Erin Montagu Subscriptions Librarian Working with Kantu to
Erin Montagu Subscriptions Librarian Working with Kantu to automate repetitive workflows ANZREG 2019 Conference 23 -25 October 2019 @Montagu. Erin #anzreg
Working with Kantu for task automation ● What is a macro ● Support ● Why Kantu? ● Visual UI Testing ● UWA Examples ● Kantu & Ex. Libris ● Benefits ● Useful tools & tips ● Creating a basic macro
What is a macro or task automation? ● Who wants to spend hours/days/weeks repeating a task? Nobody. So, automate it! ● Macro stands for “macroinstruction” ● Records your keystrokes, mouse actions, commands and repeats it ● Best tasks = little or no human analysis is required ● Static tasks
Why UI. Vision Kantu? ● Browser extensions don’t require IT authorisation ● Compatible with Ex. Libris products ● Open source ● Utilises Selenium IDE & JSON ● i. Macro was breaking scripts ● Kantu now allows visual identification
Demo ● ISBN Search ● Primo Search
Benefits Macros allow us to focus on the results rather than grinding through the task itself!
Creating a macro Don’t be overwhelmed! Kantu can be both complex and simple ● Install Chrome web store ● Plan out the process to be automated step by step ● Use Record function to create base script ● Clean up the script and check it works ● Determine what steps are missing from process create commands ONE AT A TIME using support materials DEMO
Creating a macro cont. ● Base commands are generally simple eg. open/click/type etc. ● ID = location of element ● Xpath = CSS location if no ID exists ● Can also switch to JSON view if preferred ● Can read/write to CSV ● If/then/else statements ● NEW - Visual UI Testing
Support documentation: Kantu Docs Selenium ID Commands Kantu User forum Pre-installed Demo macros Google!
Visual UI Testing Kantu’s new feature - identifies elements on a page visually, rather than ID location Useful if can’t identify ID or CSS location, or need a unique identifier Takes a screenshot of the webpage, and compare it against a previously supplied image/screenshot to locate that image Visual UI Demo
Kantu and Ex. Libris ● Ex. Libris products are compatible with macros - Development team use Selenium for own testing purposes ● All elements should have an HTML ID ● Limitations eg. MD Editor ● Authentication can be an issue if no SSO available
Useful tools & tips ● Chrome Developer tools - familiarise yourself with ID tag and CSS location ● Kantu works best with static fields or data eg. if you need Kantu to scan a list of results to select the correct result, it won’t help UNLESS you can locate an unique identifier. ● Kantu has regular automatic updates - scripts require maintenance
Working with Kantu for task automation ● What is a macro ● Support ● Why Kantu? ● Visual UI Testing ● UWA Examples ● Kantu & Ex. Libris ● Benefits ● Useful tools & tips ● Creating a basic macro
Erin Montagu Subscriptions Librarian Any questions? @Montagu. Erin
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