anhphong1110 / robot_docker_demo

Robot Framework CI Demo

Project demonstrates how to setup Continous Integration for Robot Frameowrk tests using GitHub Actions.

Use Cases

Demo covers these use cases:

• Run Robot Framework tests:
  • when new commits are pushed to the main branch
  • when new commits are pushed to a Pull request
  • run tests with a pre-defined schedule
  • Trigger tests manually. Input variables for a test run.
• Reporting:
  • Store Robot Framework reports from test runs
  • Post summary of results as comment to a commit. Comment is posted only to the main (master) branch.

In other words, separate CI server (such as Jenkins) is not needed to run Robot Framework tests.

Why use Actions for CI?

Using GitHub Actions for setup CI is far far better than sliced bread 🥯🎉 Setup is straightforward and usage is free for public repositories (see pricing for other types of repositories).

Setup described here is very simple for demo purposes. It is possible to add more bells and whisthles if needed.

Description of the setup

CI Workflows are configured in YAML files in a folder .github/workflows. When Job is run, it is visible in the Actions tab in the repository.

Workflow fails if Robot Framework tests fail. Robot Framewework results reports are stored in a zip file.

This repository has two workflows for demo purposes:

• run_robot_framework_tests.yml
  • runs test for push events, pull requests and scheduled
• trigger_robot_framework_tests_manually.yml
  • triggers tests manually with the given parameters

Docker container used in this demo is ppodgorsek/robot-framework. The container has many pre-installed libraries and tools (it is even possible to run Selenium Browser tests).

The next chapter describes how to modify example workflows for your project.

To configure example setup to your own project:

1. Modify docker run command according to your project:
   • reports folder needs to exist in a repository. As it is not possible to add an empty folder in a git, place a file to the /reports folder and commit it (this is bit hacky, but I could not get ppodgorsek container's privileges to work without this dummy file)
   • Place your tests to the test folder, or modify run command accordingly
   • Modify line -e ROBOT_OPTIONS="--variable DINOSAUR:Achillobator --variable NOT_DINOSAUR:kissa" \ according to your project or remove it completely

docker run \
    -v ${PWD}/reports:/opt/robotframework/reports:Z \
    -v ${PWD}/tests:/opt/robotframework/tests:Z \
    -e ROBOT_OPTIONS="--variable DINOSAUR:Achillobator --variable NOT_DINOSAUR:kissa" \
    --user $(id -u):$(id -g) \
    ppodgorsek/robot-framework:latest

2. All other modifications, such as changing cron schedule are optional. Things to consider:
   • If workflow needs secrets, those can be stored in repository settings. Secret is used in the flow like this ${{ secrets.MY_SECRET_NAME }}

Acknowledgments

• GitHub Action that posts summary of test result as comment for commit messages: https://github.com/joonvena/robotframework-reporter-action
  • Blog post of the usage
• List of dinosaur names used in tests (it would be actually possible to configure updating list of dinosaur names using Actions 🦕🦖): https://www.npmjs.com/package/dinosaurs
• Docker container used to run Robot Framework tests: ppodgorsek/robot-framework Docker container