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Beta: Pre scan automated flows

  • Updated

Pre scan automated flows is currently in beta. To learn more about joining the beta program, reach out to our team at beta@levelaccess.com.

Pre scan automated flows execute a series of user actions on your website before an accessibility scan starts. Since scanners can’t always get past things like popups requesting information (for example, date of birth or state/province), the pre scan flows handle those blockers by automatically completing the required steps to access the content on your website. While the scanning and monitoring supports closing cookie popups, basic authentication, and secure web authentication, it doesn't cover all potential scenarios that may block a scanner from your website.

Note: Pre scan automated flows always happen before closing cookie popups or authentication. If you want to include closing cookie popups or add authentication details, include them in your pre scan automated flow rather than in the advanced scan or monitoring configuration.

On this page:

Create a pre scan automated flow

Create pre scan automated flows to get past popups, so you can scan your digital content. Unlike automated flows, pre scan automated flows don't scan your webpage. Instead, they perform a series of clicks or selections to get to where you want to start scanning.

Add the pre scan automated flow

To add a pre scan automated flow:

  1. Go to your website in the platform.
  2. Select Scans.
  3. Choose Automated flows.
  4. Select Add automated flow.
  5. Choose Pre scan.
  6. Enter the automated flow name.
  7. Select Next. You can now add actions manually.

Add actions

To add steps to your pre scan automated flow:

  1. Enter the start URL.
  2. Select Add action. 
  3. Choose the action. Learn more about actions.
  4. Fill in the action target. Learn how to find CSS selectors.
  5. Once you've added all your actions, select Save.

The image below shows a successful pre scan automated flow for a website that requires a province/state and date of birth to go to the homepage. 

Screenshot 2024-10-02 at 3.40.10 PM.png

The table below describes the pre scan automated flow options shown in the previous image. This example is a website that requires your state/province and date of birth. 

Action  Action value
Open URL: https://www.exampleprescan.ca/
Dropdown

CSS selector: #state

Value: 74

Note that the dropdown value may not be the same as the frontend value. Check the option value in the console when selecting from a dropdown. For example, <option value="74">Ontario</option> the value to enter is 74 rather than Ontario.
Click CSS selector: #month
Type Value: 12
Click CSS selector: #day
Type  Value: 13
Click CSS selector: #year
Type Value: 1989
Click CSS selector: #main > section > div.age-verification__form-birth.row > div > form > div:nth-child(3) > div > button

Find CSS selectors

To find CSS selectors:

  1. Go to the appropriate page of the flow.
  2. Find and right-click on the button, option, dropdown list, or element in the action. 
  3. Select Inspect. Your browser console will open with the highlighted code.
  4. Right-click on the highlighted code and select:
    1. Copy>Copy Selector in Chrome.
    2. Copy>Copy CSS Selector in Firefox.
    3. Copy>Copy Selector in Edge.

The CSS selector is now copied and you can paste it into the action field. Learn more about CSS selectors.

Action details

Automated flow scanning supports seven actions listed in the table below.

Action Description Example Notes
Open Opens the provided URL. https://yourcompany.com You must include https:// in the URL.
Scan Scans the page. Home page

You must create a new page for different page states.
Click Clicks a button or an option using the CSS selector. #mainContainer > div > div > app-logout > div >  div> div > a  
Type Fills in a value in a free-form field. user@yourcompany.com You must use the Click action on a field element before typing.
Wait for element Waits for the element to load using the CSS selector. #loginPage > div > div.card-body > div > div > form Selectors must be fixed, not dynamic, so the action can be completed.
Dropdown Selects from a dropdown list using the CSS selector and specified value.

#app-header > nav > div.row.w-100.ng-star-inserted > div > div.user-menu.d-none.d-sm-flex > div.user-menu-dropdown.position-relative > button

Log out

 Dropdown only works with pure HTML dropdowns. If the Dropdown action isn’t working, try using the Click action to open the dropdown and select the desired value.
Password Fills in a value in a free-form field.

p@ssw0rd!

You must use the Click action on a field element before typing.

Any authentication details:

  • In the middle of an automated flow must be added as an action.
  • At the beginning of an automated flow can be added in the advanced scan set up.
Keystroke Presses a key on your keyboard.

b

Automated flows only supports single keystrokes and Shift+Tab.

Note that Shift+Tab must be title in title case.

 

CSS selector reference table

The table below outlines CSS selector attributes and corresponding symbols. For more detailed information on CSS selectors, visit CSS Attribute Selector.

