Additional options for application screens and elements in Universal App Connector

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Additional options for application screens and elements in Universal App Connector

    This content details the various additional operations available for managing application screens and their elements within the Universal App Connector, specifically in the Zurich release. These options enable ServiceNow customers to validate, refresh, focus, capture, and manipulate application screens and their components effectively, tailored by application type such as Java, Windows, and web browsers like Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

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    Additional Options for Application Screens

    Depending on the application type, right-clicking an application screen in the Screens and elements pane provides several operations:

    • Refresh screen: Rematches the screen using predefined match rules or locators.
    • Refresh screen and elements: Rematches both the screen and its child elements.
    • Focus: Brings the targeted application screen into focus.
    • Capture element: Captures elements from the screen for interaction.
    • Add custom element (web browsers only): Allows adding hidden or otherwise un-capturable elements manually.
    • Show elements (Windows only): Displays all existing elements in a tree view with UI Automation and Active Accessibility modes for detailed element inspection.
    • Delete: Removes the application screen from the connector.

    Additional Options for Application Elements

    Right-clicking an application element offers the following operations to manage and interact with individual UI components:

    • Refresh: Rematches the element based on its match attributes or locators.
    • Highlight: Visually highlights the element on the target screen.
    • Re-capture: Recaptures the element while retaining the same name.
    • Delete: Removes the element from the application screen.
    • Do Default Action: Executes the element’s default interaction such as clicking a button, toggling a checkbox, opening a link, or selecting a list item.
    • Get Value: Retrieves the data value held by the element (not the label).
    • Set Value/Set Text: Assigns a value or text to the element where applicable.
    • Get Text: Extracts text from the element if supported.
    • Click: Performs a click action on the element if applicable.

    Practical Benefits

    These additional options enable ServiceNow customers to maintain accurate and dynamic UI element mappings, handle complex or hidden UI components, and automate interactions reliably across diverse application types. The ability to refresh and recapture elements ensures that UI changes do not disrupt automation workflows, while default actions and value manipulations facilitate straightforward automation scripting and validation.

    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
    Displays elements in the UI Automation mode for a Notepad.
    Figure 2. Elements displayed in Active Accessibility mode for a Notepad
    Displays elements in the 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.Elements in the Screens and elements pane with Text Editor types in 2 modes.

    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.Types of Text Editor of active accessibility mode.
    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.