Robot Framework Test Automation

Create test suites and automated acceptance tests from scratch Overview In Detail Testing has traditionally been a part of software development, and has always involved a lot of manual effort. It can be automated with Robot Framework, which offers numerous benefits from cost saving to increased quality assurance in the software delivery. This book will help you to start designing test suites and Automated Acceptance Tests. Helping you to get started with automating acceptance tests, this book will provide a detailed overview of acceptance test management practices and principles. You will also be introduced to advanced techniques that you can use to customize the test suite, along with helpful tips and tricks to extend and leverage it in a wide variety of scenarios. Starting with a detailed explanation of the need for automated acceptance test driven development, this guide will help you with an empty test project creation and execution for proof of concept, and validation of installation. This book will also cover the Robot Framework in detail, and will help you test desktop applications using Java Swing. You will gain an in-depth knowledge of tricky activities, such as setting up a test environment and using it with Selenium. You will also learn about other popular libraries, and how to test network protocols, web services, and databases. This book will cover the entire Robot Framework with real- world practical material to make its content informative and interesting. By the end of this book you will be able to write acceptance tests for desktop and web applications, as well as know how to extend acceptance testing in other scenarios that are commonly devoid of tests, and present the results appropriately. What you will learn from this book Approach Written in an engaging, easy-to-follow style, this practical guide will teach you to create test suites and automated acceptance Tests with the Robot Framework. Who this book is written for If you are an automation engineer, QA engineer, developer or tester who is looking to get started with Robot Framework, as well as find a standardized testing solution, this book is ideal for you. No prior knowledge of Robot Framework or acceptance testing is required, although a basic knowledge of Python is required for few sections of the book. Cover 1 Copyright 3 Credits 4 About the Author 5 About the Reviewers 6 www.PacktPub.com 7 Table of Contents 8 Preface 12 Chapter 1: Getting Started with the Robot Framework 18 Need for acceptance testing 19 Pinpoint application failure 19 Reducing the error rate 20 Providing the automation and reuse 20 Creating the a test audit trail 20 What is the Robot Framework? 20 The Robot Framework ecosystem 21 Installing and setting up the Robot Framework 22 Source installation 23 One-click graphical installer 24 Java environment installation 24 The Python package installation 25 Support for different runtimes 25 Command details 26 A small exercise 27 Summary 30 Chapter 2: Configuring a test project 32 Test naming conventions 33 Creating execution order 33 Test randomization 35 Test file structure 37 HTML format 37 TSV format 38 Plaintext format 39 Pipe separated formatting 39 Restructured text format 40 Test configuration files 41 Suite initialization files 41 External variable files 42 Structure 43 Python/Java files containing variables 43 Resource files 44 Structure 44 Test setup and teardown 45 Summary 47 Chapter 3: Further Test Customization 48 Automation and agile 48 Internal re-use 51 Loops and flow control 51 Flow control 52 Breaking off without finishing 52 Feeding external data 53 Performing a set of tasks repeatedly within a test 53 Application in test automation 54 Higher order re-use 54 User keywords 54 Test templates 55 User libraries 55 Approaches towards writing tests 56 Keyboard-driven tests 56 Data-driven tests 57 Behavior-driven tests 57 Behavior driven development 57 BDD using the Robot Framework 58 Standard libraries 58 Collections 59 Dialogs 59 Operating System 60 Process 60 Screenshot 61 String 61 Telnet 62 Xml 62 Remote test execution 62 Summary 63 Chapter 4: Extending the Framework 64 Testing the web applications 65 Selenium 65 The Robot Framework Selenium library 65 Running web-based tests 66 Using the Selenium2Library 67 Debugging through the REPL shell 68 Testing desktop applications 69 Testing through objects – Java Swing 69 A Swing test 70 Testing through images 71 Sikuli 71 Creating a custom Sikuli library 73 Other noteworthy libraries 78 Testing network protocols 78 Testing the web services 78 Testing the database 78 Summary 79 Chapter 5: Generating Reports 80 Need for reports 80 Quick test run assessment 80 Result comparison 80 Individual result detailing 81 Intelligent assessment 81 Generated files 81 Output structure 81 Heading 81 Summary information 81 Test statistics 82 Test details 82 Test execution log 82 Test coloring information 82 Separating files 84 Making changes in outputs 85 Customizing the report title 85 Background color customization 85 Changing how much is logged 86 Changing the report format 86 Creating derived reports 88 Recreating reports 89 Viewing difference 89 Further result usage 89 Summary 90 Index 92

In Detail

Testing has traditionally been a part of software development, and has always involved a lot of manual effort. It can be automated with Robot Framework, which offers numerous benefits from cost saving to increased quality assurance in the software delivery. This book will help you to start designing test suites and Automated Acceptance Tests.

Helping you to get started with automating acceptance tests, this book will provide a detailed overview of acceptance test management practices and principles. You will also be introduced to advanced techniques that you can use to customize the test suite, along with helpful tips and tricks to extend and leverage it in a wide variety of scenarios.

Starting with a detailed explanation of the need for automated acceptance test driven development, this guide will help you with an empty test project creation and execution for proof of concept, and validation of installation. This book will also cover the Robot Framework in detail, and will help you test desktop applications using Java Swing. You will gain an in-depth knowledge of tricky activities, such as setting up a test environment and using it with Selenium.

You will also learn about other popular libraries, and how to test network protocols, web services, and databases. This book will cover the entire Robot Framework with real- world practical material to make its content informative and interesting.

By the end of this book you will be able to write acceptance tests for desktop and web applications, as well as know how to extend acceptance testing in other scenarios that are commonly devoid of tests, and present the results appropriately.

Approach

Written in an engaging, easy-to-follow style, this practical guide will teach you to create test suites and automated acceptance Tests with the Robot Framework.

Who this book is for

If you are an automation engineer, QA engineer, developer or tester who is looking to get started with Robot Framework, as well as find a standardized testing solution, this book is ideal for you. No prior knowledge of Robot Framework or acceptance testing is required, although a basic knowledge of Python is required for few sections of the book.