This article is the beginning of an in-depth description of Studio Pro. Here, you can understand its main features and what you can do with them.
Introduction
ElectroNeek Studio Pro is a no-code/low-code development environment that uses visual programming approach to build bots. It allows you to create workflows using activity blocks that represent specific actions to be performed. In a user-friendly interface, you find Drag & Drop features that help you conceive your projects quickly and efficiently.
This is how the main screen looks like.
Studio Pro main screen
Interface
First of all, let us have a look at the program interface in general and then we will move to the breakdown of its main parts.
The main sections include
- toolbar and control buttons (top left corner),
- activities and elements list (to the left),
- canvas (the big working space in the middle),
- activities properties and variables section (right part), and
- the console with its control elements (below the canvas).
Toolbar and Control Buttons
This section lets users manage files as well as access different features and settings. Let us take a closer look at its elements.
Buttons
Toolbar and control buttons
Here you find the following options:
- New workflow - creates a new empty workflow.
- Open - opens the specified workflow file (.neek).
- Save - saves the current workflow and overwrites the last one, if there is any. When using this with a newly created file, 'Save as' will be triggered instead.
- Save as - lets you save the workflow with more options. You can overwrite the same file or save the changes in a new project as well as choose a different save location.
- Publish to Orchestrator SaaS - upload the current workflow to Orchestrator SaaS. Read more in Orchestrator Admin Guide and Orchestrator SaaS Overview.
- Run - launches the bot in normal and debug mode.
- UI scale - sets the interface scale.
- Undo/Redo - cancels the last change or redoes it.
- Process Recorder - records your actions in a desktop or browser activity and saves these actions as an algorithm to be implemented in your workflow.
- Autolayout - aligns the activity blocks on the canvas automatically.
- Grid drops - displays the grid drops on the canvas.
Menu items
The options panel
The File menu allows you to create, save, and open workflow files, export your workflow to .neex format for Bot Runner, publish your bot to Orchestrator SaaS, and import elements from .elm files.
The Edit menu helps you manage the blocks in the canvas and do actions related to them: you can undo/redo the last changes; copy, paste and delete blocks; and find, select and remove unconnected ones.
The Run menu is used to run the bot in normal or debug mode and to manage debug options.
The Debug menu accesses the debug mode.
In the Tools menu, you can access the Process Recorder and open the logs folder.
The Settings menu contains different options related to workflow execution, browsers, connection, specific actions, etc.
The Account menu lets you check your license details and log out of your current account.
The Help menu lets you visit Help Center, check for updates*, and get in touch with our tech support.
*To check for updates, go to "Help" → "Check for updates". You will see a pop-up window with your current version of Studio Pro and the available one. If the available version is higher than yours, press "Install" to update Studio Pro.
Activities and elements list
This part contains all the available activities ("Activities" tab). The elements developed by the user also appear in the "Elements" tab.
Activities are grouped based on their functions. Click the group name to open the drop-down list containing the related activities.
Activities list. "General" is one of the groups and it contains the related activities
Canvas
Canvas is an essential part of Studio Pro, because it shows the workflow development and contains your current algorithm. This is the place where you build your bot.
New activity blocks added to your workflow appear here. It has tabs that let you switch between the opened workflows and a search window. Read more in Workflow composition.
Canvas with an example of an opened workflow
Properties and Variables Tabs
This section lets you set the activity parameters and manage the variables created during development. It changes according to the type of the selected activity block.
The "Properties" tab contains a set of options depending on the selected block. The "Variables" tab stores variables the user creates for applying in the workflow.
Overview of the section that contains block properties and variables. Here, you see browser-related block properties. The represented options change according to the nature of the selected block
Console
The Console stores all kinds of output messages and can be used for some activities. It also contains a few control buttons that let you clear the console, change its position and open the logs folder.
Console window. In the example, you see messages of different types
You can see colored titles and specific messages that help you improve your workflow. Here is what they mean:
- red icon — error message ((Workflow logic errors + Infrastructure errors)
- yellow icon — warning messages
- green icon — information messages
Here is what you see:
The "Refresh" option beside the colored icons allows you to zero the counter. When you click on it, all messages in the expanded console become grey. The same happens when you run a new workflow. This way, you can easily identify messages from the last ran workflow, since they are highlighted with colors.
By clicking on the “Settings” icon, you open a menu with the following options:
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Open Log Folder — takes you to the log folder
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Maximize All — expands all messages in the console
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Minimize All — shortens all messages in the console
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Error — if checked, the console displays error messages
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Warning — if checked, the console displays warning messages
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Info — if checked, the console displays error messages
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Tap the square icon to expand the console, so you can see the detailed messages and a search bar that helps you find specific words in the history of messages.
Here we described the main features of the Studio Pro interface. Next, in the Workflow composition article, you see the basics of workflow creation.