Skip to content

Robot Framework – SauceDemo Test Automation

A web UI test automation suite for SauceDemo built with Robot Framework and Selenium Library. Tests run in headless Chrome and results are published automatically to GitHub Pages via GitHub Actions.

🚀 Features

Core Capabilities

  • UI Testing: Selenium WebDriver through Robot Framework SeleniumLibrary
  • Headless Execution: Chrome headless mode (--headless=new) for CI/CD compatibility
  • Keyword-Driven: Modular, reusable keywords separated by responsibility
  • Reporting: Built-in Robot Framework HTML report and log, auto-deployed to GitHub Pages
  • CI/CD Ready: GitHub Actions integration with automated report deployment

Advanced Features

  • Page Object Pattern: Locators decoupled from keywords into dedicated locator files
  • Centralised Variables: All test data, URLs, and timeouts defined in one place
  • Clean State Management: Automatic cart cleanup between tests via Test Teardown
  • Noise-Free Logging: Get Element Count and direct IF comparisons avoid false [ FAIL ] log entries
  • Screenshot on Failure: Automatic page screenshot captured before browser closes on failure

📈 Framework Metrics

  • Language: Robot Framework DSL
  • Browser Automation: SeleniumLibrary + Selenium WebDriver
  • Browser: Google Chrome (headless)
  • Python: 3.12
  • CI/CD: GitHub Actions
  • Report Hosting: GitHub Pages

📁 Project Structure

robot-framework/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── robot-runner.yml          # CI/CD: run tests + deploy report to GitHub Pages
├── README.md                         # Project documentation
├── requirements.txt                  # Python dependencies
├── resources/
│   └── saucedemo/
│       ├── keywords/                 # Reusable business-logic keywords
│       │   ├── cart_keywords.robot
│       │   ├── checkout_keywords.robot
│       │   ├── common_keywords.robot
│       │   ├── login_keywords.robot
│       │   └── product_keywords.robot
│       ├── locators/                 # Element selectors (CSS / ID), separated from logic
│       │   ├── cart_locators.robot
│       │   ├── checkout_locators.robot
│       │   ├── login_locators.robot
│       │   └── product_locators.robot
│       └── variables/               # Centralised test data and configuration
│           └── common_variables.robot
├── tests/
│   └── saucedemo/
│       ├── cart_tests.robot
│       ├── checkout_tests.robot
│       ├── login_tests.robot
│       └── product_tests.robot
└── results/                         # Generated after a local run (git-ignored)
    ├── log.html
    ├── output.xml
    └── report.html

🗂️ Directory Overview

Directory Purpose
.github/workflows/ GitHub Actions pipeline — runs tests on push/PR and deploys the HTML report to GitHub Pages
resources/keywords/ Custom keywords that combine SeleniumLibrary calls into readable, business-level steps
resources/locators/ CSS and ID selectors for every page element, kept separate from test logic for easy maintenance
resources/variables/ Centralised test data: base URL, credentials, timeouts, product names, prices, and checkout data
tests/ Test cases organised by feature module (login, product, cart, checkout)
results/ Robot Framework output files generated after execution — excluded from version control

🧪 Test Coverage

Module Test IDs Tags
Login TC_LOGIN_001 – TC_LOGIN_002 smoke, regression, negative
Products TC_PRD_001 – TC_PRD_008 smoke, regression
Cart TC_CART_001 – TC_CART_002 smoke, regression
Checkout TC_CHK_001 – TC_CHK_006 smoke, regression, negative, e2e

🛠️ Technologies & Dependencies

Package Purpose
robotframework Core test framework and DSL runner
robotframework-seleniumlibrary Selenium WebDriver bindings for Robot Framework
webdriver-manager Automatic ChromeDriver version management
robotframework-pabot Parallel test execution support (in development)

🚦 Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.7 or higher
  • Git
  • Google Chrome (stable)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd robot-framework

2. Create and Activate a Virtual Environment

Windows (PowerShell): 

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Windows (Command Prompt): 

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate.bat

macOS / Linux: 

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Verify Installation

robot --version

▶️ Running Tests

Run the Full Suite

robot --outputdir results tests/

This will execute all test files under tests/, save output to results/, and generate three files: log.html, report.html, and output.xml.

Run a Specific Module

# Login tests
robot --outputdir results tests/saucedemo/login_tests.robot

# Product tests
robot --outputdir results tests/saucedemo/product_tests.robot

# Cart tests
robot --outputdir results tests/saucedemo/cart_tests.robot

# Checkout tests
robot --outputdir results tests/saucedemo/checkout_tests.robot

Run by Tag

# Smoke tests only
robot --include smoke --outputdir results tests/

# Full regression suite
robot --include regression --outputdir results tests/

# End-to-end tests only
robot --include e2e --outputdir results tests/

# Negative / validation tests only
robot --include negative --outputdir results tests/

# Exclude specific tests
robot --exclude skip --outputdir results tests/

View the Report Locally

start results/report.html     # Windows
open results/report.html      # macOS
xdg-open results/report.html  # Linux

📊 Test Reporting

Robot Framework Built-in Reports

Every test run generates three output files in the results/ directory:

  • report.html — high-level summary showing pass/fail counts, elapsed time, and tag statistics
  • log.html — step-by-step execution log with keyword calls, variable values, and screenshots
  • output.xml — machine-readable results for integration with external tools

GitHub Pages Report

The CI pipeline automatically deploys the latest report.html to GitHub Pages after every run — including failed runs, so results are always visible.

