetup.msi /qb /L*v "c:\logs\mysetup.log"
call "\\MY_UNC_DRIVE\installs\Just_another_setup.exe"
If you already use a ShellExecuteEx() in your code, then of course, go with the parameter as Hans mentioned, because this implementation it is more closed. (If you use CreateProcess(), think about using ShellExecuteEx() instead.
Getting back to the environment variable(s). Generally you cannot influence the environment of already started processes. You can set the default environment used by NEW processes by the "setx" command used in the question. But with "setx" you don't change the environment for your current process.This was the problem in question. For this you have to use "set" as shown. So either use both commands after each other or don't use setx at all because for running a setup on foreign machines, it is not clean to make permanent security changes without asking.
For more details on permanent changes/admin point of view, see:
https://superuser.com/questions/595211/removing-the-open-file-security-warning-in-windows-8/934283#934283
Important: As mentioned, there is no general way in Windows to influence processes which already run (only own-defined inter-process-communication maybe), so it is important to set the environment variable before starting the setup to be influenced.
One more thing: Some people think, one must use "SETLOCAL" in a batch file. Normally this is not necessary. Environment changes with "set" are not permanent, and do not incluence "other" processes- they are only inherited to subprocesses and, partly, to superprocesses. But, when the caller on first level ends, the environment is reverted to original state again.
I ended up setting "Launch applications and unsafe files" to enabled for Internet zone in Internet Explorer options under security(custom level) and then exporting the changes from HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\3 to a registry file and adding it with regedit /s.
After that I can run the installer of the shared drive.
One of these days I'll pare the registry file down to the minimum I guess.
P.S. I believe this causes IE to default to a warning page on startup.
I believe you need to put everything within the same quotation:
cmd /c "set SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS=1 & \\server\driver\folder\Autorun.exe /passive /norestart"
You can try these and see the difference in the output:
cmd /c "echo foo & echo bar"
cmd /c "echo foo" & "echo bar"
It is very stupid that windows will not let you add batch files to your quick launch or whatever they call in in windows 7. That bar across the bar, i can attach firefox there, command prompt, even paint (my favorite), but not a batch file. I can "pin" it to another program, which is just weird. I want it to standalone, the batch file does enough work by itself.
So lets say i have batch file. What is the simplest executable program I can write to invoke said script. Then I can finally pin all my useful batch files on that quick-jump-pin-bar.
If I remember right, you can do this by first pinning a shortcut to CMD.exe to the taskbar. Then edit the command, and change CMD.exe to CMD.exe /c MyBatchFile.bat. I believe this will execute the batch file.
Since you can only pin one cmd, here's an alternative, assuming you have the .NET framework installed - a very simple C# application:
Populate a textfile with the following contents:
class Program {
static void Main() {
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(#"c:\test.bat");
}
}
where Program is the name of the executable you want to create, and c:\test.bat is the full path to the batch file. Save the file as Program.cs. Execute the following from the command line:
c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\csc.exe Program.cs
You can replace 2.0.50727 with whatever directory exists on your machine - might be 1.1.something or 3.5 or 4.0.something - it's all the same for this scenario.
This will generate Program.exe. You can put that exe file wherever you want, and pin that executable to the taskbar. You can discard the .cs file once you're done making your executables.
Kind of a crappy solution, but it should work, assuming you don't find anything better. And if you don't have the .NET framework (which I'm not sure is even possible in Windows 7), you can install it pretty easily.
The easiest way is to create a folder, put your batch files in it, and pin the folder to the menu bar :D
You can also write a startup script, so the batch file will be executed on startup, but I don't know if you want to run those scripts on every bootup... You can also add the command prompt to the bar, and edit the startup path..
Use command switches on CMD.exe.
cmd.exe /c "myscript.bat"
As a sort of workaround you could use the following trick. Pin an arbitrary application to the task bar, Shift+right click on the pinned icon, select Properties, change 'Target' and 'Start in' accordingly. Rename it too if you like.
You can pin more than one .bat file using this technique.
I'm programming with Visual C++ Express on the command line using makefiles (GNU Make).
For this to work, I have to call the Visual Studio batch file vsvars32.bat to set up the environment. This has to be done everytime I open a new cmd.exe, before using make.
When I try to call the batch file from my makefile, it obviously executes the batch file as
an own process, because the environment is the same afterwards.
So my question: is there a way to execute scripts in cmd.exe like the built-in source command of the Linux/Unix bash? Apart from installing bash on Windows, of course.
Edit after posting my own answer:
The above question is not quite right, it should be like this:
Is it possible to call an environment-changing batch file from within a makefile, so that the changed environment persists for the other programs called in the makefile?
The answer to the original question is yes: you can use the built-in call command of cmd.exe. But since call is a built-in command and not a real program, it doesn't work in a makefile, only if you call a batch file from another batch file.
Answer compiled from the previous answers:
I made a batch file called make.bat which contains the following:
call "%VS90COMNTOOLS%vsvars32.bat"
call make.exe %*
This does the job.
But calling an environment-changing batch file from within a makefile, so that the changed environment persists for the other programs called in the makefile, seems to be impossible.
Edit: After overflowing my PATH variable by repeatedly calling vsvars32.bat, I made the following changes:
if not "%VISUALCVARS%" == "TRUE" (
set VISUALCVARS=TRUE
call "%VS90COMNTOOLS%vsvars32.bat"
)
call make.exe %*
use 'Call':
#echo off
pushd.
call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\vsvars3235.bat"
msbuild LinqSupportClassesSDKBuild.csproj /t:rebuild /p:Configuration=Release /nologo /v:q /clp:ErrorsOnly;
popd
this is the cmd file we use to build our linq provider.
At least in my install of Visual Studio (albeit somewhat ancient VS .NET 2003), one of the links in the VS start menu group is to open a cmd.exe instance with the environment already setup. You might find these helpful:
How to Add Visual Studio Command Prompt (VSCP) to your IDE as a tool?
Running the command prompt from visual studio tools menu
Shortcut: Launch Visual Studio Command Prompt from Visual Studio
They are more geared toward launching the command prompt from the IDE, but they do include information on launching it with the appropriate environment as well which you may find helpful for your purposes.
How do you launch your console? If you are just launching 'cmd' then instead, create a shortcut that executes (%comspec% resolves to c:\windows\cmd.exe or whatever is relevent on your system)
%comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" x86
Obviously, change the path to point to the proper installation folder.
More generally, as the above poster pointed out, if a .cmd file needs to process another .cmd file rather than launch it as a seperate process, use the 'call' batch command.
Wrap GNU make in a script (mmake.bat). Put the script in the path somewhere.
The script itself should run the vsvars32.bat and then make, like this
vsvars32.bat
make %*
As far as I remember, invoking a script from another script like this is done within the same shell (similar to Bash "." command).
I have found three solutions to this problem:
1) If the environment variables being set by the batch file are static (that is, they are always the same values), set those values for your entire user profile. Right-click on My Computer, click Properties-->Advanced-->Environment Variables. Add the variables from the batch file to the User Variables or System Variables section (User variables are only visible by you, System variables are visible by all users of that computer).
2) Write a wrapper batch file that calls the environment setup script then calls the Makefile.
3) Instead of using the SET command to set environment variables in the batch file, use the SETX command (requires the Windows Resource Kit). SETX is similar to SET, except it makes its changes to the master environment in the registry and will take effect in all command prompts launched in the future (but not the current one).