Search part of the screen
Limit where Optics looks for an element, so repeated text can't be matched in the wrong place and vision runs faster.
An area of interest (AOI) is a rectangle on the screen. Give one to a step and Optics only accepts an element inside it. Use it when the same text appears in several places, such as an Add to cart button that also appears in a product description, or to make OCR faster by reading less of the screen.
Set an area#
Four values describe the rectangle, each as a percentage of the screen, from 0 to 100:
| Parameter | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
aoi_x | Left edge, from the left of the screen | 0 |
aoi_y | Top edge, from the top of the screen | 0 |
aoi_width | Width of the area | 100 |
aoi_height | Height of the area | 100 |
The defaults cover the whole screen, which means "no area". Pass the values by name:
module_name,module_step,param_1,param_2,param_3
Add To Cart,Press Element,Add to cart,aoi_y=75,aoi_height=25This looks for Add to cart only in the bottom quarter: it starts 75% of the way down and covers the remaining 25%.
Some common areas:
| Area | Values |
|---|---|
| Top half | aoi_height=50 |
| Bottom half | aoi_y=50,aoi_height=50 |
| Right third | aoi_x=67,aoi_width=33 |
| Centre | aoi_x=25,aoi_y=25,aoi_width=50,aoi_height=50 |
The edges must stay on the screen: aoi_x plus aoi_width, and aoi_y plus aoi_height, can be at most 100.
How it works#
- OCR and image matching crop the screenshot to the area before they search. They read less, so they're faster too.
- The UI tree can't be cropped. Optics finds the element as usual, then keeps it only if its centre is inside the area.
Each step that uses an area saves a screenshot with the rectangle drawn on it (…_with_aoi.jpg in execution_output/), so you can check you chose the right part of the screen.
Keywords that accept an area#
Press Element, Enter Text, Enter Number, Clear Element Text, Get Text, Swipe From Element and Scroll From Element. Checks such as Assert Presence don't take an area.
In the Python library, only press_element accepts area parameters.
Area or index?#
Both pick one match out of several. Use index when you know which match you want by order (the second Add to cart button). Use an area when you know where it is, which keeps working when items are added or reordered. You can combine them.