Adds menu system, role-based security, enhanced troubleshooting, and reports

Help/Systems, the world’s leader in automated operations and business intelligence software for the IBM System i, announces the release of Robot/REPLAY 3.0, the newest version of its companion software to Robot/SCHEDULE, the automated System i job scheduler. Robot/REPLAY works with Robot/SCHEDULE to automate interactive System i processes that include menu systems and 5250 screen applications that cannot be run in batch mode.

Robot/REPLAY now sports a complete menu system for easy access to Replay objects (macros) and functions. The menu options allow users to learn, preview, schedule, and execute Replay objects; access Replay object information and view execution history; enroll Replay profiles; work with Replay applications; manage security settings, request reports; and maintain Robot/SCHEDULE reserved command variables embedded in Replay objects.

With Version 3.0, Robot/REPLAY offers role-based security to control access to Replay objects and functions. Robot/REPLAY administrators can organize their Robot/REPLAY users according to the Replay objects and functions they are allowed to learn, view, maintain, or execute; control access to Robot/REPLAY functions (such as menus or commands) and data (Replay objects); create security roles, specify their access rights, and group them using Robot/REPLAY applications. Administrators can even prevent unwanted access by users with *ALLOBJ authority to Replay objects that contain sensitive data.

Robot/REPLAY 3.0 provides a number of troubleshooting enhancements. A new visual log allows users to review the sequence of events that occurred during the execution of a Replay object. In addition, Robot/REPLAY bundles critical diagnostics information into a single, easy-to-use package, to save time during problem analysis. And, Robot/REPLAY log messages now provide more information for faster, easier problem resolution.

A suite of new reports allows users to list Replay objects and setup details; print Replay object screen images; review the relationships of the jobs that ran when a Replay object was executed; pinpoint Replay objects that contain Robot/SCHEDULE reserved command variables; print security roles, members, and access rights; and create a Robot/REPLAY security evaluation indicating which Replay objects a user profile can execute.

For more information about Robot/REPLAY 3.0, contact your Help/Systems Regional Sales Manager at 1-800-328-1000 or your local distributor.

Plus six reasons to update Robot/REPLAY today!

Robot/REPLAY, the plug-in for Robot/SCHEDULE, lets you automate System i processes you thought you couldn’t automate. Robot/REPLAY reliably automates interactive functions used by many popular software packages (such as BPCS, Infinium, MAPICS, and Prism), as well as by your internally developed applications.

You might be surprised at how quickly Robot/REPLAY can transform manual tasks to automated tasks that run unattended. Like Robot/SCHEDULE, Robot/REPLAY has a “learn” mode that allows you to perform the actions you normally do to submit the job. Robot/REPLAY “learns” the keystrokes required by your application, and stores them in a Replay object. The Replay object can be edited, played back, and scheduled to run in Robot/SCHEDULE. You can even run a Replay object from your own program using the RPYEXECUTE command.

Key concepts to understand
When working with Robot/REPLAY, there are a few key concepts that can help you use the product to its full potential and are useful if you need to contact technical support.

1. Multiple Jobs. When you execute a Replay object, it runs a number of System i jobs. At minimum, there are two—a parent (batch) and a Virtual Terminal (interactive) job.
   • Parent job: The parent job initiates a Replay session when you run the command RPYEXECUTE or RPYSTRLRN. It is responsible for starting a Virtual Terminal job and communicating with it. The job log for this job contains status messages that let you determine the success or failure of specific screen images.
   • Virtual Terminal job: The Virtual Terminal (VT) job is an interactive job initiated by the parent job. The keystrokes recorded in the Replay object are executed by this job. The job log for this job contains information about what was actually run by the object. This job is listed on Robot/SCHEDULE’s Job Completion History panel with the job name VTSESSION.
   • For the rare occasions when a Replay object ends abnormally, job logs from both the parent and VT jobs are very helpful in problem resolution.
   • Child job(s): A child job is a batch job submitted by the VT job and is known to Robot/REPLAY. Not all Replay objects run child jobs, but if they exist there can be more than one. If you have specified that Robot/SCHEDULE should wait for the completion of a child job(s), the parent job waits to report its completion status to Robot/SCHEDULE until the child job(s) finishes.
2. Play Back Replay Object: When you play back a Replay object, the application does not execute. Robot/REPLAY displays the images as they were captured, unless Robot/SCHEDULE reserved command variables (RCVs) have been substituted for fixed values. If so, their value is resolved during playback.
3. Virtual Terminal job attributes: Robot/REPLAY sets the user library list, current library, and several job attributes to match the parent job prior to executing any screen images. If you need more specific information, check the VT job log.
4. Authority: To perform any function on a Replay object, the requesting user profile must have *USE authority to the user profile defined for the Replay object.

Reasons to update Robot/REPLAY
Help/Systems continually improves its products. If you aren’t running Robot/REPLAY 2.30 (or higher), you may not have the following recent changes:

1. Work with Replay objects:
   • New Option 14 lets you print all images of an object.
   • New Profile column displays the user profile attached to the Replay object.
   • New Var column quickly identifies if the object uses Robot/SCHEDULE reserved command variables.
   • New User Profile sort added to F9=Select Search.
2. Work with Replay Images: New Number of Variables column identifies where you have used Robot/SCHEDULE reserved command variables.
3. In the past, the user profile used to run the Replay object had to have display sign-on information set to *NO and password expiration interval set to *NOMAX. This is no longer required. (Note: If a password expires on the System i and is changed, the new password also must be updated in Replay User Profile Enrollment.)
4. The user profile RBTREPLAY is no longer required to run the product. However, you can continue to use it.
5. The Virtual Terminal job log contains new informational messages RY19906, RY19907, and CPF9897. These explain when the VT job changes its job attributes and library list to match the parent job and specifically what was changed.
6. Message ID RY72402, which can be issued in failure situations, has been updated with complete cause and recovery sections.

Contributed by Brenda Peroutka, Maintenance Software Engineer