Pre scan automated flows

Pre scan automated flows execute a series of user actions on your website before an accessibility scan starts. Unlike automated flows, pre scan automated flows don't scan your webpage. Instead, they handle blockers by automatically completing required steps, like submitting information to popups (for example, date of birth or state/province). 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.

On this page:

• Create a pre scan automated flow
• Run a scan with a pre scan automated flow
• Set up monitoring with a pre scan automated flow

Create a pre scan automated flow

Create pre scan automated flows to get past popups, so you can scan your digital content.

Add a pre scan automated flow

To add a pre scan automated flow:

1. Go to your digital asset 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 a pre scan automated flow

Add each step of your pre scan automated flow using actions and their targets (CSS selectors and/or values). 

Note: 

• The platform initiates pre scan automated flows before the close cookie popups option and authentication options. If cookie popups or authentication details are required to access the website and are part of the pre scan steps, be sure to include them in the flow rather than in the advanced scan or monitoring configuration.
• If you're configuring a pre scan automated flow with authentication details, you must use the Wait for element and target an element after the login page to validate that the login is successful.

Action details

The table below describes the actions available for pre scan automated flows. If you already know about the available actions, you can get started with adding actions.

Action	Description	Example target	Notes
Open	Opens the provided URL.	URL: https://yourcompany.com	You must include https:// in the URL.
Click	Clicks a button or an option using the CSS selector.	CSS selector: #mainContainer > div > div > app-logout > div >  div> div > a
Type	Adds characters to a free-form field.	Value: user@company.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.	CSS selector: #loginPage > div > div.card-body > div > div > form	Always use a fixed element to ensure this action is successful. For example, a header element. Do not use dynamic elements.
Dropdown	Selects from a dropdown list using the CSS selector and specified value.	CSS selector: #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 Value: Log out	Dropdown only works with pure HTML dropdowns. Use the option value for the specified value rather than the front end text. For example, if the browser's DevTools show <option value="74">Ontario</option>, you should enter 74 instead of Ontario. If the Dropdown action isn’t working, try the Click action to open the dropdown and select the desired value.
Password	Clicks a password field and enters characters.	CSS selector: #password Value: p@ssw0rd!	The password value is hidden as you type and encoded for security. The Password option includes Click by default, so you don’t need to add a Click action before it.
Keystroke	Presses a key on your keyboard.	Value: b	Automated flows only supports single keystrokes and Shift+Tab. Note that Shift+Tab must be in title case.
Scroll by pixel	Scrolls the number of pixels up or down the page.	Pixels: 500	Positive pixels scroll down the page. Negative pixels scroll up the page.
Change input	Clicks a field and enters characters.	CSS selector: #twotabsearchtextbox Value: Shoes	This action combines the Click and Type action into a single step.

 

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. Enter the pixels, value, or CSS selector. To find the CSS selectors:
   1. Go to the webpage with the element.
   2. Find and right-click on the element. 
   3. Select Inspect. Your browser's DevTools will open with the highlighted code.
   4. Right-click on the highlighted code and select:
      • Copy>Copy Selector in Chrome.
      • Copy>Copy CSS Selector in Firefox.
      • Copy>Copy Selector in Edge.
      
      
5. Repeat steps 2-4 for each action in the flow.
6. Once you've added all your actions, select Save. You can now run a scan or configure monitoring with your pre scan automated flow.

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. 

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
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

 

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 digital asset 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 Digital assets.
2. Select the digital asset 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:
   
   • To add a header request, select Modify headers.
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!