About transition to CEF and robot name change

Kofax recommends using the Chromium browser for modern websites and web applications and the WebKit-based browser for static websites.

Why transition from WebKit to Chromium?

Since version 10.3.0, Kofax RPA has offered two ways of interacting with websites and web applications: using the WebKit-based browser (with Web Automation robots) and using the Chromium browser (with Desktop Automation robots). As the website technology has evolved to work with real-time data, the demand to handle modern dynamic websites and web applications has increased. In contrast, the WebKit-based browser was initially designed to keep the entire website state in a robot and allow the robot to go back in time and execute from any previous points where the state was saved.

See Types of browsers.

When transition your existing robots to Chromium?

While we recommend that you build your new robots with the Chromium browser, Kofax continues to support the WebKit-based browser for the purpose of interacting with static websites. You can keep your existing WebKit-built robots as long as the target website does not change significantly. Over time, if changes in the target website lead to performance complications or execution failures in your existing WebKit-built robots, consider moving them to the Chromium browser. If some functionality that you require is not available in robots built with the Chromium browser, contact the Kofax Technical Support, so they can help provide a solution. Any missing functionality will be added in later releases of the product.

To get training on the Chromium browser, contact Kofax Education or find your training course here.

Why change RPA robot names?

The transition from WebKit to Chromium introduces two changes to Kofax RPA robot names.

This name change facilitates changes ongoing within Kofax RPA. As more interactions depend on a stream of dynamic data, Robots (formerly known as Desktop Automation robots) will strengthen the leading role of Kofax RPA in the future releases of the product.

What is changed in Kofax RPA documentation?

This help system and the entire Kofax RPA documentation set have been updated to reflect the name change and the ongoing transition to the Chromium browser. In the help system, the Desktop Automation section is renamed to Robot Building. The Web Automation section is renamed to Basic Engine Robots, and it is now located under the Reference section.