Written by: Hien Nguyen Thi
If you’re just starting to learn automation testing and are unsure which framework to choose, don’t worry! Robot Framework is an excellent option that you shouldn’t overlook. Having personally learned and built an automation project using Robot Framework, I highly recommend it. In this article, I will share my experience and provide several reasons why Robot Framework is a great choice for beginners.
Easy to start
One of the standout features of the Robot Framework is its use of the keyword-driven style for writing tests in a tabular format. As a result, the framework requires less technical skill compared to programming language-based frameworks, making it an accessible option for users with a basic understanding of programming concepts. This user-friendly approach allows users to quickly implement and execute tests, even without advanced technical expertise.
Easy to build an automation project
The Robot Framework is a feature-rich framework that offers a multitude of useful functions, which can save considerable effort when building an automation project. Some of the key features include:
The Robot Framework is a feature-rich framework that offers a multitude of useful functions, which can save considerable effort when building an automation project. Some of the key features include:
• HTML-formatted result reports and logs that are easy to read and understand
• Pabot libraries that allow parallel test case execution, thereby reducing the overall execution time
• The ability to implement customized keywords, providing greater flexibility and ease of use
• Compatibility with multiple browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge
• Support for data-driven test cases, enabling efficient and effective testing of multiple test scenarios
• Command-line execution capabilities, making it easy to integrate the framework with CI/CD tools such as Azure DevOps or Jenkins.
All of these features make the Robot Framework an ideal choice for automating testing processes, streamlining the workflow and increasing overall efficiency.
Easy to apply Behavior Driven Development process
While applying BDD requires several steps, including the installation of Cucumber/Specflow, creating step definition files, and configuring these tools to integrate with your framework, the Robot Framework streamlines the process by providing built-in support for BDD-style testing. With Robot Framework, you can easily use the familiar Given-When-Then-And keywords in your tests without worrying about additional setup steps. This eliminates the need for installing and configuring additional tools, simplifying the overall testing process and allowing you to focus on writing effective tests. By supporting BDD natively, the Robot Framework makes it easier to write tests that are easy to read, understand, and maintain, promoting better collaboration between teams and more efficient testing.
Easy to integrate with external libraries
One of the most impressive aspects of the Robot Framework is its ability to seamlessly integrate with external libraries, providing a high degree of flexibility and customization. For example, you can easily manage web drivers for different browsers or implement customized reporting functionality using external libraries like Allure report. This capability makes it easy to tailor the framework to meet specific testing needs and requirements.
In my personal experience, I was able to learn and create a simple demo project consisting of several UI and API test cases using the Robot Framework in just one week. I was also able to seamlessly integrate the project with the Azure DevOps pipeline for running tests, further streamlining the testing process.
Conclusion
Overall, the Robot Framework is a powerful and versatile tool that offers a range of benefits to users. I hope that my experience has provided you with a better understanding of the framework and that you find it useful in your own testing projects.
Hien Nguyen Thi is a Senior Automation Test Engineer for NashTech.
