Automating Device Certifications with Robot Framework

Pratik Lotia

Pratik Lotia

RobotFrameworkIntroduction•  Opensourcegenerictestautomationframeworkforacceptancetesting

•  KeyworddrivenapproachsupportedwithseverallibrariesinPython&Java

•  Idealimplementationwithhighleveltestspre-writtenandnetworkengineersusingkeywordstodevelopframework

•  Notspecificallymadefornetworkbasedtesting

•  Datadriventestcases•  OSandapplicationindependent

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RobotFrameworkMajorComponents

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Framework

Definedependencies&pointersTestCases

Ø  KeywordsØ  Variables

PythonCode

Functions

Ø  GenericØ  SingletaskØ  ArgumentsØ  ReturnValue

DataSet

ConfigurationFilesPointers

Server/VMSSH/NETCONF

Router/Firewall/Switch/LoadBalancer

Structure

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FrameworkFormat

Ø Extensionbased•  HTML•  TSV–spreadsheet,programmatic•  Plaintext•  reST(HTMLcompiled)

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FrameworkStructure•  Modularmodel•  Structurecombines

§  Settings§  Pre-testsetup§  Testcriteria§  Post-testcleanup

•  EachTesthasatrue/falseoutcome•  EachTesthas1ormorefunctions•  Top-downapproachforTestCase

§  Onefail,allfailmodel

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FrameworkSample

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RobotCommandOptions•  robot/path/to/file.robot•  Optionsto:

§  Setdocumentation§  Setsuite,reportname§  Settags,variables§  Rerunfailedtests§  Run/excludecertaintests§  Setlogginglevel,outputlevel§  Settimestamp§  Errorhandling

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StyleConventions

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Field Convention Example/CommentsVariable Nameinside${} ${mgt_ip_addr)FunctionName Keyword(s)withorw/

spaceCheckInterfaceConfigcheck_interface_config

PassingVariables

Leave>4whitespacesbetweenfunction&variable

ShowInterface${mgt_ip_addr}${user}${passwd}

Notes Under[Documentation]intestcases

Testcase:checkinterfaceconfig[Documentation]LoadandverifyIP

Variables Defineseparatelyyamlfile

Helpstokeepframeworkgenericanddatadriven

Framework Tabularmodel Equalspacing

CreatingTestCase•  Whitespacesignored*•  Keyword(What?)•  Library+Pythoncode•  Arguments:

– Mandatory–  Default

•  ReturnValue•  SingleTest

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Example1–OperationalStatusofDevice–Framework

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Example1–Variables

12|*Fakecredentialsonthisandsubsequentslides

Example1–PythonCode

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Example1-Results

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Results–ExecutiveSummary

15|*Failedtestmaybearesultofmisconfigurationandnotafailureofthedevice

Results–DetailedLogs

16|*Failedtestmaybearesultofmisconfigurationandnotafailureofthedevice

SuiteSetupandTeardown

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TroubleshootingErrors•  Defaulterrorsareminimal•  Tedioustolookathtmlforerrors•  LoggingmoduleinPython•  Similartoprintstatements•  Printswhilerunningtests

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Libraries•  StandardLibraries

§  Built-inØ  RunwithconditionsØ  EvaluationØ Matchingexpectedbehavior

§  ProcessorientedØ  ControlprocessexecutionØ  FetchprocessattributesØ  Switchprocess

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Libraries•  StandardLibraries

§  DateTimeØ  DateandTimeconversionsØ  Addingtime/dateØ  Subtractingtime/date

§  OSlevelfunctionsØ  Directorychanges/verificationØ  Filechanges/verification(copy,size)Ø  EnvironmentvariablesØ Merge/List

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Libraries•  StandardLibraries

§  StringfunctionsØ  Lengthcontrol/verificationØ  BehaviormatchingØ  Byteconversion

§  CollectionsØ  ControlLists/DictionariesØ  Behaviormatching

§  Dynamicinput,Telnet§  Screenshots

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Libraries•  ExtendedLibraries

§  Selenium,SeleniumwithAngularJS§  Suds(SOAP),MQTT,Faker§  SSH,Ncclient,Django,FTP§  Database,HTTP,Archive

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Tagging•  Classifyingtestcases&providing

metadata•  Reportshowsstatisticsbasedon

tags•  Include/Excludeexecutionofspecific•  Tags•  Tagsforcritical,non-critical,trivial•  Types

§  Forcetags§  Defaulttags§  Customizedtags

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Editor•  RIDE–Standaloneeditor•  Pluginsforvariouseditors

–  Eclipse–  Sublime–  Vim–  Emacs–  Gedit–  Notepad++

24|*https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6F_xGKdoN1E

Example2-Framework

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Example2-Variables

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Example2–PythonCode

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Loops•  ‘For’Loop•  Repetitivetasks•  Keyword/Variable

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AdditionalTools•  Rebot

§  ProcessXMLoutput§  Generatehtmlreports§  CombineorMergereports

•  Libdoc§  GenerateDocumentation

•  Tidy§  Cleanup/Changeformat

•  DbBot§  ReportstoSQLite§  Unifystorageofreports

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AdditionalTools•  RobotCorder

§  RecordGUIactions§  HTMLframeworkgeneration

•  Pabot§  Parallelexecution§  Time

•  Fixml§  Fixingincompletexmlresults

•  Mabot§  Manualtestswithcompatibleoutputs

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API•  Runningcodeviacode!•  APIfunctionstoruntestsalongwithoptions•  Includesallbasictoolssuchasrebot,libdoc,tidy•  Retrieveresults•  CustomizereportsHTML/XMLformat•  UsestandardlibrarieswithAPI•  Specifyvariablesandresources

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Example3-Framework

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Example3-Variables

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Example3–PythonCode

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DosandDon’ts

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•  Dos§  Documentation(options)§  Short&easynaming§  What,nothow

§  Tabularuniformity

§  Genericandsimpleframework

DosandDon’ts

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•  Dos§  Logicincode§  Datadriven§  Checks§  Syntax(Given,When,Then)

•  Don’ts

§  Dependencies§  Granulartest§  Hardcodedvariables§  Sleepinginplaceofpolling

Example4-Framework

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Example4-Variables

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Example4–PythonCode

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Demo

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Summary•  RobotAutomationFrameworkprovidesseveralusecasescenariosfornetwork

automation•  Keywordbasedacceptancedriventests•  Reusegenerictestlibraries•  Separationofcomponentsallowcustomizationandeaseofunderstanding•  Simplifyautomationofworkflows

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Resources•  https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/blob/master/INSTALL.rst•  http://www.slideshare.net/pekkaklarck/robot-framework-introduction•  https://github.com/robotframework/QuickStartGuide/blob/master/QuickStart.rst•  http://robotframework.org/robotframework/#user-guide•  https://github.com/robotframework/HowToWriteGoodTestCases/blob/master/

HowToWriteGoodTestCases.rst•  http://robotframework.org/robotframework/#standard-libraries•  https://robot-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

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pratik.lotia@charter.com @pratiklotia

ThankYouv Questions?

Backupslides

October2,2018|Charter:Confidential 44|