› Design Studio › Open Files with URL

Open Files with URL

By using a special URL, you can quickly open a specific file in Design Studio and navigate to a specific location inside a robot or a snippet. The URL is distinguished by the kofaxrpa: prefix; it contains the path to the file to open and, optionally, the location code for a step.

This feature can be useful in various cases. For example, when an error is reported for a robot running in Management Console, you can effortlessly open the robot in Design Studio right from the Log view of the Management Console and then quickly locate the step with the error.

Prerequisites:

  • This feature is supported for the following files: Robots, Basic Engine Robots, snippets, types, database mappings, automation device mappings, and resources.

  • If the file is part of a remote project, the URL is for the file stored in the Management Console. It can then be opened in any Design Studio that is connected to the same Management Console as the Design Studio from where the link was copied.

  • If the file is stored in a local project only, the URL can be opened in a Design Studio aware of this local project, but synchronization of the file versions will not be performed.

This topic is divided into the following subtopics:

Open files from Design Studio or browser

Get URL

There are two ways to get the URL to a file or a step from within Design Studio:

  • In the My Projects tree, right-click a file and click Copy URL, which will copy the URL into the clipboard.

  • When editing a Robot, Basic Engine Robot, or snippet, right-click a step and click Copy URL, which will copy the URL to the selected step into the clipboard.

Open URL

  • Directly from Design Studio (supported on any operating system)

    1. Copy the URL.

    2. In Design Studio, on the menu, click File > Open From URL.

    3. In the dialog box that appears, paste the URL and click OK.

      Design Studio opens the file specified by the URL. If a location code is present in the URL, you are navigated to the specified location.

  • From browser (supported on Windows only)

    1. Click the URL or copy and paste it in a web browser.

      The browser prompts you to open Design Studio.

    2. Confirm to proceed.

      Design Studio is opened with the file specified by the URL. If a location code is present in the URL, you are navigated to the specified location.

Open files from Management Console

There are several ways to open a file in Design Studio from within Management Console:

  • In Repository > Robots/Types/Snippets, from the context menu for a file, click Open in Design Studio.

  • In Log view > Robot messages, from the context menu for an error message entry, click Open in Design Studio.

    If an error is reported for a step in a Robot, the Basic Engine Robot that uses this Robot will also be opened.

  • In Repository > Robots, from the context menu for a robot, click Generate documentation.

    From the generated documentation, you can open the robot by clicking next to the robot name in the header, or you can open a specific step by clicking next to the step name in the robot overview.

Then, the browser will prompt you to open Design Studio. It will be opened with the file specified by the URL. If a location code is present in the URL, you will be navigated to the specified location.

Synchronization of file versions

If a file is stored in Management Console, the system will prompt you to synchronize the file first. If you decline to synchronize, the file can still be opened in Design Studio, but it may not match the version stored in the Management Console. You can adjust this behavior in Design Studio Settings > General > Synchronize remote files opened via URL.

File editing

Any file can be opened or navigated to with a URL with the following differences related to editing:

  • Files that can be edited directly in Design Studio are simply opened in a new tab and are available for editing.

  • Files that cannot be edited directly in Design Studio are selected in the My Projects tree.

  • For files that are edited (configured) in a dialog box, such as device mappings and database mappings, a message appears prompting to allow editing.