Test Cases here

ByBrian Lucas

As an expert in test automation with over 10 years of experience, I often get asked about the best tools and techniques for automated testing of web applications. In my experience, Robot Framework paired with Selenium WebDriver is one of the most powerful combinations for web test automation.

In this tutorial, I will provide a comprehensive guide to get you started with test automation using Robot Framework and Selenium. I will cover the fundamentals of both tools, the setup process, how to write automated test cases, execution, and best practices gleaned from real-world experience. Even if you are new to test automation, you will be able to follow along and start automating in no time!

Introduction to Robot Framework

Robot Framework is an open-source automation framework that uses tabular syntax to create easy to read test cases. It has a rich ecosystem of libraries that extend its functionality for things like UI testing, API testing, etc.

Some of the key advantages of Robot Framework include:

  • Tabular syntax for writing test cases that is simple to understand
  • Cross-platform support including Windows, MacOS, and Linux
  • There are over 40 builtin libraries and many more external ones available
  • Integrates seamlessly with other tools like source control systems, CI/CD pipelines etc.
  • Generates rich logs and reports once test execution is complete

We will leverage these capabilities while building our test automation solution.

Introduction to Selenium

Selenium is the most popular open-source test automation tool for testing web applications. The Selenium WebDriver API allows you to interact with web page elements to perform actions like click, type text, validate page title etc.

Some of the key features of Selenium include:

  • Support for multiple programming languages through WebDriver bindings
  • Cross-browser support including Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc.
  • Active open source community behind Selenium for constant improvement and bug fixes
  • Distributed testing capability through Selenium Grid

By combining Robot Framework and Selenium, we get the advantages of both tools in a single, cohesive solution. Next we will setup these tools on our system.

Setting up Robot Framework and SeleniumLibrary

The first step is to install Python on your system since Robot Framework is based on Python. Download the latest Python version from python.org and run the installer.

Once Python is installed, run the following command to install Robot Framework:

pip install robotframework

Next, we need to install SeleniumLibrary which contains all the keywords needed to interface Selenium with Robot Framework. Enter the command below: 

  
pip install robotframework-seleniumlibrary

Additionally, you need to download the required browser drivers and add them to your system Path. This allows Selenium to launch and communicate with browsers for testing.

For example, if you want to test on Chrome browser, you need to download ChromeDriver and place it in a location included in your system PATH.

Now we are all set to start using Robot Framework and Selenium for creating automated browser tests!

Creating a Sample Test Suite

The first step in creating an automated test with Robot Framework is to create a test suite file with extension .robot. This file will contain all the configuration settings, reusable keywords and test cases.

Let‘s create a simple test suite to launch the browser, navigate to Wikipedia home page, enter a search term like "Software Testing" and validate the page title contains that text.

Importing SeleniumLibrary

We need to import the SeleniumLibrary into every test suite to access the keywords it provides:

*** Settings ***  
Library     SeleniumLibrary

Test Setup and Teardown

Setup and teardown sections allow you to configure pre-requisites or cleanup tasks before and after test suite execution. Let‘s open the browser before starting tests and close it afterwards:

*** Settings ***
Library     SeleniumLibrary 

 Test Cases 



 Keywords 



 Setup 

Open Browser    https://www.wikipedia.org/    chrome


 Teardown 
Close Browser

Test Case

Each test case starts with a name followed by keywords for those test steps: 

  
*** Test Cases ***

Search Wikipedia for Software Testing
Set Browser Implicit Wait    5
Input Text    id=searchInput    Software Testing
Click Button    xpath=//button[@type=‘submit‘]
Title Should Contain    Software testing - Wikipedia

The various test steps use SeleniumLibrary keywords like Input Text, Click Button etc. to interact with web elements.

Keyword Definitions

If certain repeated test steps are used across multiple test cases, they can be put into reusable keywords like: 

*** Keywords ***

Launch Wikipedia Home Page
Go To    https://www.wikipedia.org/

This keyword can be called from any test case that needs to load the Wikipedia home page.

Complete Suite

Putting together all the pieces, here is how the complete test suite looks:

*** Settings ***
Library     SeleniumLibrary   

 Variables 
${BROWSER}    chrome
${URL}    https://www.wikipedia.org/


 Test Cases 
Search Wikipedia for Software Testing
Launch Wikipedia Home Page
Set Browser Implicit Wait    5
Input Text    id=searchInput    Software Testing
Click Button    xpath=//button[@type=‘submit‘]
Title Should Contain    Software testing - Wikipedia


 Keywords 
Launch Wikipedia Home Page
Go To    ${URL}   


 Setup 

Open Browser    ${URL}    ${BROWSER}


 Teardown 
Close Browser

To execute this test suite, save it as wikipedia_tests.robot and run the command:

robot wikipedia_tests.robot

This will execute all the test cases and give the test report.

Handling Locator Changes

A key challenge with test automation is dealing with changes to page elements over time. This leads to locators no longer being found and failing tests.

Here are some best practices you must follow:

  • Use unique IDs assigned by developers whenever available e.g. id=searchInput
  • Prefer CSS selectors and XPaths over fragile options like link text
  • Implement dynamic element locators using keyword arguments

For example, a keyword to search text can be defined as:

*** Keywords ***
Input Search Text
    [Arguments]    ${search_locator}    ${text}
    Input Text    ${search_locator}    ${text}

This makes switching locators easy without changing ever test case.

Troubleshooting Test Failures

Tests can fail for many reasons like changes in UI, environment issues etc. Here are my top troubleshooting techniques for test failures:

  • Enable debug logs to get full traceback for failure
  • Analyze screenshot on failure to identify error cause
  • Check for stale elements which are detached from DOM
  • Validate test environment configuration and dependencies
  • Rerun only failed test cases to isolate issue

By methodically reviewing logs, screenshots and test runs, you can identify and fix the root cause leading to test failures.

Integrating with CI/CD Pipelines

To leverage test automation, it should be made part of your DevOps toolchain. Here are popular ways to integrate Robot+Selenium tests into CI/CD workflows:

  • Git/GitHub: Store test code in repos for version control
  • Jenkins: Trigger automated browser tests using Jenkins
  • Docker: Run tests inside Docker containers for isolation
  • BrowserStack: Cross-browser test on 2000+ real devices

Refer to my other in-depth guides on CI/CD integration strategies for tips.

Top Resources for Learning

Here are the best resources I recommend to further master Robot Framework test automation:

Make use of these tutorials, documentation guides and videos to take your Robot Framework skills to the next level.

Conclusion

In this comprehensive tutorial, I have covered the fundamentals of Robot Framework and Selenium as an end-to-end automated testing solution. The key things you learned are:

  • Installing Robot Framework and Selenium bindings
  • Anatomy of test suites including suite setup, variables etc.
  • Creating test cases using SeleniumLibrary keywords
  • Strategies for reliable locators and handling failures
  • Integrations with CI/CD and debugging techniques

I hope you found this guide useful. Automated browser testing is critical for modern web development and this Robot + Selenium combination offers you a complete solution.

As you start adopting test automation, feel free to reach out to me for any questions or issues faced. I will try my best to help you out based on my decade long experience.

Happy test automation!

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