Run a simple custom Python script in vRO [CB10106]

We all know that Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.8 onwards, we can create script environments for Python, NodeJS and PowerShell languages that basically reduces the amount of work needed to load and run a custom module based script in vRO as you just have to pass the module name and version and it will auto-download everything for you.

However, Because not everyone is using 8.8 yet and even some may still want to use this bundle mechanism in later versions, in this post, we will see the exact steps on how to import a custom python module (for eg. datetime) in vRO using a Windows machine. One other reason for this post are the number and sequence of steps to follow to make it work, I almost always get befuddled 😕, you know.

Tools needed

You can use any tools of your choice for the below mentioned category. I have shared what I’ve used.

Code Editor: Visual Studio Code
File Zipper: 7-Zip
vRO (of course)
Python 3.7+
pip module

Steps

Open cmd.exe and go to Desktop location (using cd .\Desktop) and create a working directory for this project (eg. vro-python) and a sub-directory (lib) using the command

mkdir vro-python
cd vro-python
mkdir lib

Critical Working directory can have any name but there must be a folder with the name lib inside it which will be used to store python modules.

Install any python module of your choice (here datetime) inside lib directory. You can install multiple modules if you want.

pip install --target=C:\Users\mayank\Desktop\vro_python\lib datetime

Once the module is installed, you can verify it by going to lib directory.

Now, Open VSC and let’s write script that will be using the module that we’ve installed (here datetime).

import datetime #import the packages

# Handler function
def functionName(context, inputs):
    # Your code here
    x = datetime.datetime(2018, 6, 1)
    print(x.strftime("%B")) #will print June

Python

Save it as filename.py just outside of lib folder, which means in our case inside vro-python folder.

Note You are free to use any name for the filename like main.py and for function like handler. Make sure what name you are using for {{filename.py}} and the handler function {{functionName}} because these will be used inside Entry handler in vRO in later steps.

Once, you are satisfied with what modules and what scripts you want to put in vRO, it is time to bundle them. For that, we can use 7-Zip tool. Go inside the working directory (vro-python) and select all (Ctrl+A) and Select Add to “vro-python.zip” or any name for that matter.

Time to upload it to vRO. Login to vRO, Goto Library -> Actions.
Create a new action. On the General Tab, enter a name, module, and version number for the action. You are free to use any name for your action.

Select Runtime as Python 3.7, Type as Zip and Click Import and select your zip package. In the Entry handler, fill it with {{filename}}.{{functionName}}.

Save your action and click Run. You should see the desired output.

Final Note

This tutorial will help you get started with custom modules, however, if you want to provide inputs and outputs to this action, additional steps need to be followed which are intentionally put out-of-scope in this article. Also, if the size of modules are larger than usual, probably you need to increase the Memory Limit and Timeout. However, you can go through the References for more help.

I would also like to share a quick note on what things we have considered while creating our own custom scripts.

*Entity*	*Variable*	Remark
Working Directory name	User-defined	Could be anything (here vro-python)
Sub-directory name	Fixed	Has to be lib
Script file name	User-defined	Could be anything like main.py but has to be used exactly the same in Event handler.
Function Name	User-defined	Could be anything like handler but has to be used exactly the same in Event handler
vRO Action Name	User-defined	Could be anything. But may follow camelCasing
Package Name (.zip)	User-defined	Could be anything but will be auto-renamed to match the action name automatically once you import it.