Every time an application runs, a new user interface is rendered by the underlying program. To users, the interface appears the same because certain characteristics, such as the type and position of user interface elements like labels, buttons, and drop-down lists, remain the same. However, from a technical perspective, the user interface elements are different for every instance of the application.

To automate an application, a Robot Studio developer must identify a user interface element across multiple application instances, just as a user would. Additionally, the developer must distinguish between unchanging or persistent data that should be used to identify an element, and changing or transient data that should be ignored.

Robot Studio provides an advanced matching system that uniquely identifies user interface elements across multiple instances of an application using a set of rules that capture the necessary persistent data. You can customize matching behavior by adding, removing, or modifying these match rules.

For more information, see Using match rules.