GUI scripting - "Upload from Clipboard" fails when desktop is locked

[former_member1317528]

Hello! I have some Excel VBA macros that run SAP reports via GUI scripting, and for the past year they have been running via Windows Task Scheduler on a couple of old Windows 7 PCs, unattended, with locked desktops, without issue. Now I'm trying to move these to Windows 10, and it seems that any scripts that involve clicking SAP's "Upload from Clipboard" button silently fail to upload any data from the clipboard when the Windows desktop is locked. It still works fine with an unlocked desktop,

but if I schedule a task for 1 minute in the future and quickly lock my desktop, the “Upload from Clipboard” button click will not upload any data. There's no error message or anything -- it just doesn't paste anything into the GUI.

Any thoughts? I've tried it on Windows 10 1803 (with 32-bit Excel) and 1809 (with 64-bit Excel). SAP is 7400.3.8.3346. Thanks!

[former_member1317528]

Also, it looks like this guy is having a similar issue. But it seems like he does at least have one Windows 10 PC where the "Upload from Clipboard" still works when the desktop is locked, so it's probably not a blanket incompatibility with Windows 10.

[Sandra_Rossi]

Try with the latest SAP GUI 7.60. Open a ticket at SAP support too.

[former_member1317541]

Update! Further testing showed that clipboard errors happened in any cross-application scenario I tried: Excel-to-SAP, Excel-to-Word, Notepad-to-Excel... So, it's not an SAP issue.

But I discovered that I don't get the clipboard errors any more if I login to the Windows 10 PC via Remote Desktop Connection instead of the keyboard/console. I can login, schedule my tasks, disconnect, and they run fine now.

It breaks again if I unlock the desktop via the keyboard, though, so I guess I'll just never do that again, ever.

[Sriram2009]

Hi James.

1. Try to use the latest version of SAPGUI either 7.50 or 7.60, Since the SAPGUI 7.40 already end of support.

2. If possible get the support from Microsoft for windows 10 task schedule, because in Microsoft community so many threads are pointing the same issue but they don't have the answers.

Regards

Sriram

[former_member1317528]

Thanks for your reply! Sadly, my company computers are very tightly managed and it doesn't look like we have anything newer than 7.40 GUI as an option, but I will ask about it if anyone ever replies to my help desk ticket. :-) Re: support for Microsoft task Scheduler, I'm open to options, but for whatever it's worth, if I schedule a task for 1 minute in the future and DON'T lock my desktop, the script will run fine. It's only failing when the desktop is locked. But since you got me thinking about it, maybe I can rule out the Task Scheduler itself. The Excel application object has a Timer() function of some sort built into it, so after I figure out the syntax to use it, I'll see if that still fails under a locked desktop and report back.

[kaus19d]

Hi stjnky,

As per SAP Note: 66971, you can use SAP-GUI 7.6 along with IE11 in your Windows10 system, just saying as you have not mentioned this in your question

Now, coming back to your actual issue query, the question is when the Windows 10 system is in locked mode, is the system still active, i mean there are laptop settings for Power-Saver to pause any activities or a file download during system is in locked mode to save battery-power

We also did not get to know your scripting tool details or settings. Meanwhile, please check if a Group-policy is set as below for your windows 10 system by default,

https://success.panaya.com/Omega/973304981/How-to-set-the-group-policy-for-Panaya-Omega.htm

Thanks,

Kaushik

[former_member1317528]

Thanks for your reply! Power settings have been ruled out. PCs are plugged in, and set to never go to sleep. Additionally, I can schedule a task for literally 1 minute in the future, lock the PC with a quick control-alt-delete, and stare at the trippy screen saver for a couple of minutes. Then, when I control-alt-delete unlock the PC, I'll see that the Excel VBA script has crashed because the SAP GUI is sitting there with a statusbar error about no parameters having been entered instead of showing the expected results. Scripting tools details: I'm not sure if this is what you're asking, but I use a utility called "Tracker" to record GUI scripts in VBscript. Then, those get transferred into Excel VBA code modules. Then, any Excel VBA subs that needs to be run overnight via Windows Task Scheduler are publicly exposed so they can be executed by a VBS file. Re: policy settings: I won't have permission to tweak any policies, but thank you for suggesting that. If anybody from my help desk ever gets back to me I will suggest that is an area they may want to look.