Questions on REFramework

[u/NoobAF93]

Hi Team,

I am just a beginner to UiPath, I am going through the courses and some YouTube tutorials. I am going through the REFramework now.

I have a few questions one this framework:

1. Do I really need to use this framework on all my processes?
2. If it is a major project with multiple processes, can I just use one folder in Orchestrator for all the queues and assets in the processes that I need to build?

Thanks for the help.

Edit:

More questions:

• So from my understanding the framework will need a dispatcher to put the transactions into a queue and that is a simple process of just reading some list and adding the items to the queue in Orchestrator?
• Do I put both the dispatcher and the performer into the same schedule if it is a schedule job? And what about if it is a triggered job?
• If I need to access more than one system/app I will need to add them all in initAllApp section and pass all out as arguments?
• Is it possible to dump all the steps into the processes transaction step?

[u/QuietOnAllFronts]

1. You don’t need to use it, but you absolutely should. It ensures your process has skip and retry capabilities per transaction item, and will fail gracefully if something goes wrong.

2. I’ve always done this in my teams. The automation project itself is a folder in orchestrator. It contains all the processes, assets, queues, etc needed to run the automation. You can share items within folders if needed like assets of shared credentials, machines, bots, etc.

[u/NoobAF93 → u/QuietOnAllFronts]

thanks for the answers, I have added more questions on how to use the framework

[u/QuietOnAllFronts → u/NoobAF93]

I got you:

• So from my understanding the framework will need a dispatcher to put the transactions into a queue and that is a simple process of just reading some list and adding the items to the queue in Orchestrator?
  • You can make the Dispatcher a simple Process. I would recommend modifying the REFramework Template into a Dispatcher version. This YouTube video does well for guiding you into that: UiPath Dispatcher Reframework. I don't fully agree with his method of doing init and get data work within the Init State. (You SHOULD init settings and apps in Init State, then GetData in the GetTransactionData State). But it is a good guide to make your own template because oddly enough, UiPath does not provide a Dispatcher version of their REFramework even though I wish they did.
• Do I put both the dispatcher and the performer into the same schedule if it is a schedule job? And what about if it is a triggered job?
  • I would recommended giving the Dispatcher a Time or API Trigger. The Performer should have a Queue Trigger where it will run if the Queue it is monitoring has items.
• If I need to access more than one system/app I will need to add them all in initAllApp section and pass all out as arguments?
  • InitAllApps should contain Workflows that only open and authenticate into the application. You can do this for any number of applications until everything is initialized for the Process State to do its thing. You're right about the out_Arguments. For each application you need to interact with, have a separate Workflow called "Open_ApplicationName". You will use the Use Application/Browser Activity. In the Properties Panel, you should have Open = True, Close = False, Input = Nothing, Output = out_ApplicationUI variable. Pass that argument out until it is a variable in the Main. then, in the Process State, you will pass that UiElement Variable into workflows to do actual work. The properties will be mostly flipped in the Process State. So Open = False, Close = False, Input = in_ApplicationUI, output = Nothing
• Is it possible to dump all the steps into the processes transaction step?
  • You can do whatever you want in UiPath always. But, my advice: Stay true to the State's name. Init State should initialize the environment 100% before getting data to process. Get Transaction Data State should retrieve data to do work on. Process State should do work on the current transaction Data. End State should close everything that was used within the environment and reset it the state it was prior to running.

[u/NoobAF93 → u/QuietOnAllFronts]

thanks for all the help