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Project Structure

Root Folder​

  • requirements.txt - Python dependencies or
  • pyproject.toml - Python dependencies
  • Readme.md - Project description
  • .gitignore - Lists files and folders to be ignored by git

Depending on the project, the root folder can contain additional files, e.g. .gitlab-ci.yml for a GitLab CI Pipeline.

Test Suites​

Test Suites are located in the tests/ folder.
Depending on the project, the Test Suites can be organized in multiple .robot files and subfolders.

  • tests/ - Test Suites folder
    • search.robot - Test Suite for Search functionality
    • login.robot - Test Suite for Log In functionality
    • checkout/ - Folder containing Test Suites for Checkout
      • checkout_basic.robot - Test Suites for standard Checkout
      • checkout_premium.robot - Test Suites for premium Checkout
    • ...

Resources​

Reusable keywords are stored in .resource files in the resources folder.
Also Python keywords in .py files can be stored there.

  • resources/ - Reusable keywords
    • common.robot - General Keywords (e.g. Login/Logout, Navigation, ...) are stored here
    • search.robot - Keywords for searching are stored here
    • utils.py - Python helper keywords are stored here
    • ...

Libraries​

Custom Python Keyword libraries can be stored in a separate libraries/ folder, if needed.
Some projects like to seperate the libraries/ from the resources/.

Examples​

Find some example project structures below.

Simple Project with tests/ and resources/ folders:​

A flat project structure for a simple project with a few test cases and keywords.
All test suites are in the tests/ folder and all keywords, variables and python libraries are in the resources/ folder.
The project root folder contains the .gitlab-ci.yml file for CI/CD, the .gitignore file for git, the README.md file for documentation and the requirements.txt file for dependencies.

my_project
├── tests
│   ├── suiteA.robot
│   ├── suiteB.robot
│   ├── ...
│   
├── resources
│   ├── common.resource
│   ├── some_other.resource
│   ├── custom_library.py
│   ├── variables.py
│   ├── ...
│
├── .gitlab-ci.yml
├── .gitignore
├── README.md
├── requirements.txt

The tests/suiteA.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  resources/common.resource
Resource  resources/some_other.resource
Library   resources/custom_library.py
Variables resources/variables.py
...

Tests can be run with the following command (assuming you are in the project root folder my_project): 

$ robot --pythonpath . tests

Project with tests/, resources/ and data/ folders:​

A project structure for a more complex project with a more test cases and keywords.
Test Suites are organized in subfolders in the tests/ folder. Keywords, variables and python libraries are organized in subfolders in the resources/ folder. Test Data files - like Python or Yaml Variable files - are organized in subfolders in the data/ folder.
The project root folder contains the .gitlab-ci.yml file for CI/CD, the .gitignore file for git, the README.md file for documentation and the requirements.txt file for dependencies.

my_project
├── tests
│   ├── authentication
│   │   ├── login.robot
│   │   ├── ...
│   │
│   ├── master-data
│   │   ├── customers.robot
│   │   ├── products.robot
│   │   ├── ...
│   │
│   ├── order
│   │   ├── order_creation.robot
│   │   ├── order_processing.robot
│   │   ├── ...
│   
├── resources
│   ├── common.resource
│   ├── search.resource
│   ├── master-data
│   │   ├── customers.resource
│   │   ├── products.resource
│   │   ├── ...
│   │
│   ├── ...
│
├── data
│   ├── master-data
│   │   ├── customers.py
│   │   ├── products.py
│   │   ├── ...
│   │
│   ├── order
│   │   ├── order_creation.yaml
│   │   ├── order_processing.yaml
│   │   ├── ...
│
├── .gitlab-ci.yml
├── .gitignore
├── README.md
├── requirements.txt

The tests/authentication/login.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  resources/common.resource
Resource  resources/search.resource
Resource  resources/master-data/customers.resource
Variables data/master-data/customers.py
...

Tests can be run with the following command (assuming you are in the project root folder my_project): 

$ robot --pythonpath . tests

Telling Robot Framework where to search libraries, resource and variable files​

Robot Framework searches for libraries, resource and variable files in

  • the same directory as the test suite file (or resource file) which imports the library, resource or variable file
  • the directories listed in PYTHONPATH environment variable
  • the directories passed in --pythonpath command line argument

The examples below will focus on resource files, but the same applies to libraries and variables.

note

It is always possible to use absolute paths in the Resource,Library and Variables statements.
Especially with the ${CURDIR} variable, it is easy to construct absolute paths relative to the current file.
However, this is not recommended, as it makes the tests less portable.

You can find more information about the search order in the Robot Framework User Guide.

Good Practice: Use --pythonpath command line argument and resources/ subfolder​

Before we look at the other options, let's look at the recommended approach. Organize your files in subfolders (e.g. resources/, libraries/, data/) and use the --pythonpath command line argument to add the project root folder to the search path.

In that case, resources can be imported with a relative path from the resources/ folder (e.g. Resource resources/common.resource) and libraries can be imported with a relative path from the libraries/ folder (e.g. Library libraries/custom_library.py).

