Robot Framework Launcher (robot_framework.jar)

The Robot Framework launcher allows interfacing with Robot Framework testsuites.

Configuration

The robot_framework.xml file is just a template and must NOT be edited. It's used by the system to build dynamically the form that the user will be able to fill in from the GUI when creating a custom execution configuration.

Parameter	Description
General
Test root path	This must indicate where are located all the Robot Framework tests. This is a root path. Each test in XStudio has a canonical path that will be appended to this path. This path MUST not include an ending slash. Default value is: `C:/Program Files/robot-framework/src`
Asynchronous timeout (in seconds)	This must indicates the maximum time the system will wait for the test to complete. Default value is: `600`
Python
Python install path	This must indicate the path to Python install Default value is: `C:/Python26`
Robot Framework
Optional arguments	This must indicate some optional arguments you may want to pass Default value is: `<empty>`
Extension	This must indicate the extension of your Robot Framework scripts (.txt or .robot): Default value is: `.txt`

These values can be changed while creating the campaign session from XStudio.

Note about file path parameters:
Any parameter referring to a file or folder path (for instance Test root path) can be provided either using \ separator (if the tests are going to be executed on a Windows agent) or / separator (if the tests are going to be executed on a linux or MacOSX agent).

On windows, if you provide a path containing an OS-localizable folder such as C:\Program Files, always prefer the English version (i.e. NOT C:\Programmes if you're using a french-localized Windows) or the corresponding native environment variable (i.e. %PROGRAMFILES%).

Process

With this launcher, the test is actually executed first, then all the test cases results and messages are retrieved from the same unique log file.

A test is executed by the launcher using this syntax:

Windows:

"<pythonInstallPath>/python.exe" -m robot.run
 
		  --suite     <testName>

		  --test <testcaseName> --test <testcaseName> ... --test <testcaseName>

		  --outputdir <testRootPath>/<testPath>
  
		  --log       <testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_log.html
  
		  --output    <testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_output.xml
  
		  --report    <testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_report.html
 
		  <optionalArguments>
 
		  "<testRootPath>/<testPath>/<testName><extension>"

Linux:

"<pythonInstallPath>/python" -m robot.run
 
		  --suite     <testName>

		  --test <testcaseName> --test <testcaseName> ... --test <testcaseName>

		  --outputdir <testRootPath>/<testPath>
  
		  --log       <testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_log.html
  
		  --output    <testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_output.xml
  
		  --report    <testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_report.html
 
		  <optionalArguments>
 
		  "<testRootPath>/<testPath>/<testName><extension>"

This command is executed by the launcher from the following working directory: <testRootPath>/<testPath>

If you fill in the Addition Information field of a test with a value, the content of that field is used as test name (<testName> in above information) rather than the XStudio's test name.
If you fill in the Addition Information field of a testcase with a value, the content of that field is used as testcase name (<testcaseName> in above information) rather than the XStudio's testcase name.

Attachments

The files generated during test execution are uploaded to XStudio so that you can open/read them afterwards:

<testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_console.txt
<testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_log.html
<testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_output.xml
<testRootPath>/<testPath>/robotframework_report.html

This is uploaded to the first test case executed.

Results

The test (that corresponds to a Robot Framework Test Suite) will be executed first. Then, the unique log will be parsed to check each test case result.

The parsing is based on the status attributes that can be found in various location of the output XML file:

PASS	Success
INFO	Information
<Others>	Failure

If at least one message is having the Failure status, the test case is set as failed.

Mapping

In XStudio you need to create a test for each Robot Framework Test Suite (without the .txt or .robot extension)
Under each test in XStudio you need to create as many test cases as you have tests in the Robot Framework Test Suite

The log and messages returned in XStudio test case's messages correspond to the Robot Framework test cases's keywords

Permissions

WARNING: if you're running your tests on Windows, it may be required to run the tests as administrator.
Having an account with Administrators permissions may even not be enough in some cases (especially if you're using Windows 10) and you may need to disable completely the UAC (User Access Control) on your computer.
To do so:

Press the Windows + R key combination
Type in regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
In the right-side pane, look for EnableLUA and set the value 0
Close the registry editor
Restart your computer

Debug

If your tests are not executed correctly or are reporting only failures, this is very likely because your configuration is incorrect or because you used a wrong naming convention for your tests and test cases.

The best way to quickly find out what's wrong is to look at the traces generated by XStudio (or XAgent).
The traces always include the detailed description of what the launcher performs (command line execution, script execution, API calling etc.) to run a test case. So, if you experiment some problems, the first thing to do is to activate the traces and look at what's happening when you run your tests.

Then, try to execute manually in a cmd box the exact same commands.
This will normally fail the same way.
At this point, you needs to figure out what has to be changed in these commands in order to have them run properly.

When you have something working, compare these commands to what's described in the Process chapter above. This will tell you exactly what you need to change.

Most of the time, this is related to:

some incorrect values in some parameters of your configuration,
the name of your tests,
the name of your test cases,
the canonical path of your tests

Launchers / Automated tests