This manual is for all users and administrators who plan to deploy AFD Robot Desktop in a Windows environment. It details the installation and configuration options available.
AFD Robot Desktop makes using address management and bank validation within Windows applications easy. Once you have installed Robot, simply type the postcode into any field on the form, and Robot will automatically insert the address into the correct fields. Bank details can also be validated right within your application using Robot, see the section Bank Account / Card Number Validation for more information.
We advise that Robot is installed on a single machine for testing purposes before rolling it out on all of your clients.
Please note that AFD Robot Desktop requires that your local client has a desktop AFD product installed. If you have multiple AFD products installed on your client then Robot will be applied to the highest ranked according to the following list:
To install AFD Robot Desktop on your machine follow these simple steps:
When you install AFD Robot Desktop over an existing installation of AFD, Robot version 1 will be disabled. To continue using Robot v.1, an option in Robot’s Global Settings screen called “Revert to Robot 1” will allow you to disable Robot v.2.
To use Robot, type a postcode into your application. Robot will detect the postcode and a dialog box will pop up displaying a list of matched addresses:
To insert an address into your application, you can either click the “Insert” button or double click the desired address. Robot will detect your application’s fields and insert the address. See “Customising How Robot Inserts” below if you wish to adjust how Robot inserts the address. If the address you were looking for was not found (for example, the postcode entered was incorrect) then the “Find” box at the top can be used to enter a different postcode or you can perform a FastFind search, for example “Commercial Street, Birmingham”.
If you have looked up a Postcode previously, you can click the arrow on the right of the find box, to see your lookup history.
If you do not wish to insert the address, press the ‘X’ at the top right of the form or press the “Esc” key on your keyboard to close the Robot address window.
To avoid having to select the desired address from the list, you can enter a property number before the postcode into your application. For example, “274, B11 1AA” will automatically insert the matched address into your application without showing the dialog.
Robot also supports the use of Hot Keys for address searching. Pressing the Hot Key carries out a FastFind from your application, allowing you to enter a FastFind string where the postcode is not known, e.g. “Commercial Street, Birmingham”.
If you are using an address based product (such as Postcode, Postcode Plus or Names & Numbers) then by default, pressing Windows Key + A will activate the Robot FastFind search.
You can configure other Hot Keys or change this combination to any other combination. The AFD Robot Hot Keys can be configured in the “Global Settings” options screen.
Note that the Hot Keys will apply to all applications.
You can type an email address into your application and Robot will detect if it is valid or not. You will need to set a hot key to use this functionality. Please refer to Hot Key Support for Reverse Searching. This helps cut down on errors, as you can then follow-up an incorrect email address at the point of entry. Take note that Email Validation will also work in Classic Mode applications.
Please note that correct validation of an email address does not guarantee the email address is live, simply that the format and domain is valid. It is not possible to determine scenarios such as the mailbox being full or if anyone is actually reading or replying to email at that address.
Robot also supports the use of Hot Keys for address searching. Pressing the Hot Key carries out a FastFind from your application, allowing you to enter a FastFind string where the postcode is not known, e.g. “Commercial Street, Birmingham”.
You can configure other Hot Keys or change this combination to any other combination. The AFD Robot Hot Keys can be configured using the Modify option on the Hotkeys screen.
Note that the Hot Keys will apply to all applications.
To customise how Robot inserts, click the “Options” button after entering a postcode in your application or you can simply right click the Robot system tray icon and modify your current application’s settings.
The Robot Options screen displays a list of available Robot fields. When this box is visible, available fields in your application will be highlighted blue. Assign the Robot field to the appropriate field in your application by dragging and dropping the Robot fields into the relevant fields in your application.
Other options provided are as follows:
Selecting this option will instruct Robot to automatically insert (without prompting) when it returns a single result.
These options allow you to enable/disable Robot for any application and to determine if addresses, account/card numbers and email validation are enabled.
If using the special “Address” fields, you can choose to exclude the organisation by unchecking this option.
Robot will split the address and not include commas where there are a sufficient number of address fields.
The order of the assigned address fields will be reversed.
This is preferred by Royal Mail for correct labelling of envelopes.
If you need to insert approximate grids into your application, then tick this option. A message box will appear to warn you that the search will be redone to include the grids.
Double-clicking on one of the blue text boxes in your application provides these options:
To set the field in upper-case if desired
If you wish to split multiple line addresses then you need to say how many lines you want to split by. Insert multiple fields into a multi-line box or text area (“Fields Mode” only. See Figure 4)
Prefix and Postfix commands in “Classic Mode” to move between fields or lines.
This is useful if one of the fields is blank, it can insert a postfix in its place. You may want it to keep the blank space (note that Remove Blank Lines will work against this option).
This works in conjunction with the option to “Detect on Coordinates” from within Advanced Settings.
You can also remove the field altogether if you do not wish it to be inserted.
The Assistance button will provide the option to send a request to AFD Support for help setting up your application. There is also an option to use TeamViewer, if you chose to install it during the installation process.
If set, the application file will be detected when the current field coordinates match the application file field coordinates and the application file detection method is coordinate. The application field must be set up for ‘use coordinates’.
By default, Robot recognises an application based on its contents. In cases where the content changes, this option uses the application name picked up from the Title bar instead.
This option can be used if your application includes a tab with different frames. Robot will then detect the application name and the frame that it is using. Contact AFD Support for assistance.
If your application contains multiple text boxes within a frame, use this to tell Robot how many text boxes will be used. Default is set to 0.
A minority of applications may not display the address unless physically entered using the computer keyboard. This mode forces Robot to simulate physical keyboard entry, which may help in these rare cases.
Robot will dismiss pop-ups by default to prevent interference with insertion. This option can also be changed to abort the Robot insert, or ignore the pop-up and continue.
If some of the fields in your application aren’t recognised at first, this option will force Robot to perform a more thorough scan of the fields.
Robot will automatically use the mode that it can detect. Fields mode is used where your application has different text boxes; Classic mode is used for entry into a multi-line text area, such as Notepad.
In Global Settings, there are a number of settings that will need you to restart Robot to take effect, these are all shown in the second section.
Allows Robot to be configured with any new application.
Any lookup you prefer on the FastFind screen will be saved in the drop down.
Hotkeys can be assigned to multiple forms on the same application.
A system tray notification will appear to show you that Robot is active during the time you perform a lookup or validation.
Global setting will be hidden from the system tray icon when enabled.
Allows ability to remove show or hide the system tray icon for Robot.
Removes the ability to exit Robot from the system tray icon.
Enables/Disables the Robot application on start up.
When enabled allows you revert to Robot version 1 if you have both versions installed.
To discuss your individual circumstances and best methods of roll-out that fits within your own setup and working practices, please contact our Support team for assistance.
Please speak with a member of Technical Support if you would like to use Robot with Evolution.
By running Robot.exe with the command-line parameter “-config”, you can access global configuration settings for Robot.
An application that does not have fields, but uses a large text box (similar to Notepad) is known as a classic application. AFD Robot will not be able to detect any fields so will treat the application as a Classic Application; and will insert the address into a block starting from the left margin and where the cursor is.
An application that has fields is known as a Form Based Application. AFD Robot will automatically detect these fields if using “Fields Mode”.
A hot key is a series of one or several keys that invoke software or an operating system operation.
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