Let's assume we have the following project structure:

my_project
├── tests
│   └── suiteA.robot
└── resources
    ├── general.resource
    └── auth/
        ├── login.resource
        └── totp.py

The tests/suiteA.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  resources/general.resource
Resource  resources/auth/login.resource
Library   resources/auth/totp.py
...

Run from shell​

You can run the tests with the following command (assuming you are in the project root folder my_project): 

$ robot --pythonpath . tests/suiteA.robot
tip

The . in the --pythonpath argument means "the current directory".
In this case, the current directory is the project root folder my_project.

Run from IDE​

To run the tests directly from your IDE, you also need to configure the --pythonpath argument in your IDE.
In VS Code with RobotCode extension, you can add the following line to your settings.json file.
You can also find the setting under File > Preferences > Settings by searching for robotcode.robot.pythonPath. 

"robotcode.robot.pythonPath": [
    "./"
    ],
tip

You can also add the resources/ , lib/ or keyword/ folders to the pythonPath setting:

"robotcode.robot.pythonPath": [
    "./",
    "./lib",
    "./resources",
    "./keywords",
    ],

That way, you can import libraries, resources and variables from the resources/, lib/ and keyword/ folders without the resources/, lib/ or keyword/ prefix.

*** Settings ***
Resource  general.resource
Resource  auth/login.resource
Library   auth/totp.py
...

Run from CI/CD​

To run the tests from CI/CD, you also need to configure the --pythonpath argument in your CI/CD pipeline.

```yaml
robot:
  stage: test
  image: python:3.8
  script:
    - pip install -r requirements.txt
    - robot --pythonpath . tests/
```

Using CI_PROJECT_DIR variable​

If you are using GitLab CI/CD, you can use the CI_PROJECT_DIR variable to construct the --pythonpath argument.
The CI_PROJECT_DIR variable contains the absolute path to the project root folder. 

```yaml
robot:
  stage: test
  image: python:3.8
  script:
    - pip install -r requirements.txt
    - robot --pythonpath $CI_PROJECT_DIR tests/
```

Resource file in the same directory as the Test Suite file​

Let's assume we have the following project structure:

my_project
└── tests
    ├── suiteA.robot
    └── general.resource

The tests/suiteA.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  general.resource
...

The tests/suiteA.robot file can import the general.resource file without any additional configuration.

$ robot tests/suiteA.robot

Using absolute paths with ${CURDIR} and resources/ subfolder​

Let's assume we have the following project structure:

my_project
├── tests
│   └── suiteA.robot
└── resources
    └── general.resource

The tests/suiteA.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  ${CURDIR}/../resources/general.resource
...

The ${CURDIR} variable contains the absolute path to the directory of the current file.
The .. in the path means "one directory up".
This way, the tests/suiteA.robot file can import the general.resource file without any additional configuration.

$ robot tests/suiteA.robot

More subfolders means more .. in the path​

Let's assume we have the following project structure:

my_project
├── tests
│   ├── suiteA.robot
│   └── topicB
│       └── suiteB.robot
└── resources
    └── auth
        └── login.resource

The tests/suiteA.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  ${CURDIR}/../resources/auth/login.resource
...

The tests/topicB/suiteB.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  ${CURDIR}/../../resources/auth/login.resource
...

You can see that the number of .. in the path depends on the number of subfolders between the test suite file and the resource file.
Because of that, it is recommended to use the --pythonpath command line argument instead of absolute paths.

Using --pythonpath command line argument and resources/ subfolder​

Let's assume we have the following project structure:

my_project
├── tests
│   └── suiteA.robot
└── resources
    └── general.resource

The tests/suiteA.robot file looks like this:

*** Settings ***
Resource  resources/general.resource
...

To run the tests, we need to tell Robot Framework where to search for the libraries, resource and variable files. If we run it without any arguments, we will get an error:

$ robot tests/suiteA.robot
[Error] Error in file 'tests/suiteA.robot': ...
Resource file 'resources/general.resource' does not exist.
...

We can add the project root folder my_project/ folder to the --pythonpath command line argument:

$ robot --pythonpath . tests/suiteA.robot

Now the tests run successfully.

tip

You can also add the resources/ , lib/ or keyword/ folders to the --pythonpath setting:

$ robot --pythonpath .:./lib:./resources:./keywords tests/suiteA.robot

That way, you can import libraries, resources and variables from the resources/, lib/ and keyword/ folders without the resources/, lib/ or keyword/ prefix.

*** Settings ***
Resource  general.resource
Resource  auth/login.resource
Library   auth/totp.py
...

Using PYTHONPATH environment variable​

Alternatively, you can add the path to your project root folder to the PYTHONPATH environment variable.
Then you can run the tests without the --pythonpath command line argument (assuming you are in the project root folder my_project):

Bash

$ export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:.
$ robot tests/suiteA.robot

PowerShell

> $env:PYTHONPATH += ";."
> robot tests/suiteA.robot