Browser

Version: 1.0.0  ·  ID: zoan-packages-browser  ·  Author: Zoan Software

The Browser package automates a web browser like a person would: open Chrome or Edge, navigate to a page, click, fill out forms, read text, and extract tables. Below it uses Playwright, a modern and robust web automation engine, but you don’t need to know any of that: you work with visual activities.

It is one of the most used packages, because a large part of the business systems (ERP, portals, banking, government) are operated from the browser.

Browser or desktop?

The rule is straightforward: does the application live on a web page or in an installed window?

Usa Browser (este paquete) si…	Usa Desktop si…
The system opens in Chrome/Edge (a URL)	The program is installed on Windows (an.exe with its window)
Web portals, online banking, SaaS, intranets	Desktop ERP, classic accounting systems, terminal apps
You see https://... in the address bar	You open it from the Start menu or a shortcut

If the same process touches both things (for example, reads data from a desktop program and loads it into a web portal), there is no problem: it uses both packages on the same playbook. For spreadsheets, PDF or email, do not use either: there are dedicated packages (Excel, PDF, Outlook…).

Antes de empezar

It is important to understand two concepts that are repeated in almost all the activities in this package: the page session (the page parameter) and the selectors (how you tell the bot which element to act on). We explained them here below once; The pages for each activity assume that you already know them.

Concept 1: the page session (page)

When you open a browser with Open Browser, you get a page session (type ZoanPageSession): an object that represents that open tab. All page activities (click, fill, read…) need to know which tab to act on — that’s the page parameter.

Hay dos formas de trabajar:

Option A — With body (the simplest)

Open Browser and Attach Browser have a body subflow. Activities placed inside it inherit the session automatically: you do not need to configure the page parameter on each one. When the body finishes, the browser closes automatically.

Open Browser   browser = chrome   url = "https://example.com"
 └─ body:
      Page Fill    selector = (#usuario)    value = "ana"
      Page Click   selector = (#entrar)
      Page Get Text  selector = (.bienvenida)  → output: saludo

Option B — With output variable (explicit control)

Open Browser stores the session in an output variable (for example, page). Then each activity receives page = = page, and at the end you close it with Close Browser. Useful when the browser must stay open across several sections of the playbook.

Open Browser   browser = chrome   → output: page
Page Navigate  page = = page   url = "https://example.com"
Page Click     page = = page   selector = (#entrar)
Close Browser  session = = page

Which one do I use?

If all your browser logic happens in a row, use body (Option A) - it’s cleaner and closes the browser for you. If you need the browser open throughout a more complex flow (with loops, sub-playbooks, etc.), use the output variable (Option B). In Option A you can activate keepOpen to preserve the session after body.

Concept 2: selectors

A selector tells the bot which page element to use (this button, that field). The recommended way to create them is mouse pointing with UI Discover: Zoan Automation captures a robust reference that combines several strategies (first id, then name, aria-label, text… and as a last resort CSS/XPath), so that it survives page changes better. You can also write a CSS selector by hand (#usuario, input[name="email"]).

read this first

Selectors are the core concept of this package. There are two dedicated pages that should be read:

• Selectors — what they are, their attributes, the wildcards and expressions so they don’t break, and the anchors.
• UI Discover — how to capture pointing with the mouse, validate and adjust them.

In this documentation, when we write selector = (#usuario) we refer to “the user field”, which you will have captured with UI Discover or written as CSS.

Activities

Abrir y cerrar

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Open Browser	browser-open	ZoanPageSession	Open the browser and return a page session
Attach Browser	browser-attach	ZoanPageSession	Reuse an existing browser session
New Page	browser-new-page	ZoanPageSession	Open a new tab in the current session
Close Page	page-close	—	Close a tab
Close Browser	browser-close	—	Close (or disconnect) the browser session

Navegar e interactuar

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Navigate	page-navigate	—	Goes to a URL
Click	page-click	—	Clicks on an item
Fill Field	page-fill	—	Write a value into a field (quick)
Type Text	page-type	—	Type text character by character
Select Option	page-select	—	Choose an option on a <select>
Check / Uncheck	page-check	—	Check/uncheck a checkbox or radio
Hover	page-hover	—	Mouse over an element
Key Press	page-key-press	—	Send a key or combination
Scroll	page-scroll	—	Scroll the page or an element

Read data

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Get Text	page-get-text	string	Visible text of an element
Get Value	page-get-value	string	Value of an input/select/textarea
Get Attribute	page-get-attribute	string	Value of an HTML attribute
Element Exists	page-element-exists	boolean	Does the element exist and is visible?
Extract Table	page-extract-table	DataTable	Extract an HTML table to a DataTable

Wait, Capture and Advanced

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Wait For	page-wait-for	—	Wait for an element to reach a state
Wait for Download	page-wait-for-download	string	Wait for a download to finish
Screenshot	page-screenshot	string	Screenshot to file
Evaluate JS	page-evaluate	object	Run JavaScript on the page

A typical flow

Open Browser   browser = chrome   url = "https://portal.cliente.com"
 └─ body:
      Page Wait For  selector = (#usuario)   state = visible
      Page Fill      selector = (#usuario)   value = = credential("portal")["user"]
      Page Fill      selector = (#clave)     value = = credential("portal")["password"]
      Page Click     selector = (#entrar)
      Page Wait For  selector = (.dashboard) state = visible
      Extract Table  selector = (#tablaMovimientos)   → output: movimientos

Next steps

• Open Browser — the starting point for all web automation.
• Getting Started — a guided tutorial that automates a real page.
• Expressions — build URLs and dynamic values.