When targeting an application and using a Click action or Send action, the Bot will run the action the first time and then the next time it will fail with Target Not Found.
This is because there are elements in the rules that are not static. This can happen with an application using UIA Technology or Web Applications. Applies to Bot v17.8 or later but can also help with older versions.
In the action set up screen, on the top left, click "Rules" and it will open up a window.
Expand the Parents by clicking "Show More" link (right side, under the Target section.) If the parents are already expanded, it will say "Show Less."
If there is a Parent toward the bottom, that shows "Chrome_WidgetWin_1" or "Chrome_WidgetWin_0" in Class, the application is running in an embedded Chrome browser and there are dynamic elements. Unfortunately we cannot connect it with our Chrome Targeting Technology.
To check if the target element is UIA or Chrome, click edit on the action and then Details on the bottom left. The second line is Target Object Type.
For Chrome Browser Apps that are not embedded:
If there is a Parent that is not static, such as a URL or ID number that may change, try these steps:
1 - Change Exact Match to Left Match, count how may characters are static. Ex:, The text changes at the end.
2 - Change the match type to Best Match. This will find text that is close to the original text.
3 - Change the match type to Ignore. This will ignore any text in the box.
Instructions
If UIA - Click Show More and scroll to the bottom of Parents section. Should be approximately 20 Parents. Start with the bottom one:
If In the Name section, it has any dynamic text, change to Left Match and change the number to the same number of characters as the static part.
**FYI - Use Left Match whenever possible because Ignore leaves the Bot with has less information to use to find the target.
If there is a Parent that has random characters in Class and nothing else, just ignore the Class (there may be multiple):
Ignore these types of Parents - "Chrome_WidgetWin_1" or "Chrome_WidgetWin_0".
If it shows BrowserRootView in class, Ignore Name, it may change.
Ignore the ID field for these 4.
Once fixed the issue should not happen again, as long as the action is not recreated or changed.
If the parent elements above do not match the ones in your application, compare the rules by following the steps below:
- Open the Diagnostic Toolbar - click Help on the top right of the Bot and then About. Click on the version number a few times fast and the new toolbar will appear at the top of the Bot.
- Go to the action that stopped working.
- Right click on the action and choose "Details" at the bottom of the menu.
- Save the details.
- Create a new action the same way as the old one.
- Notes which action is old and which one is new or color code them.
- Right click on that action, choose "Details" and Save.
- Send both sets of details to Support@nintex.com and ask for them to be decrypted.
Once the decrypted file is returned, compare the contents of each parent for differences and make changes based on the above match choices.
Additional Information
For assistance identifying the parents that need to be changed, email Support@nintex.com and send the details pages and a brief description of what is happening. We will be glad to help.
FYI - Our Dev Team plans to implement a simpler way to compare the rules in the future, but it will probably be toward the end of 2026.