Robot Testing Framework

Robot Testing Framework is a generic and multi-platform testing framework for the test driven development (TDD) which is initially designed for the robotic systems. However, it can be used for any TDD system. The framework provides functionalities for developing and running unit tests in a language and middleware independent manner. The test cases are developed as independent plug-ins (i.e., using scripting languages or built as dynamically loadable libraries) to be loaded and executed by an automated test runner. Moreover, a fixture manager prepares the setup (e.g., running robot interfaces, simulator) and actively monitors that all the requirements for running the tests are satisfied during the execution of the tests. These functionalities along with other facilities such as the test result collector, result formatter and remote interface allow for rapid development of test units to cover different levels of system testing (see the block diagram).

Installation

Robot Testing Framework library does not depend on any external library. The Robot Testing Framework framework has a robottestingframework-testrunner utility (see Running test case plug-ins using robottestingframework-testrunner) to easily run the test cases which are built as plug-ins. Test cases can be organized in test suites using simple XML files. The robottestingframework-testrunner uses TinyXml library for parsing the suite XML files. Robot Testing Framework build system check for the installation of TinyXml and, in case, it cannot find any installed version of TinyXml library, it uses the internal version which is delivered with the Robot Testing Framework.

• On Linux/Mac: The installation is easy, straightforward and uses the CMake build system.

    $ git clone https://github.com/robotology/robot-testing-framework.git
    $ cd robot-testing-framework
    $ mkdir build; cd build
    $ cmake ../; make
    $ make install  # Optional!

• On Windows: The installation is easy, straightforward and uses the CMake build system. Get CMake for windows if you have not yet installed. Then simply run the CMake and, set the project (robot-testing-framework) root folder and the desired build folder. Configure and generate project solution for your favorite IDE (e.g. Visual Studio 17). Then open the solution from your IDE and build the project.

Configuration

The only thing you need to configure is the RobotTestingFramework_DIR environment variable so that CMake can find Robot Testing Framework libraries and header files.

• on Linux/Mac:

    $ echo 'export RobotTestingFramework_DIR=<path to the Robot Testing Framework build director>' >> ~/.bashrc
    $ echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$RobotTestingFramework_DIR/bin' >> ~/.bashrc

• on Windows:

    C:\> setx.exe RobotTestingFramework_DIR "<path to the Robot Testing Framework build director>"
    C:\> setx.exe PATH "%PATH%;%RobotTestingFramework_DIR%/<Release/Debug>/bin"

Notice: If you have not installed Robot Testing Framework in the standard system path (e.g., on Linux without make install) then You need to expand your system PATH environment variable.

Enabling Python, Ruby, Lua, ... Plugins

To use Robot Testing Framework with other languages,

• first you need to install their development packages (e.g. for Python on Linux you need python-dev, for Ruby: ruby-dev or for Lua: liblua5.x-dev).
• then you can enable the desired language into Robot Testing Framework CMake (e.g. ENABLE_PYTHON_PLUGIN=ON for enabling python)
• compile and build Robot Testing Framework

Tutorials and Examples

• Some example codes for using Robot Testing Framework classes.

• Using plug-in to develop test cases.

• Using Lua plug-in to develop test cases.

• Using Python plug-in to develop test cases.

• Using Ruby plug-in to develop test cases.

• Running test case plug-ins using robottestingframework-testrunner

Documentation

• See Doxygen generated documentation
• See Robot Testing Framework website

Authors

• Ali Paikan (personal page)
• Silvio Traversaro (personal page)
• Lorenzo Natale (personal page)