Question 17

Explanation

GenericValue is a data type particular to UiPath and can store any kind of data, including text, numbers, dates, and arrays.

GenericValue Variables

The GenericValue variable is a type of variable that can store any kind of data, including text, numbers, dates, and arrays, and is particular to UiPath Studio.

GenericValue variables are automatically converted to other types, in order to perform certain actions. However, it is important to use these types of variables carefully, as their conversion may not always be the correct one for your project.

UiPath Studio has an automatic conversion mechanism of GenericValue variables, which you can guide towards the desired outcome by carefully defining their expressions. Take into account that the first element in your expression is used as a guideline for what operation Studio performs. For example, when you try to add two GenericValue variables, if the first one in the expression is defined as a String, the result is the concatenation of the two. If it is defined as an Integer, the result is their sum.

Supported .NET Methods

CompareTo

Function GenericValue.CompareTo(other As GenericValue) As Integer

Function GenericValue.CompareTo(obj As Object) As Integer

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Contains

Function GenericValue.Contains(other As String) As Boolean

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Used to check whether a string variable contains a certain substring or not. For example, if you want to check if a sentence contains a specific word, the expression should be [SentenceVariable].Contains("term"), where [SentenceVariable] is the GenericValue variable containing the sentence and "term" is the word to be searched for.

Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

Equals

Function GenericValue.Equals(other As GenericValue) As Boolean

Function GenericValue.Equals(obj As Object) As Boolean

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GetHashCode

Function GenericValue.GetHashCode() As Integer

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GetType

Function Object.GetType() As Type

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GetTypeCode

Function GenericValue.GetTypeCode() As TypeCode

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IndexOf

Function GenericValue.IndexOf(value As String) As Integer

Function GenericValue.IndexOf(value As String, comparisonType As StringComparison) As Integer

Function GenericValue.IndexOf(value As String, startIndex As Integer) As Integer

Function GenericValue.IndexOf(value As String, startIndex As Integer, comparisonType As StringComparison) As Integer

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Used to return the index of a substring contained inside a string variable. For example, if you want to find the index of the word "locate" inside the sentence "Find 'locate' in this sentence", the expression should be [SentenceVariable].IndexOf("locate"), where [SentenceVariable] is the GenericValue variable containing the sentence and "locate" is the term to be searched for.

Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

Length

Function GenericValue.Lenght() As Integer

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Used to return the number of characters in a string variable. For example, if you want to find out how many letters a word has, the expression should be [WordVariable].Length, where [WordVariable] is the GenericValue variable containing the word.

Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

Replace

Function GenericValue.Replace(oldValue As String, new value As String) As String

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Used to replace data contained inside a string variable. For example, if you want to change a local file path C:\ExampleFolder\Main.xaml into the corresponding server file path C:/ExampleFolder/Main.xaml, the expression should be [PathVariable].Replace("\","/") where [PathVariable] is the GenericValue variable containing the file path, "\" is the character to be replaced and "/" is the character used as replacement.

Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

Split

Function GenericValue.Split(ParamArray separator As Char()) As String()

Function GenericValue.Split(ParamArray separator As String()) As String()

Function GenericValue.Split(separator As Char(), options As StringSplitOptions) As String()

Function GenericValue.Split(separator As String(), options As StringSplitOptions) As String()

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Used to return individual components from a string variable. For example, if you want to extract the year from a MM.DD.YYYY date format, the expression should be [DateVariable].Split(".".ToCharArray)(2), where [DateVariable] is the GenericValue variable containing the date, "." is the character used as a separator, .ToCharArray is a method that creates an array with the elements delimited by the separator and (2) represents the index of the element to be returned, in our case, the year.

Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

Substring

Function GenericValue.Substring(startIndex As Integer) As String

Function GenericValue.Substring(startIndex As Integer, length As Integer) As String

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Used to return a substring contained in a string variable. For example, if you want to extract a word from the "There are 100 machines available" sentence, the expression should be [SentenceVariable].Substring(10,3), where [SentenceVariable] is the GenericValue variable containing the sentence, 10 is the index of the first character to be returned, and 3 is the length of the substring starting from the first character. In this example, the resulted substring would be "100".

Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

ToBoolean

Function GenericValue.ToBoolean(provider As IFormatProvider) As Boolean

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ToByte

Function GenericValue.ToByte(provider As IFormatProvider) As Byte

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ToChar

Function GenericValue.ToChar(provider As IFormatProvider) As Char

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ToDecimal

Function GenericValue.ToDecimal(provider As IFormatProvider) As Decimal

Function GenericValue.ToDecimal(format As NumberStyles) As Decimal

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ToDouble

Function GenericValue.ToDouble(provider As IFormatProvider) As Double

Function GenericValue.ToDouble(format As NumberStyles) As Double

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ToInt

Function GenericValue.ToInt(culture As IFormatProvider) As Integer?

