Migrate scripts from AX to Robots

Important

Only proceed with migrating the scripts if you have completed the previous stage of the migration. For more information, see Recreate your AX repository structure in Robots.

For each automated process in AX that you intend to recreate in Robots you need to migrate the associated scripts. You need to migrate all analytic scripts and any subscripts or helper scripts.

You cannot migrate scripts directly from AX to Robots. You need to export the scripts from AX to an intermediary location where Analytics is installed, such as your own computer. After completing any preparatory work that may be necessary, you commit (upload) the scripts from the intermediary location to Robots.

Backward compatibility of Robots

In general, Robots is designed to be as backward compatible as possible with AX. Most AX scripts should work in Robots without requiring any modification.

Any scripts that depend on AX-specific design will need to be adjusted. For example:

  • scripts that access the AX operational database to read job schedules or logs
  • scripts that include absolute paths to server resources that are no longer valid on the Robots Agent server

If you need assistance with adjusting analytic scripts for use in Robots, contact Diligent Support.

Export the scripts from AX

To begin the migration, use the Export option to export scripts from AX. Scripts are exported in the analysis app that contains them. Each exported analysis app becomes a separate Analytics project in the export destination.

This procedure assumes that you are using your own computer as the intermediary location.

  1. Create a folder on your computer for storing exported scripts.
  2. In the AX Server Explorer, select the analysis app containing the scripts that you want to export.

    You can Ctrl+click to select multiple analysis apps in the same Analysis Apps parent folder, or select the parent folder to export all the analysis apps in the folder.

  3. Select File > Export.
  4. In the Export dialog box, make sure both options are not selected:
    • Work with the exported file(s)?
    • Export data files along with selected definitions?
  5. Click Browse, select the folder that you created for storing scripts, and click OK.
  6. Click OK to export the analysis app or apps.

    The scripts are exported in their analysis app to the specified location. Each analysis app is converted to an Analytics project.

  7. Repeat the process for any additional scripts that you are ready to migrate.

Linked analytic scripts

Unlike AX, Robots does not support linked analytic scripts. If you use linked analytic scripts in AX, export the master analytic script and then commit it to each robot in which it is required.

Do any necessary preparatory work

Following the export from AX, scripts are ready to be committed to Robots if:

  • all the scripts associated with an automated process are in a single Analytics project
  • all analytic scripts that must execute sequentially in an automated process:
    • use an appropriate alphanumeric naming scheme
    • if implemented, have an appropriate analytic type

Analytic chains

Unlike AX, Robots does not support analytic chains. If you use analytic chains, you may need to do some preparatory work before scripts are ready to commit to Robots. For more information, see Replicating analytic chains in Robots.

Commit (upload) the scripts to Robots

Once all the scripts associated with an automated process are contained in a single Analytics project, and appropriately named, you can commit the scripts to Robots.

Committing scripts uploads them from a local environment to the cloud-based Robots app. We use the word "commit" rather than "upload" because each time that you commit scripts to the same robot you create a new version of the scripts in the script history.

For detailed information, see Committing ACL scripts (uploading) to Robots.

  1. Open the Analytics project with the scripts that you want to commit.
  2. From the Analytics main menu, select File > Commit Scripts.

    If an error message appears, there may be a problem with the analytic header, or the script syntax, in one or more of the scripts in the project.

    For more information, see ACL script development workflow in Analytics and Robots.

  3. If required, in the Select Destination dialog box, double-click the appropriate Diligent One instance.

    The Robot Collection appears with the list of existing robots.

  4. In the list of robots, select the robot that you want to commit the scripts to and click OK.

    The Analytics project that contains the scripts, and the existing robot, are now associated so that subsequent commits do not require that you manually locate the robot.

  5. Enter a short commit message that describes the committed scripts, and click OK.

    The scripts are committed to development mode in the robot.

  6. In the Commit Scripts Successful dialog box, click the second link to inspect the newly committed scripts in the Robots app.

    The Script versions tab opens with the committed version of the scripts.

  7. Select the script version (vn).

    The Version details side panel opens. The names of the individual analytic scripts and auxiliary scripts are listed beneath Script version changes.

  8. In Analytics, click OK to exit the Commit Scripts Successful dialog box.

Replicating analytic chains in Robots

Note

This section only applies if you use analytic chains in AX.

Unlike AX, Robots currently does not support assembling analytic scripts from anywhere in the repository into an analytic chain that executes sequentially. To implement sequential execution of a series of analytic scripts in Robots, you need to do two things:

  • contain the analytic scripts in a single robot, and create a single task to execute the scripts
  • use script names, and analytic type, to create a script sequence

What to do next

Once you have migrated the scripts for one or more automated processes you are ready to start migrating data: Migrate data from AX to Robots.