Attribute Symbol Used
Using id #
Using class name .
Using attribute [attribute='value']
Using multiple attribute [attribute1='value1'][attribute2='value2']
Contains *
Starts with ^
Ends with $

 

Run a scan with a pre scan automated flow

  1. Go to your website in the platform.
  2. Select Scans.
  3. Choose Run scan.
  4. Select Advanced.
  5. Enter the scan title.
  6. Select a pre scan automated flow.
  7. Select Run scan. It may take a few minutes for the scan to complete.

Set up monitoring with a pre scan automated flow

Only organization administrators and workspace administrators can set up or edit monitoring.

Go to advanced setup

To set up monitoring using advanced setup:

  1. Go to Websites/apps.
  2. Select the website you want to set up monitoring for.
  3. Select Monitoring.
  4. Select Monitoring settings.
  5. Choose Advanced setup.

Step 1: Set the scope

  • Pages where the only URL difference is query parameters count as separate pages.
  • Add authentication details isn't available when you select pre scan automated flow

There are three page discovery methods:

  • Crawl
  • Sitemap
  • List of pages

Crawl

This option automatically compiles and scans multiple pages from your website based on custom parameters. This is helpful when you don’t know which pages to scan or want a larger sample of pages from across your site. Using the crawl option, you can get the most current accessibility data from your website without providing or updating specific pages to scan.

The website crawler scans subpages in the order they are listed on the website, left to right and top to bottom. There is no limit on crawl depth, and you can scan up to your package limits.

To set up the web crawler for your monitoring scan:

  1. Under Page discovery method, select Crawl.
  2. Enter:
    • The start page. For example, https://example.com.
    • The maximum number of pages.
    • The crawl depth.
  3. Select a pre scan automated flow.
  4. Optional steps:
    • Deselect Skip URL # endings. Skip URL # endings stops the scanner from scanning similar pages differentiated by number signs (#).
    • Deselect Skip URL ? endings. Skip URL ? endings stops the scanner from scanning similar pages differentiated by a question mark in the URL.
    • To exclude certain pages, select Exclude pages. Enter one or more words from the URL(s) of the pages you want to exclude. For example, enter "support" to exclude any pages that contain "support" in the URL.
    • To add a header request, select Modify headers.
  5. Select Step 2.

Sitemap

A sitemap is a .xml file that lists your website’s essential pages.

To set up monitoring using a sitemap:

  1. Under Page discovery method, select Sitemap.
  2. Enter the URL to your sitemap. For example, sitemap.xml
  3. Select a pre scan automated flow.
  4. Optional steps:
    • To exclude certain pages, select Exclude pages. Enter one or more words from the URL(s) of the pages you want to exclude. For example, enter "support" to exclude any pages that contain "support" in the URL.
    • To add a header request, select Modify headers.
  5. Select Step 2.

List of pages

List of pages allows you to enter a specific set of pages you want monitored.

To add your list of pages:

  1. Under Page discovery method, select List of pages.
  2. Enter the URLs of the webpages you want to monitor.
  3. Select a pre scan automated flow.
  4. Optional step:
  5. Select Step 2.

Step 2: Set the scan schedule

To set the scan schedule:

  1. Select the recurrence.
  2. Choose the start on date. This is the date of your first monitoring scan.
  3. Select Step 3.

Step 3: Choose the scan settings

Monitoring scans use your default testing tool.

To set up scan settings:

  1. Select the WCAG conformance level and version.
  2. Choose the viewport size.
  3. Select Step 4.

Step 4: Configure email alerts

To stay updated with your monitoring score, you can set up email alerts for up to 10 recipients. The alerts are customizable by recipient. Monitoring has the following email alerts:

  • Scan completed
  • Scan drops below the percent
  • Scan drops below the previous score by percent
Email alerts are only available for users in the workspace. Email addresses not associated with a user in the workspace won't receive monitoring alerts.

Add recipients

To add recipients:

  1. Select Add another recipient.
  2. Enter the recipient's email.
  3. Choose the alert(s) you want them to receive. Note that for scan drop alerts, you need to enter a threshold.
  4. Select Save recipient.
  5. If you’re done setting up email alerts, select Step 5.

Add additional alerts

To add additional alerts:

  1. Find the recipient and select Edit.
  2. Choose the alert(s) you want them to receive. Note that for scan drop alerts, you need to enter a threshold.
  3. Select Save recipient.
  4. If you’re done setting up email alerts, select Step 5.

Step 5: Review and save your settings

Before saving your monitoring settings, carefully review the scope, schedule, scan settings, and email alerts.

If something needs correcting:

  • Select Edit and make the changes.

If you’re ready to start monitoring:

  • Select Save.
The results of your first monitoring scan may take some time to generate. Check back later to review your results!

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