Mastering Key UiPath Activities: Write Cell, Copy Paste Range, and Extract Structured Data
UiPath is a very good Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tool that can be used to automate tasks efficiently in different kinds of applications. Whether you are using the software to automate tedious tasks in Excel or extract structured data from web pages, UiPath provides a full range of activities that will assist you to make your processes more efficient To facilitate you with the automation capabilities, this blog will introduce the three key UiPath operations which are the Write Cell, Copy Paste Range, and Extract Structured Data. Knowing how to utilize them will enable you to come up with more powerful and flexible automation workflows.
How to Use the Write Cell Activity in UiPath
The Write Cell activity is probably the one that is used the most on and off when dealing with Excel automation in UiPath. It is the activity that helps you to write data into the specific cell of an Excel spreadsheet, which makes it perfect for those cases that require the input of data into a template or report.
Steps to Use the Write Cell Activity:
- Add the Excel Application Scope: For the first move, just pull the Excel Application Scope activity through the drag and drop to get it into the workflow. This is the container for the function of Excel in the UiPath program. To make it clearer, you should put the path of the Excel file you want to be processed in the Scope.
- Use Write Cell Inside the Scope: After entering the Scope of the Excel Application, insert the Write Cell activity. The Write Cell activity takes three types of input:
- Cell: The place where data will be written should be the one which is named the cell (e.g., A1, B3).
- Value: The data you want to write to the particular cell which could be a string, a number, or a variable.
Example:
- Cell: A1
- Run the Automation: Open Exchange - the exchange rate of USD and CHF will be retrieved from the given field to the intended unit in the Excel file.
Example Workflow:
The Copy Paste Range feature is immensely beneficial when you want to transfer the data from one part of a sheet to another. It can be used to accomplish simple tasks like moving data from one sheet to another and changing the format of the report.
Steps to Use the Copy Paste Range Activity:
While web scraping or extracting data from available sources such as tables and structured formats, the Extract Structured Data activity is very useful. It makes it possible to copy clean data from an HTML page, PDF, or any source that is structurally uniform to a DataTable for later processing.
Steps to Use the Extract Structured Data Activity:
- Add the Data Scraping Wizard: While you are dragging and dropping the Extract Structured Data activity, you can also use the Data Scraping Wizard without the manual dragging and dropping, which is often the easier way. In UiPath Studio, navigate to the Design tab, and there, you'll be able to see the button Data Scraping; go on and do the wizard steps to get everything done, just as usual.
- Select the Data to Scrape: The wizard will point you to the type of structure or table that you would like to extract. Once this is done, UiPath will automatically create an Extract Structured Data activity, which includes a configuration to capture the table rows and columns.
- Define Output: You are required to allocate an appropriate variable name (mostly of type DataTable) for the collected data.
- Process the Data: After extracting the data, you can now add other activities like For Each Row to the process, and looping through the DataTable, you can run extra operations via each of the rows.
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Example Workflow:- Getting list of products from an e-commerce website by web scraping.
- Getting order information from a web-based dashboard.
- Collecting financial information from structured reports.
The three of these UiPath tasks, Write Cell, Copy Paste Range, and Extract Structured Data, are the basic tools for digitalizing data processing activities. They provide the possibility of carrying out a wide range of tasks such as spreadsheets to web pages.
- Write Cell is to be used when you want to input data in the specified cells in the Excel sheet.
- Source Copy Paste Range for fast and easy data transfer between one range to another or one worksheet to another.
- Using Extract Structured Data is the tool to extract and organize the tabular data you need from web pages or other structured formats.
By learning these tasks, you will have the opportunity to completely automate convoluted workflows and spend minimum time on manual procedures. Give them a go in your UiPath projects to simplify your process of automation!
The three of these UiPath tasks, Write Cell, Copy Paste Range, and Extract Structured Data, are the basic tools for digitalizing data processing activities. They provide the possibility of carrying out a wide range of tasks such as spreadsheets to web pages.
- Write Cell is to be used when you want to input data in the specified cells in the Excel sheet.
- Source Copy Paste Range for fast and easy data transfer between one range to another or one worksheet to another.
- Using Extract Structured Data is the tool to extract and organize the tabular data you need from web pages or other structured formats.
By learning these tasks, you will have the opportunity to completely automate convoluted workflows and spend minimum time on manual procedures. Give them a go in your UiPath projects to simplify your process of automation!
