burque505 wrote: ↑27 Feb 2020, 09:58
@SOTE, personally I use AHK with OpenRPA to access MS Office COM objects. For example, I use AHK to create a pivot table on an Excel sheet, something that's tough to do in most of the RPA platforms with their built-in functionality - this despite the fact that Excel is probably the most used app of the Office suite, with Outlook probably coming in second (I have no stats to back this up, though).
If you're willing to do extra programming, with OpenRPA you can accomplish a great deal (I don't have any way of calculating a percentage) of what you can do with the big 3. I haven't downloaded the latest update, which I believe is at 1.0.81 as of this morning, but in past versions at least you can drop in any of the open source UiPath Activities, and chances are they'll just work!
That's a huge plus.
I was referring to OpenRPA.Script, which allows you to add AutoHotkey scripting code directly, among the choices of C#, Python, VB, etc... By the way, for your part in advocating for AutoHotkey (at possibly a critical point of development) the community should be thankful. This gives OpenRPA a huge range of functionality, without needing to install additional packages or worrying about when they will or if ever will get created or updated. In addition, AutoHotkey itself can call Dlls from other languages besides C#, like those made in C/C++, Object Pascal, Rust, etc... So this opens up things even more. Dropping in open source UiPath Activities, all the more sweet...
AutoHotkey code added as part of a sequence is a breeze. It mostly worked fantastic, but did have a few odd situations where StrReplace was mistaken as an unidentified function, so had to use the older StringReplace command instead (then things worked fantastically again).
As for comparing it with the other Big 3 RPA tools, I'm not in the position to judge, as haven't used RPA tools on a professional level nor for any extended length of time. Usually write code, even for automation, in the more traditional manner. With that typed and with the market for RDA and RPA being what is, I do find OpenRPA particularly intriguing. So I'm very open to hear what those with experience think about how OpenRPA stacks up on a professional level.
Something I did notice, is documentation, training videos, and certification. I think OpenRPA will still need these to compete or to catch on more. This is something that I think UiPath is doing a great job with. All those certified people become advocates in the workforce and at companies, and certification is something that HR departments like to see. With at least documentation and training everywhere, it's easier for people to pick up on it.