Robot Framework

How to setup Robot Framework

Robot Framework is a generic open source automation framework. It can be used for test automation and robotic process automation (RPA).

Robot Framework installation on macOS

Install python 3:
$ brew install python3

verify python version:
$ python3 --version

Install Robot Framework:
$ pip3 install robotframework

Install Selenium library:
$ pip3 install robotframework-seleniumlibrary

Install geckodriver for firefox:
$ brew install geckodriver

Install chromedriver:
$ brew install --cask chromedriver

if you are using MAC and you get error: "chromedriver cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified"

Allow execution:
$ cd /usr/local/Caskroom/chromedriver/<version>/ && xattr -d com.apple.quarantine chromedriver

Windows installation

Install python3:
Download and install python 3 software from python website Check "Add Python to PATH" during installation

Check python and pip installation from command line:
> python --version && pip --version

Install robot framework:
> pip install robotframework

Check robot framework installation:
> robot --version

First Testcase for Web

Let's create simple testcase for web testing. You can get it also from here

												
*** Settings ***
Documentation  Example testcase 1: Robot Framework with SeleniumLibrary
Library       SeleniumLibrary
												
*** Variables ***
${LOGIN URL}      https://www.google.com
${BROWSER}        Chrome
${TITLE}          Google
												
*** Test Cases ***
Example 1
[Documentation]     open webpage and verify page title
Open Browser To Search Page
Verify Page Title
[Teardown]          Close Browser
												
*** Keywords ***
Open Browser To Search Page
Open Browser        ${LOGIN URL}    ${BROWSER}

Verify Page Title
Title Should Be     ${TITLE}
										

execute testcase:

On testcase we launch browser (chrome) on https://www.google.com and verify that page title is Google

Robot And Selenium Locators

SeleniumLibrary uses the Selenium WebDriver modules internally to control a web browser. All keywords in SeleniumLibrary that need to interact with an element on a web page take an argument typically named locators that specifies how to find the element. SeleniumLibrary supports finding elements based on the element id, XPath expressions, or CSS selectors

Few examples below or see this testcase

											
Input Text  username  ${USERNAME}  # locator with id called usernamr
										

											
Input Text  class=usernameclass  ${USERNAME}  # locator with class name usernameclass
										

											
Input Text  //*[@class='usernameclass']  ${USERNAME}  # locator with xpath, use class
										

											
Input Text  //input[contains(@name,'passw')]  ${USERNAME}  # xpath locator with partial name
										

											
Click Button  	//*[@type='submit' or @name='reset']  ${USERNAME}
# xpath identifies the elements whose single or both conditions are true 
										

REST API Testing

Nice - with selenium web testing is easy. Let's check how to test REST API. Example is also here. First install REST library for robot. RESTinstance is great library for API testing. See RESTinstance documentation

												
*** Settings ***
Documentation  EXAMPLE REST testcase
Library   REST https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com
												
*** Variables ***
${EXPECTED_ID}          1
${EXPECTED_NAME}        Leanne Graham
${EXPECTED_USERNAME}    Bret
												
*** Test Cases ***
GET USER VALIDATE ID, NAME AND USERNAME
GET             /users/1                # new instance
Output schema   response body           # this will print out response
Object          response body           # values are fully optional
Integer         response body id          ${EXPECTED_ID}     # verify id value
String          response body name        ${EXPECTED_NAME}   # verify name value
String          response body username    ${EXPECTED_USERNAME}   # verify username

										

execute testcase:

REST api testcase: GET REST api (https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com) and validate id, name and username values. Testcase passed.

Mobile (Android) Testing

With Robot Framework and Appium you can test iOS and Android mobile applications. Install Appium and appium library for robot
$ npm install -g appium
$ pip3 install robotframework-appiumlibrary

Connect Android device and start appium service:

												
# Example Robot Framework code for mobile
*** Settings ***
Library  AppiumLibrary

												
*** Test Cases ***
Open Application On Android Device
  Open Application     http://localhost:4723     udid=< your deviceid here > platformName=Android     deviceName=AndroidDevice     app=app.example.com    appActivity= com.example.com.MainActivity
												
  [Teardown]     Close Application
										

now run testcase:

Mobile eexample testcase launches and closes application (app.example.com) on mobile device.

Database Testing

With Robot Framework and DatabaseLibrary you can for example query database table content after browser connection. Install required libraries with pip:
$ pip3 install robotframework-databaselibrary
$ pip3 install pymysql


											
*** Settings ***
											
Library     DatabaseLibrary
											
*** Variables ***
${DBNAME}       customers
${DBUSER}       root
${DBPASSWD}     example
${DBHOST}       localhost
${DBPORT}       3306
${DBTABLE}      customer
${DBMODULE}     pymysql
@{QUERY RESULTS}
											
*** Test Cases ***
Verify Table On Database
 Connect To Database  ${DBMODULE}     ${DBNAME}   ${DBUSER}   ${DBPASSWD}     ${DBHOST}   ${DBPORT}
 Table Must Exist    ${DBTABLE}
 Check If Exists In Database     SELECT * FROM ${DBTABLE}
 @{queryResults}     Query       SELECT * FROM ${DBTABLE}
 Log to console    @{QUERY RESULTS}[0]
										

now execute testcase:

Test connects to database, verifies customer table and queries data

Requests HTTP Client

With Robot Framework and RequestsLibrary you can utilize HTTP client with keywords. Install required library with pip:
$ python3 -m pip install robotframework-requests


example code:

execute testcase:

Test executes GET request to api.github, verifies that connection succeeded and response contains text SaaristoAntti