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Docker Images for Robot Framework

Docker​

Check out the official Docker Documentation for more information about Docker.

Installation​

If you want to build Dockerimages and run containers on your local machine, you need to install Docker. You can find the installation instructions for your operating system on the Docker website.

Docker Desktop​

Docker Desktop is an easy-to-install application for your Mac or Windows environment that enables you to start coding and containerizing in minutes. Docker Desktop includes everything you need to build, run, and share containerized applications directly from your machine.

However, while Docker itself is open source, Docker Desktop is not. Docker Desktop is a commercial product 💰 developed by Docker, Inc. that includes additional features and functionality beyond the open source Docker Engine.

note

Commercial use of Docker Desktop in larger enterprises (more than 250 employees OR more than $10 million USD in annual revenue) and in government entities requires a paid subscription.

Alternatives to Docker Desktop​

Linux​

You can install Docker on your Linux machine without using Docker Desktop. Please find more information on the here.

Make sure you follow the instructions for the Server installation.
For example the installation instructions for Ubuntu

Windows​

You can install Docker on your Windows machine also without using Docker Desktop.

For that, you need to

  • Set up a virtual machine using the WSL 2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
  • Install Docker Engine in the WSL 2 VM (following the instructions for Linux)

You can find more information in the guide How To Install Docker Without Docker Desktop On Windows.

The guide will explain how to

  • Enable the WSL 2 feature on Windows
  • Install a Linux distribution from the Microsoft Store
  • Install Docker Engine in the WSL 2 VM
  • Configure Docker to start on boot
  • Install Docker Compose
  • Integrate Docker commands into your PowerShell

Creating a Robot Framework Dockerimage​

You can choose from a lot of different base images to build your own Docker image.
One possibility is to use one of the the official python images.

As they already contain python and pip, you can install robotframework and other libraries using pip easily.
There are different tags for different python versions and operating systems.

Dockerfile
FROM python:3
RUN pip install robotframework

Examples​

To build the examples below, you can use the following command:

docker build -t my-robotframework-dockerimage .

When you run the container, it makes sense to mount the folder containing your tests into the container.
You can do that using the -v option. Let's assume the folder is located at /home/user/my-project/ on your local machine.

Folder structure
my-project/
├── Dockerfile
├── tests/
│   └── testsuite.robot
└── results/

The following command will run the container and mount the folders my-project/ into the container.
The tests in the folder my-project/tests will be executed and the results will be written into the folder my-project/results.

That way, you can easily run your tests in a container and have the results on your local machine.

docker run -it --rm -v /home/user/my-project:/my-project my-robotframework-dockerimage bash -c "robot --outputdir /project/results  /my-project/tests"

Simple Python Dockerimage with Robot Framework​

A very simple python image, which only adds robotframework

Dockerfile
FROM python:3
RUN pip install robotframework

You can also add your python dependencies into a file requirements.txt and then install them using pip install -r requirements.txt.

Folder structure
.
├── Dockerfile
└── requirements.txt
requirements.txt
robotframework
robotframework-requests
robotframework-datadriver
Dockerfile
FROM python:3

COPY requirements.txt ./
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

Dockerimage with Robot Framework and Browser Library​

An image containing robotframework and robotframework-browser.
It is based on playwright baseimage, as it contains necessary dependencies like nodejs and npm.

Dockerfile
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:focal
USER root
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install -y python3-pip
USER pwuser
RUN pip3 install --user robotframework
RUN pip3 install --user robotframework-browser
RUN ~/.local/bin/rfbrowser init
ENV NODE_PATH=/usr/lib/node_modules
ENV PATH="/home/pwuser/.local/bin:${PATH}"

marketsquare/robotframework-browser​

https://github.com/MarketSquare/robotframework-browser/tree/main/docker

docker pull marketsquare/robotframework-browser

The image comes with latest robotframework-browser and robotframework, and with pre-initialized browsers and other dependencies for running headful tests in the container.

Example usage:

docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/atest/test/:/test --ipc=host --user pwuser --security-opt seccomp=seccomp_profile.json marketsquare/robotframework-browser:latest bash -c "robot --outputdir /test/output /test"

docker run -v is used to mount the directory containing tests on the supervising machine. In this example robot output will also be output inside the test directory

ppodgorsek/robot-framework​

https://github.com/ppodgorsek/docker-robot-framework

Check the list of included packages

This container can be run using the following command:

    docker run \
        -v <local path to the reports' folder>:/opt/robotframework/reports:Z \
        -v <local path to the test suites' folder>:/opt/robotframework/tests:Z \
        ppodgorsek/robot-framework:<version>