Robot Framework Example: Testing Web Page Title

 

Robot Framework is a generic open-source automation framework for acceptance testing, acceptance test-driven development (ATDD), and robotic process automation (RPA). It utilizes a keyword-driven approach and supports both BDD (Behavior-Driven Development) and ATDD (Acceptance Test-Driven Development) methodologies. Here's an overview of Robot Framework for testers:

1. Keyword-Driven Approach: Robot Framework follows a keyword-driven approach, where tests are written in a tabular format using keywords, arguments, and documentation. This approach makes test cases easy to read, write, and maintain, even for non-technical users.

2. Support for BDD and ATDD: Robot Framework supports both BDD and ATDD, allowing testers to write tests in a natural language format using Given-When-Then syntax for BDD or Given-When-And-Then syntax for ATDD. This promotes collaboration between testers, developers, and stakeholders by enabling them to define test scenarios together.

3. Rich Ecosystem of Libraries: Robot Framework has a rich ecosystem of libraries and extensions for testing various types of applications and technologies, including web applications, APIs, databases, desktop applications, and more. These libraries provide pre-defined keywords for interacting with different systems and services, making it easy to automate tests across different platforms.

4. Built-in Test Libraries: Robot Framework comes with built-in test libraries for common testing tasks, such as file operations, string manipulation, date and time handling, and more. These libraries provide reusable keywords that testers can use to perform common testing activities without writing custom code.

5. Cross-Platform Support: Robot Framework is cross-platform and can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. This enables testers to write tests on one platform and execute them on different platforms with minimal changes.

6. Integration with Continuous Integration (CI) Tools: Robot Framework integrates seamlessly with popular CI tools like Jenkins, Bamboo, and TeamCity, allowing testers to automate the execution of test suites as part of the CI/CD pipeline. This enables teams to achieve faster feedback cycles and deliver high-quality software more efficiently.

7. Reporting and Logging: Robot Framework generates detailed reports and logs that provide insights into test results, including passed and failed test cases, execution times, and error messages. These reports can be customized and shared with stakeholders for review and analysis.

8. Extensibility: Robot Framework is highly extensible and allows testers to create custom keywords, libraries, and plugins to extend its functionality. This flexibility enables testers to tailor Robot Framework to their specific testing needs and integrate it with other tools and technologies.

Let's create a simple example to demonstrate how to use Robot Framework for testing a basic web application. In this example, we'll write a test case to verify the title of a web page.

1. Create Test Case:

   Create a new file named test_webpage.robot with the following content:

*** Settings ***

Documentation     Example test case to verify webpage title

Library           SeleniumLibrary

*** Variables ***

${BROWSER}        Chrome

${URL}            http://example.com

${EXPECTED TITLE} Example Domain

*** Test Cases ***

Verify Webpage Title

    [Documentation]    Verify that the title of the webpage is correct

    Open Browser    ${URL}    ${BROWSER}

    ${title}=    Get Title

    Should Be Equal As Strings    ${title}    ${EXPECTED TITLE}

    Close Browser

1. In this test case:

   • We import the SeleniumLibrary, which provides keywords for interacting with web browsers.
   • We define variables for the browser type (${BROWSER}), URL of the webpage (${URL}), and expected title of the webpage (${EXPECTED TITLE}).
   • We define a test case named Verify Webpage Title that opens the browser, gets the title of the webpage, verifies it against the expected title, and closes the browser.

2. Set Up Selenium Web Driver:

   Make sure you have the Selenium Web Driver installed for your preferred browser (e.g., Chrome or Firefox). You can download the appropriate web driver from the Selenium website and add it to your system's PATH.

3. Run the Test:

   Open a terminal and navigate to the directory containing the test_webpage.robot file. Then, run the following command:

4. robot test_webpage.robot

5. 1. Robot Framework will execute the test case and display the results in the terminal.

   2. View Test Results:

      Robot Framework generates a detailed report in HTML format. Open the generated report (log.html) in a web browser to view the test results, including passed and failed test cases, execution times, and error messages.

   This example demonstrates how to use Robot Framework to write and execute a simple test case for verifying the title of a web page. Robot Framework's keyword-driven syntax and integration with Selenium make it easy to automate testing of web applications.

Overall, Robot Framework is a powerful and versatile automation framework for testers, offering features for writing, executing, and maintaining automated tests across different types of applications and technologies. Its keyword-driven approach, support for BDD and ATDD, rich ecosystem of libraries, and integration capabilities make it a popular choice for test automation in Agile and DevOps environments.