A starting point your workflow can see
A report window might load in two seconds today and ten seconds tomorrow. Recognising its ready state gives your workflow a more useful starting point than a fixed delay.
Image triggers suit recognisable buttons, icons, dialogs and labels in Windows applications. They are especially useful when the application offers no suitable API.
Capture, narrow, then test
Capture a distinctive template, choose the region where it may appear, and adjust the match threshold against your actual application.
- Include enough visual detail to distinguish the target from similar elements.
- Keep the search region focused, while allowing for the positions the target may occupy.
- Use Image Click when the action needs to locate the target again before clicking.
- Add a loop limit or stop condition so a persistent match does not repeat work indefinitely.
Movement and appearance are different problems
A button can move within the search region and still match its template. A new icon, colour scheme, display scale or redesigned button can require a new capture or different settings.
Test both the state you want to match and similar states you want to ignore. Lowering the threshold can increase matches, including unwanted ones. Image matching does not understand the meaning of every screen.