RobotFramework

Robot Framework and Apache Ant

This tutorial is meant to show how easy you can use Robot Framework with Apache Ant. You can use later the build file for example with Jenkins.

Preconditions

Instructions

My folder structure looks like this:

Project structure

Within the folder “report” all logs and reports should be stored. Inside the folder “testsuite” are all Robot Framework files. The “build.xml” looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="RobotFramework" basedir="." default="run">
	<description>
		Simple Apache Ant example for running RobotFramework
	</description>
	
	<property name="suite.dir" location="testsuite" />
	<property name="docs.dir" location="report" />
	
	<!-- set time -->
	<target name="init">
		<tstamp>
			<format property="TODAY_DE" pattern="dd.MMMM.yyyy" locale="de" />
		</tstamp>
	</target>
	
	<!-- delete docs.dir -->
	<target name="clean" depends="init">
		<delete dir="${docs.dir}" />
	</target>
	
	<!-- create docs.dir -->
	<target name="setup" depends="clean">
		<mkdir dir="${docs.dir}" />
	</target>
	
	<!-- running testsuite -->
	<target name="run" depends="setup">
		<echo message="${TODAY_DE}" />
		<exec executable="pybot">
			<arg line="-d ${docs.dir}" />
			<arg value="${suite.dir}" />
		</exec>
	</target>
	
</project>

The content of the build.xml is self-explanatory. Now opening a terminal and run Apache Ant.

# direct on folder simple type ant
$ ant

# you can specify the build file
$ ant -buildfile build.xml

# you can specify the target
$ ant run

 

Robot Framework and Selenium-Grid 2.0

This small tutorial shows, how to run a generic Robot Framework test with Selenium Grid.

Preparation

Steps

Now we create a very simple test

*** Settings ***
Documentation         This is just a tutorial
...
Metadata              VERSION    0.1
Library               Selenium2Library
Suite Setup           Start Browser
Suite Teardown        Close Browser

*** Variables ***
${SERVER}             https://www.google.ch
${BROWSER}            firefox

*** Keywords ***
Start Browser
    [Documentation]   Start firefox browser on Selenium Grid
    Open Browser      ${SERVER}   ${BROWSER}   None    http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub

*** Test Cases ***
Check something
    [Documentation]   Check the page title
    Title Should Be   Google

Now start the Selenium Grid (Hub and Node)

# start the hub (in terminal 1)
$ java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.44.0.jar -role hub -port 4444 

# start the node (in terminal 2)
$ java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.44.0.jar -role node -hub http://localhost:4444/grid/register

Note: The actual version for selenium-server-standalone may be different!

Open the browser http://localhost:4444/grid/console and check the node is registered. This step can be skipped, just to be sure.

In the last step we start the test. Open a 3rd terminal, browse to the folder and start the Robot Framework.

# run pybot
$ pybot tutorial.robot

If everything works well, the output should look like this:

================================================================
Tutorial :: This is just a tutorial
================================================================
Check something :: Check the page title                 | PASS |
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tutorial:: This is just a tutorial                      | PASS |
1 critical test, 1 passed, 0 failed
1 test total, 1 passed, 0 failed
================================================================
Output: /output.xml
Log: /log.html
Report: /report.html

PyCharm and Robot Framework

This tutorial should show, how easy it is to use the Robot Framework with PyCharm. After this small setup you can use PyCharm for your test automation with Robot Framework.

Preparation

Install PyCharm and the Robot Framework.

# check installed modules
$ pip list

# install Robot Framework (if not listed)
$ sudo pip install robotframework

# upgrade to the latest version
$ sudo pip install --upgrade robotframework

# verify installation
$ pybot --version

Configuration of PyCharm

Now start PyCharm and open “Preferences” – “Plugins”. Press “Browse repositories…” button and search for “Intellibot”. Press “Install plugin” button and restart PyCharm.

pycharm intellibot

Now create a new directory “testsuite” with new file named “example.robot” inside and insert the following content.

*** Test Cases ***

Example action log         this is a test

Open “Preferences” – “Tools” – “External Tools” and press “+” button. Insert a value for “Name”, enable checkbox “Open console”, insert “pybot” into Program, “test suite/” into Parameters and select you specific Working directory.

pycharm robotframework

After press “OK” buttons, go to menu “Tools” – “External Tools” and select your given name. The output should show something like this:

/usr/local/bin/pybot testsuite/
=============================================================
Testsuite
=============================================================
Testsuite.Example
=============================================================
Example action                                       | PASS |
-------------------------------------------------------------
Testsuite.Example                                    | PASS |
1 critical test, 1 passed, 0 failed
1 test total, 1 passed, 0 failed
=============================================================
Testsuite                                            | PASS |
1 critical test, 1 passed, 0 failed
1 test total, 1 passed, 0 failed
=============================================================
Output: /output.xml
Log: /log.html
Report: /report.html

Process finished with exit code 0

Extended

In the next steps we create a first very simple test automation. For this we need to install the “selenium2library”.

# install package
$ sudo pip install robotframework-selenium2library

Now we create inside the “testsuite” directory a file called “1st_test.robot” with following content.

*** Settings ***
Documentation           This is a simple test with Robot Framework
Library                 Selenium2Library

*** Variables ***
${SERVER}               http://google.com
${BROWSER}              Firefox
${DELAY}                0

*** Keywords ***
Open Browser To Login Page
   Open Browser         ${SERVER}   ${BROWSER}
   Maximize Browser Window
   Set Selenium Speed   ${DELAY}

*** Test Cases ***
Valid Login Open Browser To Login Page
[Teardown].             Close Browser

After running the output should look like this:

/usr/local/bin/pybot testsuite/
=============================================================
Testsuite
=============================================================
Testsuite.1St Test :: This is a simple test with Robot Framework
=============================================================
Valid Login                                          | PASS |
-------------------------------------------------------------
Testsuite.1St Test :: This is a simple test with Robot Framework      | PASS |
1 critical test, 1 passed, 0 failed
1 test total, 1 passed, 0 failed
=============================================================
Testsuite.Example
=============================================================
Example action                                       | PASS |
-------------------------------------------------------------
Testsuite.Example                                    | PASS |
1 critical test, 1 passed, 0 failed
1 test total, 1 passed, 0 failed
=============================================================
Testsuite                                            | PASS |
2 critical tests, 2 passed, 0 failed
2 tests total, 2 passed, 0 failed
=============================================================
Output: /output.xml
Log: /log.html
Report: /report.html

Process finished with exit code 0