Access the live report at: 

https://<your-username>.github.io/<your-repo-name>/

🔧 Framework Components

Common Keywords (common_keywords.robot)

Core browser lifecycle and element interaction utilities shared across all test suites:

# Browser lifecycle
Open Browser To Login Page    # Opens headless Chrome and navigates to login
Close Test Browser            # Captures screenshot on failure, then closes browser

# Navigation
Wait Until Page Is Loaded     # Polls document.readyState until complete
Navigate To URL    ${url}     # Go To + wait for page load
Verify Current URL Contains   ${fragment}

# Element interactions
Wait And Click Element        ${locator}
Wait And Input Text           ${locator}    ${text}
Wait And Get Text             ${locator}
Wait And Select From List By Value    ${locator}    ${value}
Element Should Be Present     ${locator}
Element Should Not Be Present ${locator}

Keyword Modules

File Responsibility
login_keywords.robot Fill and submit the login form, assert success/failure messages, logout
product_keywords.robot Cart badge tracking, add/remove items by locator, sort dropdown, product card assertions
cart_keywords.robot Cart page assertions, proceed to checkout, clear all items between tests
checkout_keywords.robot Multi-step checkout flow, field validation errors, order total math verification

Variables (common_variables.robot)

All configuration values are centralised and referenced via Robot Framework variables:

# Browser & Timeouts
${BROWSER}              chrome
${PAGE_LOAD_TIMEOUT}    30 seconds
${ELEMENT_TIMEOUT}      15 seconds

# Credentials
${STANDARD_USER}        standard_user
${VALID_PASSWORD}       secret_sauce

# URLs
${LOGIN_URL}            ${BASE_URL}/
${PRODUCT_URL}          ${BASE_URL}/inventory.html

# Product data
${PROD_NAME_BACKPACK}   Sauce Labs Backpack
${PROD_PRICE_BACKPACK}  $29.99

🌐 Browser Configuration

Tests run in headless Chrome with the following arguments configured in common_keywords.robot:

Argument Reason
--no-sandbox Required inside Linux containers and CI runners
--disable-dev-shm-usage Prevents shared memory crashes on Linux
--incognito Ensures a clean, isolated session for every suite
--headless=new Modern headless mode available from Chrome 112+

To run with a visible browser window locally, remove add_argument("--headless=new") from Open Browser To Login Page in resources/saucedemo/keywords/common_keywords.robot.

🔄 CI/CD Pipeline

The workflow at .github/workflows/robot-runner.yml triggers automatically on every push or pull request to main / master, and can also be triggered manually via workflow_dispatch.

Push
    │
    ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Job 1: test                       │
│  • Setup Python 3.12               │
│  • pip install -r requirements.txt │
│  • Install Chrome (stable)         │
│  • robot --outputdir results tests/│
│  • Upload results/ as artifact     │
└──────────────┬─────────────────────┘
               │  always (pass or fail)
               ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Job 2: deploy-report              │
│  • Download artifact               │
│  • Create index.html redirect      │
│  • Deploy to GitHub Pages          │
└────────────────────────────────────┘

One-Time GitHub Repository Setup

  1. Go to Settings → Pages → Source and select GitHub Actions.
  2. Go to Settings → Actions → General → Workflow permissions and enable Read and write permissions.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Virtual Environment Not Activating

Ensure you are using the correct path for your OS. On Windows, you may need to allow script execution first: 

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Module Not Found Error

Ensure the virtual environment is active and dependencies are installed: 

pip install -r requirements.txt

Tests Failing Locally

  1. Open results/log.html for a detailed step-by-step breakdown
  2. Verify credentials in resources/saucedemo/variables/common_variables.robot
  3. Confirm you have a stable internet connection (tests run against the live SauceDemo site)
  4. Try running without --headless=new to observe the browser directly

Chrome / ChromeDriver Version Mismatch

webdriver-manager handles driver downloads automatically. If you encounter a version mismatch, upgrade it: 

pip install --upgrade webdriver-manager

🤝 Contributing

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
  3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add your feature'
  4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/your-feature
  5. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

  • Add new keywords to the appropriate keyword file and keep locators in the matching locator file
  • Tag all new test cases with at least one of: smoke, regression, e2e, or negative
  • Ensure the full suite passes locally before opening a PR
  • Update this README if adding new modules or changing the project structure

📄 License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

Happy Testing! 🎉