AskUI on Windows

Prerequisites

Check if you have the following requirements, before you start the process.

• You need an AskUI account. Don't have one? Register for a free trial here!
• Make sure you have Administrator privileges on the computer, where you want to use AskUI.
• Consider using an IDE. We recommend Visual Studio Code.

Setup

Step 0: Create an AskUI Account

warning

As we need to prevent misuse of our API, we need you to create some credentials through our AskUI Studio.

Please fill out this form to schedule a demonstration or request a trial to obtain access to AskUI Studio.

Step 1: Download Installer

Download the AskUI Installer here.

It will install the following components:

• AskUI Controller
• AskUI Development Environment (ADE)
• AskUI Development Kit (SDK)
• (optional) AskUI Runner (Executing workflows from AskUI Studio)

Step 2: Setup AskUI on Your Computer

Run the downloaded installer as Administrator (Right click the installer and select Run as administrator).

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The installer prompts Windows to display a security alert. Click on More Info in the top left and then on Run Anyway in the bottom right corner of the dialog to proceed with the installation.

Next, follow the instructions in the setup wizard until the end.

Alternative: Installation via Terminal (Silent Mode)

Use the downloaded executable file (.exe) for silent installation, which allows you to choose the installation directory and components. To install silently, run the following command terminal (Application CMD) with Administrator privileges:

"<installer_path>" /qn

Options:

• /l*v "<log_file_path>": Set the installer log file path.
• APPDIR="<installation_directory>": Specify the installation directory.
• INSTALL_ADK="NO": Skip AskUI Development Environment installation.
  • INSTALL_NODE="NO": Skip Isolated Node environment installation.
  • INSTALL_ASKUI_RUNNER="NO": Skip AskUI Runner installation.
  • HTTP_PROXY="<http_proxy_address>": Set the HTTP proxy address.
  • HTTPS_PROXY="<https_proxy_address>": Set the HTTPS proxy address.
• CONFIGURE_WINDOWS_FIREWALL="NO": Skip Windows Firewall configuration.

Example:

This command installs all components silently and sets the HTTP proxy address to http://proxy.example.com:

"<installer_path>" /qn HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com"

Step 3: Activate the AskUI Development Environment (ADE)

1. Open a terminal. We recommend using PowerShell.
2. Run the following command (type it and press Enter). This brings you into the AskUI Development Environment (short ADE) where you can configure your installation, start the AskUI Controller, create new AskUI-Projects and run workflows.

askui-shell

Activating the ADE may take a few seconds.

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If you are not sure what an ADE command does, you can run Get-Help <command> to get more information about it.

Step 4: Connect Your AskUI Account

info

As we need to prevent misuse of our API, we need you to create some credentials through our AskUI Studio.

Please fill out this form to schedule a demonstration or request a trial to obtain access to AskUI Studio.

Run the following command to authenticate and connect your ADE to your AskUI account. Replace <access token> and <workspace id> with your real credentials.

• Access Token You can create a new access token inside our web app. Go to any Workspace and navigate to Access Tokens in the left sidebar.
• Workspace ID Navigate to your workspace settings. You can find the workspace ID under General below the workspace name.

AskUI-SetSettings -WorkspaceId <workspace id> -Token <access token>

Validate the settings with the following command:

AskUI-ShowSettings

Step 5: (Optional) Configure Proxy

If you are behind a proxy you have to set the proxy address. Replace <http_proxy_address> and <https_proxy_address> with the ones for your proxy:

AskUI-SetSettings -HttpProxy <http_proxy_address> -HttpsProxy <https_proxy_address>

If you have already configured your proxy settings in the setup wizard, you can skip this step.

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Configuring proxy or firewall settings can be a challenge. If you need assistance with this task, feel free to schedule a call with our enterprise support team here.

Step 6: Start the Controller

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You have to disable mouse acceleration for the AskUI Controller to work properly!

tip

You can skip this if you checked Launch AskUI Controller at the last screen of the installation.

Start the AskUI Controller with:

AskUI-StartController

Open another command prompt and activate the ADE there again.

Alternatively start the AskUI Controller in the background to keep using the same command prompt:

AskUI-StartController -RunInBackground

Press Enter to return to the ADE.

Step 7: Create a New Project

Switch to a directory where you want to create the new AskUI project and run:

AskUI-NewProject -ProjectName askui_first -TestFramework jest -TypeScriptConfig true

Step 8: Open Your Project

Your new AskUI project has now been created inside the folder you specified and it's path is set as your current working directory: <path you ran AskUI-NewProject>/<your_askui_project_name>.

Now open this folder with your IDE of choice.

If you are using Visual Studio Code, you can run the following command in the same command prompt:

code .

On the left, in your file explorer, you should see the files that make up your AskUI project.

1. .askui\Settings - Global Project Settings
2. allure-results - AskUI reporter files will be generated here
3. askui_example - Workflow Files a. helpers - Helper functions for your project b. jest.config.ts - Jest Automation Framework Settings c. my-first-askui-test-suite.ts - An example workflow file
4. node_modules - Packages needed to make AskUI work
5. report - Annotations will be generated here

..

Step 9: Open a Workflow File

The workflow files are where you will write your automation scripts. To find them, navigate to the askui_example folder. This is the place, where you can store your workflow files.

To add a new workflow, create a file in this folder, ending in .test.ts

The project comes with one template workflow, which is called my-first-askui-test-suite.ts. On the next page, you will dive deeper on how to write instructions in the AskUI automation framework.

Next Steps

You are now ready to create your first workflow with AskUI! Please go to the next page Write Your First Instruction.