Additional options for application screens and elements in Universal App Connector

Release version: Australia

Updated March 12, 2026

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Summary of Additional Options for Application Screens and Elements in Universal App Connector

This guide details the additional options available for application screens and elements within the Universal App Connector, allowing users to validate and perform various operations on their applications. The options are categorized based on the type of application, ensuring tailored functionality for each platform.

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Key Features

Application Types: Options vary for Java, Windows, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge applications, including operations like refresh, capture, and delete.
Screen Options: Users can refresh screens and elements, set focus, capture elements, add custom elements, and display existing elements in two modes—UI Automation and Active Accessibility.
Element Options: Operations for elements include refreshing, highlighting, re-capturing, deleting, executing default actions, and getting or setting values and text.

Key Outcomes

Utilizing these additional options enables ServiceNow customers to effectively manage application screens and elements, enhancing interaction with hidden or complex elements. This streamlines workflows by allowing precise control over application functionalities, leading to improved automation and user experience.

Validate and perform additional operations for the added application screens and their captured elements. The additional options for the application screens are categorized based on the application type.

Type of application screens, their additional options, and descriptions

In the Screens and elements pane, right-click the application screen to perform the following additional operations.

Table 1. Type of application screens and their additional options
Type of application	Additional options
Java	Refresh screen Refresh screen and elements Focus Capture element Delete
Windows	Refresh screen Refresh screen and elements Focus Capture element Show elements Delete
Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge	Refresh screen Refresh screen and elements Focus Capture element Add custom element Delete

Table 2. Description of additional options for the application screens
Additional action	Description
Refresh screen	Rematches the selected screen based on the screen match rules or locators that you defined.
Refresh screen and elements	Rematches the selected screen and its child elements based on the screen match rules or locators that you defined.
Focus	Sets the targeted application screen into focus.
Capture element	Captures elements from the application screen. For more information, see Use the Universal App Connector.
Add custom element	Adds a custom element to the application screen. For example, you can interact with hidden elements that you cannot directly capture from the web page.
Show elements	Displays the Windows Elements dialog that displays all the existing elements in the target application screen in a tree view. You can select the required element from here and add it to the application screen. For Windows application screens, the elements are displayed in two modes. They are UI Automation and Active Accessibility. UI Automation is the default mode. For example, when you capture a notepad windows screen and right-click and select Show Elements, the following modes are displayed. Figure 1. Elements displayed in UI Automation mode for a Notepad Figure 2. Elements displayed in Active Accessibility mode for a Notepad
Delete	Deletes the application screen.

Additional options for elements and their descriptions

In the Screens and elements pane, right-click the application element to perform the following additional operations. For example, for a Windows screen.

Figure 3. Additional options for elements, for example, for a Windows screen

Table 3. Additional options for elements and their description
Additional option	Description
Refresh	Rematches the selected element based on the element match attributes or locators that you defined. When you capture an element in both UIA and AA modes of a Windows application screen, you view both elements in the Screens and elements pane. For example, Text Editor_UIA and Text Editor_AA. When you capture a Text Editor element in Active Accessibility mode and perform the Refresh action on that element, the Target objects preview pane displays two text editors with different types, such as window and editable text.
Highlight	Highlights the element on the target application screen.
Re-capture	Recaptures an element from the application screen retaining the same name.
Delete	Deletes the element.
Do Default Action	Executes the default action of the target object. This the same action you perform by clicking, pressing Enter, or using another common method of activation. The default actions are listed for the following UI elements. Button: Clicks the button Check box: Toggles the check (select/clear) Link: Opens the link (navigate) Combo Box: Opens the drop-down List Item: Selects the item Tree View Node: Expands or collapses the node
Get Value	Retrieves the value of the target object, which typically represents the data the object holds or displays (not the label or name).
Set Value	Sets the value property of the target object.
Set text	Sets text to the element if applicable.
Get text	Retrieves text from the element if applicable.
Click	Clicks the elements if applicable.