Function GenericValue.ToInt() As Integer?

Used to convert a specified value to a nullable integer.

Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Boolean, the "True" and "False" values are converted to 1 and 0, respectively.

ToInt16

Function GenericValue.ToInt16(provider As IFormatProvider) As Short

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Boolean, the "True" and "False" values are converted to 1 and 0, respectively.

ToInt32

Function GenericValue.ToInt32(provider As IFormatProvider) As Integer

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Boolean, the "True" and "False" values are converted to 1 and 0, respectively.

ToInt64

Function GenericValue.ToInt64(provider As IFormatProvider) As Long

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Boolean, the "True" and "False" values are converted to 1 and 0, respectively.

ToLower

Function GenericValue.ToLower() As String

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

ToLowerInvariant

Function GenericValue.ToLowerInvariant() As String

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

ToSByte

Function GenericValue.ToSByte(provider As IFormatProvider) As SByte

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ToSingle

Function GenericValue.ToSingle(provider As IFormatProvider) As Single

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ToString

Function GenericValue.ToString(formatProvider As IFormatProvider) As String

Function GenericValue.ToString(format As String, formatProvider As IFormatProvider) As String

Function GenericValue.ToString() As String

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ToType

Function GenericValue.ToType(conversionType As Type, provider As IFormatProvider) As Object

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ToUInt16

Function GenericValue.ToUInt16(provider As IFormatProvider) As UShort

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Boolean, the "True" and "False" values are converted to 1 and 0, respectively.

ToUInt32

Function GenericValue.ToUInt32(provider As IFormatProvider) As UInteger

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Boolean, the "True" and "False" values are converted to 1 and 0, respectively.

ToUInt64

Function GenericValue.ToUInt64(provider As IFormatProvider) As Ulong

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Boolean, the "True" and "False" values are converted to 1 and 0, respectively.

ToUpper

Function GenericValue.ToUpper() As String

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

ToUpperInvariant

Function GenericValue.ToUpperInvariant() As String

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

Trim

Function GenericValue.Trim(ParamArray trimChars As Char()) As String

Function GenericValue.Trim() As String

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

TrimEnd

Function GenericValue.TrimEnd(ParamArray trimChars As Char()) As String

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

TrimStart

Function GenericValue.TrimStart(ParamArray trimChars As Char()) As String

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Note: When using this method with a GenericValue variable of data type Int, Float or Boolean, the data is automatically converted to String and handled accordingly.

When using Ctrl + K, Ctrl + M, or Ctrl + Shift + M directly in the Format Value activity body, the created variable or argument is of type GenericValue. For other activities, the created type is the same as the required type of the activity.

Example of Using a GenericValue Variable

To demonstrate how a GenericValue variable works, let us create an automation that performs different operations whose results depend on the way we define their expressions. We create two GenericValue variables of different data types and display the results in the Output panel.

1. Create a new blank project.

2. Create three GenericValue variables: Int, Str, and Result.

3. In the Default column for the Int variable, type 12, and for the Str variable, type "34". The first variable is interpreted as an integer, while the second one is interpreted as a string.

   
   

1. Add an Assign activity to the Designer panel and connect it to the Start node.

2. In the Properties panel, in the To field, enter the Result variable.

3. In the Value field, type Int + Str.

4. Add a Write Line activity and connect it to the Assign one.

5. Double click the activity card and in the Text field, enter the Result variable.
   The project should look as in the following screenshot.

   
   

   

   

   
   

6. Press F5 to execute your automation. Note that, in the Output panel, the sum of the two numbers is displayed.

   
   

   

   

   
   

7. Go back to the previously added Assign activity and change the Value field to Str + Int, to reverse the order of the variables. The project should look as in the following screenshot.

   
   

   

   

   
   

8. Press F5 to execute your automation. Note that, in the Output panel, the concatenation of the two numbers is displayed.

   
   

This means that UiPath Studio takes the first element defined in your expression as a guideline for what operation to perform. If the first element in your expression is an integer or a GenericValue variable filled in as integer, UiPath Studio will perform the sum of the elements.
If the first element in your expression is a string or a GenericValue variable filled in as string, UiPath Studio will perform the concatenation of the elements.

Download example

https://docs.uipath.com/studio/docs/genericvalue-variables