Robotic Process

Automation in a Day
Lab 11 – Error handling (Optional)
30 mins
June 2022
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Lab Overview
Power Automate provides error handling both at desktop flow and cloud flow level.

On block error action on the desktop flow acts like the Scope action in cloud flows. When an
exception occurs in a block, we can configure it to perform subsequent actions like a Subflow.
This ensures all the exceptions are caught and handled gracefully. As a result, your automations
become much more resilient and robust.

This lab we will walk you through how to do Error handling in desktop flow

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Lab steps
1. Let us first create a desktop flow to learn some error handling methods. Open Power
Automate for desktop app and click + New flow

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2. Name the flow Error Handling then click Create.

3. Under Variables, drag Set variable from the left drop down list to the right.

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4. For the practice purpose, we will now set an ErrorLocation variable. Use the
information below to fill out Set variable:
• Set: %ErrorLocation%
• To: Main
Then click Save.

5. Create a new Subflow.

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6. Name the subflow exception_handler then click Save.

7. Go back to Main flow.

8. Now we will create a new error handling rule. Search on block on the search bar and
drag the On block error action to the canvas list under the first step.

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9. Name it Launch_Application the click + New rule.

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10. If an error occurs within this block, we want to call our exception handler subflow. We
can achieve this by creating a new rule that will Run subflow option.

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11. Select exception_handler subflow and click Save. Now if an error occurs, we will run the
exception_handler subflow.

12. Under System, drag Run application to the canvas list under step 2.

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13. Enter the location path of Contoso Invoicing app under Application path. Then click
Save.

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14. To create an error, so that our exception handler will be called for this lab, we will
manually close the application so the following step cannot locate the window anymore.
To do this we will use a message box step to allow us some delay time to close the
application manually. Under Message boxes, drag Display message to the canvas list
under step 3.

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15. Enter My delay in Message box title. Turn on Keep message box always on top. Then
click Save.

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16. Now let us create a Get window step that will fail because we manually close the
application. Open Contoso Invoicing App. Next expand UI Automation, under Windows,
drag Get window to the canvas list under step 4.

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17. Select Specific window in the Get window dropdown list. Select UI element in the UI
element dropdown list. Because this process has not recorded any UI elements yet, it
will display text “There are no UI elements to display” together with the button to add
new one. Click the button.

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18. Then once the Tracking session window appears, hover mouse cursor over the Contoso
Invoicing app, so that the “Window” selector appears (application window is
surrounded with red border) and then, while having “Control” (Ctrl) keyboard key
pressed, click left mouse button, what will add new UI element to the list. Then click
“Done” button.

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19. Now select newly added UI element. Also, turn on the Bring window to front option.

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20. Expand Advanced. Turn on Fail if window is not found option and set Timeout
as 3 seconds.

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21. To show that this is the step where the automation fails, we will set the ErrorLocation
variable here. To do that, click On error button.

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22. Click +New rule.

23. Select Set variable.

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24. Set %ErrorLocation% to “Couldn’t get window for app.” Then click Save.

25. Now let us write what should happen in the exception_handler subflow. In this exercise
we will just display the ErrorLocation value supplemented with details about the last
exception. In the future you can create any of your own error handling logic. Go to
exception_handler subflow.

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26. In Search actions type Error, then drag Get last error action to the canvas list. It will
produce the LastError variable.

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27. Next, under Message boxes, drag Display message to the canvas list.

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28. In the Message box title column enter My Exception Handler, and in Message to
display column enter:
An Exception has occurred: %ErrorLocation%.
Error details:
%LastError%.
Then click Save.

29. Click Save.

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Note: We are using a Display message action for illustrative purposes. In a real-world scenario
you can include additional logging/debugging information here including calling custom APIs or
sending emails to a support team supplemented with screenshots.

30. Test the desktop flow.

Note: you need to close all opened Contoso Invoicing apps page before testing the desktop
flow.

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 31. Contoso Invoicing application will automatically start, and you will see the My delay
message box pop up. Here you will first close the Contoso Invoicing application to
ensure that the following step will fail. After you close the application, click OK to close
My delay message box and continue the process.

Note: you need to close Contoso Invoicing app before you close the message box.

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32. Now the flow will run the next step to Get Window, but since you have closed the
application, this step will fail and will set the ErrorLocation variable value to be Could
not get window for app. Then the On Block Error will handle this error automatically
by running the exception_handler subflow. You will verify the exception handling run as
expected if you see this prompt message: An exception has occurred: Could not get
window for app together with detailed error information. You can click OK to close it.

33. Now let us see what the expected behavior from cloud flow side is. Navigate to
https://powerautomate.microsoft.com

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34. Go to My flows – cloud flows

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35. Click New flow – Instant cloud flow.

36. Name the flow Call PAD – Exception Handling. Select Manually trigger a flow. Then
click Create.

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37. Click New step.

38. Select Run a flow built by Power Automate for desktop using search bar.

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39. Select Error Handling desktop flow and in Attended run mode.

40. Click Save.

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41. Click Test.

42. Select Manually and click Test.

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43. Click Continue.

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44. Click Run flow.

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45. Click Done.

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46. You will notice that the cloud flow run failed. This is important for users to get accurate
telemetry sent from the desktop back to the cloud. Although the exception has been
gracefully handled within the desktop flow, we still want all the exception errors to
surface in the cloud flow and let users be aware what error has occurred and where it
occurred.

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47. From the cloud flow Run history, expand on the Run a desktop flow action to see more
failure details, and lick the See run details link at the bottom to browse to the detail
desktop run history.

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 48. From this detailed steps’ log, you can see the Get window step has failed with error
details, and then the exception handler subflow was run as designed.

Note: if your cloud flow run did not report as failed, it could be because you do not have the
latest Power Automate for desktop version (v2.6 or later). In that case, please update to the
latest Power Automate for desktop and re-test.

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Check your knowledge
Lab 11

5 mins

1. You need to close all opened Contoso Invoicing apps page before testing the desktop
flow.

A. True
B. False

Answer: A. True - Contoso Invoicing application will automatically start when your
desktop flow starts running

2. To create an error case for this lab we will manually _______ the application so the
following step cannot locate the window anymore.

A. Open
B. Close
C. Either A or B
D. None of the above

Answer: B. Close – Once we close the application, our desktop flow cannot locate the
window anymore

3. If your desktop flow run did not report as failed on step 46, it could be because you
_______.

A. You do not have the latest Power Automate for desktop version (v2.6 or later)
B. You do not have the latest Power Automate for desktop version (v2.4 or later)
C. None of the above

Answer: A. You do not have the latest Power Automate for desktop version (v2.6 or later)

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