We’ve added a new Selection method to Web Automation Wrk actions called Advanced.
Advanced is a major improvement over the existing Legacy option and is designed to make automations more reliable, expressive, and resilient on modern web pages.
What’s changing
Previously, Legacy actions interacted with elements using direct DOM operations such as .click() and .value(). While simple, this approach can be brittle on pages with dynamic content, delayed rendering, or repeated elements.
When Advanced is selected, actions use modern locator-based element targeting. This approach identifies elements the way a real user would, making automations more stable and predictable, especially on complex or frequently changing pages.
What you can do with Advanced
When using Advanced, the Element identifier supports more powerful selection options:
- Enter CSS selectors or XPath directly
- Combine multiple selector types in a single Element identifier
- Use semantic selectors that target elements by meaning or visible text
- Select a specific match using the Match index when multiple elements are found
- Build selectors that work reliably with dynamic lists and repeated elements
For example, Advanced allows expressions that identify elements based on their role, text, or location within a page, rather than relying only on structure.
Why Advanced is better than Legacy
Advanced selection provides several important benefits:
- More resilient to DOM changes and page re-renders
- Better handling of dynamic content and repeated elements
- More precise and expressive Element identifiers
- Fewer timing and interaction issues, actions behave more like real user interactions
- Clearer, more maintainable automations over time
What about Legacy?
The Legacy selection method remains available and unchanged. Existing automations will continue to work as they do today. However, Advanced is recommended for new automations, and anywhere increased reliability, flexibility, or control is needed.
Learn more
For a detailed explanation of how Advanced Element identifiers work, including selector types, composition, and best practices, see the full article: Working with Wrk’s Selection Methods in Web Automation
This article walks through the differences between Legacy and Advanced, explains how selectors are combined, and provides guidance on choosing the right approach for your automation.
