Match rules overview

Every time a new instance of an application launches, the program renders the interface. To users, the interface appears the same because certain characteristics, such as the type and position of application interface elements (such as labels, buttons, and lists) remain the same. However, when an application runs in different screen resolutions, operating systems, or environments (such as development or production), the characteristics often change.

To automate an application, a developer must identify an application interface element across multiple application instances, just as a user does. Additionally, the developer must distinguish between unchanging or persistent data used to identify an element and the changing or transient data the automation should ignore. For example, when rendering an address for a business from search results, a web application may add an ID attribute that is specific to that search result. Since the id would change for every searched address, the ID attribute would be a poor identification choice. Instead, a developer can identify the parent element where the address is rendered.

Pega Robot Studio™ provides an advanced matching system that uniquely identifies application interface elements across multiple instances of an application using a set of rules that capture the necessary persistent data. Developers can customize matching behavior by adding, removing, or modifying these rules.

As applications run and the targets within the applications display in the runtime user interface, Pega Robot Studio applies the match rules for the interrogated controls. If a control is selected and no target is currently displaying, then the match rules have failed.

When the target is generated within the application, Pega Robot Studio uses the properties of the target. It compares them to the match rules associated with the corresponding control in Pega Robot Studio. At runtime, if the properties of the target satisfy the requirements of the control's match rules, the target matches, and the control is available for the project automations.

Because controls exist within a hierarchy, all associated child controls also fail to match when a control fails to match. Pega Robot Studio applies the rules most efficiently so that the matching process is quick and runtime maintains the application performance.

In the following image, click the + icons to learn more about controls, targets, and match rules.

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