CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.xautomationautomated-testsrobotframework
Guy Avraham
Guy Avraham

Reputation: 3690

Use common Suite setup and Suite teardown for several test suites in a nested folder structure robot framewrok

I'm new to Robot framework and trying to better understand the concepts and usage in Suite Setup and Suite Teardown when the test's folder structure is not "flat". After a long search on the web, the Robot framework user guide - executing tests section and also this question which is similar but not exactly my situation, I still did not find any solution, so here we go.

My project now contains the following files:

_init__.robot that contains the Suite Setup & Suite Teardown "definitions", as follows:

*** Settings ***
Library   /path/to/some/python/file.py
Suite Setup  myCustomSuiteSetup
Suite Teardown  myCustomSuiteTeardown

*** Keywords ***
myCustomSuiteSetup
    ${ret_code} =  run keyword MySuiteSetupKeyword
    should be eqaul as integers ${ret_code} 0

myCustomSuiteTeardown
    ${ret_code} =  run keyword MySuiteTeardownKeyword
    should be eqaul as integers ${ret_code} 0

Where myCustomSuiteTeardown and MySuiteTeardownKeyword are keywords "linked" to some Python functions in the file /path/to/some/python/file.py.

The 4 suite files in my project are currently arranged like so:

|--tests
|----suite_1.robot
|----suite_2.robot 
|----suite_3.robot
|----suite_4.robot
|----__init__.robot

Now, the purpose (and usage) of the Suite Setup & Suite Teardown is that the Suite Setup will run at the beginning of the run of the ENTIRE tests folder, i.e.- before the first test case of the first suite, which in this case is suite_1.robot and the Suite Teardown will run after the last test case of the last suite, which in this case it is suite_4.robot.

For this to happen, I simply invoke all the suites as follows (from within one folder "above" the tests folder):

robot tests

So far so good.

Now my question is as follows: Actually I wish to "re-arrange" the folder's structure of the test files, like so:

|--tests
|----testGroup1
|--------suite_1.robot
|--------suite_2.robot 
|----testGroup2
|--------suite_3.robot
|--------suite_4.robot
|--__init__.robot    <----- Where the __init__.robot file should be placed now ?

Meaning, to "gather" test suites to sub-folders, nevertheless, I still wish to keep the usage of the Suite Setup & Suite Teardown as before,i.e.- upon invocation of every possible subset of the test suites under the "root" folder tests, Suite Setup & Suite Teardown MUST be the first and last (respectively) "steps" to be executed, meaning, for example, let say I wish to run suite_3.robot & suite_4.robot, then now, Suite Setup should be called before the first test case in suite_3.robot and Suite Teardown should be called after the last test case in the suite_4.robot. Also, of course, I wish to keep only a single copy of the __init__.robot file - i.e. - not keep two similar copies of the __init__.robot in each subfolder, testGroup1 & testGroup2. When I did this, it worked, but this is not the (proper) way I wish to do that.

So my questions are:

  1. Where do I need to place the __init__.robot file?

  2. In case I wish to run,for instance, only the two test suites within testGroup2 (i.e.- suite_3.robot & suite_4.robot), what command do I need to use?

Of course, in case it is not the "correct" way (approach) to achieve my objectives (single and unified Suite Setup & Suite Teardown for every test suites subset) - please advice how should it be done.

Note: I'm using Robot framework 3.1.2 (Python 3.5.2 on Linux)

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3768

Answers (1)

Petr Hudeček
Petr Hudeček

Reputation: 1763

Your placement of the initialization file in the tests folder that contains both testGroup1 and testGroup2 is correct. This way, if you run at least one test that's somewhere in tests or within a sub folder of it, the Suite Setup will run before all such tests and Suite Teardown afterwards.

To force the Suite Setup and Suite Teardown to run, you must keep the parent folder (tests) as the folder you run. It is good practice to always run the folder that contains all of your tests. That way, you don't miss any suite setups or teardowns by mistake.

To then run only select tests, use the options --include or --exclude for tags, or --suite or --test.

In your example, you would run the following:

robot --suite suite_3 --suite suite_4 tests, to run only suite_3 and suite_4

Or, you can use fully qualified suite names:

robot --suite tests.testGroup2.suite_3 --suite tests.testGroup2.suite_4 tests

Upvotes: 2

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