OKW4Robot

Driver-agnostic keyword architecture for Robot Framework.

One unified set of keywords for different GUI technologies (Web/Selenium, Web/Playwright, Java Swing, ...) — the actual implementation lives in the respective driver package.

Deutsche Version: README_de.md

ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-5:2024: OKW4Robot implements the international standard for Keyword-Driven Testing — structurally since 2003. See ISO 29119-5 Conformity.

OKW Ecosystem

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Robot Tests (.robot)                   │
│     StartApp MyApp / SetValue Name "Smith"               │
└──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                           │
               ┌───────────▼───────────┐
               │      okw4robot        │  Driver-agnostic core
               │  Keywords, OkwWidget  │  pip install robotframework-okw4robot
               │  Context, Contracts   │
               └───┬───────────────┬───┘
                   │               │
        ┌──────────▼──┐     ┌─────▼──────────┐
        │ okw-web-    │     │ okw-java-      │     (more drivers
        │ selenium    │     │ remoteswing    │      e.g. okw-web-
        │ WebSe_*     │     │ RemoteSw_*     │      playwright)
        └─────────────┘     └────────────────┘

Getting Started

1. Install the core

pip install robotframework-okw4robot

2. Install a driver package (e.g. Selenium)

pip install robotframework-okw-web-selenium

3. Write a Robot test

*** Settings ***
Library    okw_web_selenium.library.OkwWebSeleniumLibrary

*** Test Cases ***
Login Test
    StartApp      MyApp
    SelectWindow  LoginDialog
    SetValue      Username         admin
    SetValue      Password         secret
    ClickOn       Login
    VerifyValue   Status           Logged in

StartApp loads the app YAML. If the YAML contains a __self__ section with the adapter class, the adapter is started automatically — no separate StartHost needed.

Note: The test imports the driver library (OkwWebSeleniumLibrary), not OKW4RobotLibrary directly. The driver library inherits all keywords from the core.

Architecture: Delegation, Not Control

Keywords do not call adapter methods directly. Instead, they delegate to exactly one okw_* method on the widget:

Keyword SetValue "Name" "Smith"
    │
    ▼
widget = resolve_widget("Name")        # YAML locator → WebSe_TextField
widget.okw_set_value("Smith")          # Widget knows how.

The OkwWidget interface (in okw4robot) defines all okw_* methods with NotImplementedError. Driver packages implement them:

Project Structure

robotframework-okw4robot/
  src/okw4robot/
    library.py                  # OKW4RobotLibrary (all keyword mixins)
    keywords/
      host.py                   # StartHost, StopHost, SelectHost
      app.py                    # StartApp, StopApp, SelectWindow
      widget_keywords.py        # SetValue, ClickOn, MoveOver, VerifyValue, ...
      attribute_keywords.py     # VerifyAttribute, MemorizeAttribute, LogAttribute
      caption_keywords.py       # VerifyCaption, MemorizeCaption, LogCaption
      label_keywords.py         # VerifyLabel, MemorizeLabel, LogLabel
      placeholder_keywords.py   # VerifyPlaceholder, ...
      tooltip_keywords.py       # VerifyTooltip, ...
      table_keywords.py         # VerifyTableCellValue, ...
      list_keywords.py          # VerifyListCount, VerifySelectedCount
      noise_keywords.py         # OnFailNOISE, OnFailIgnoreNOISE (NOISE/FAIL classification)
      params.py                 # SetOKWParameter (timeouts)
    runtime/
      context.py                # Central runtime context (adapter, app, window)
    widgets/
      okw_widget.py             # OkwWidget interface (NotImplementedError defaults)
    utils/
      yaml_loader.py            # YAML locator search (project → driver packages)
      loader.py                 # Dynamic class loading
      okw_helpers.py            # resolve_widget(), should_ignore(), ...
      logging_mixin.py          # LoggingMixin for all classes
      table_tokens.py           # $TAB/$LF token parser
  tests/
    unit/                       # 53 pytest unit tests with MockWidget
  docs/
    CONTRACT.md                 # Public contract
    KEYWORDS.md                 # Keyword reference (all keywords)
    SPECIFICATION.md            # Semantic specification
    keywords_*.md               # Keyword documentation per topic
    okw_parameters.md           # Timeouts and parameters
    synchronization_strategy.md # Sync strategy (wait_before)
    ...

Documentation

Standards

• iso-29119-5-conformity.md – ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-5:2024 conformity (architecture, keyword mapping, framework components)

Contracts and Specification

• CONTRACT.md – Public contract (architecture, YAML fallback)
• KEYWORDS.md – Keyword reference (all keywords at a glance)
• SPECIFICATION.md – Semantic keyword specification

Keywords

• keywords_host_app.md – Host/App/Window keywords
• keywords_attribute.md – VerifyAttribute, MemorizeAttribute, LogAttribute
• keywords_caption.md – VerifyCaption, MemorizeCaption, LogCaption
• keywords_label.md – VerifyLabel, MemorizeLabel, LogLabel
• keywords_placeholder.md – VerifyPlaceholder, ...
• keywords_tooltip.md – VerifyTooltip, ...
• keywords_table.md – Table keywords (index-based)
• keywords_table_headers.md – Table keywords (header-based)
• keywords_list.md – VerifyListCount, VerifySelectedCount
• keywords_ignore_rule.md – $IGNORE, $EMPTY, $DELETE
• keywords_noise.md – OnFailNOISE, OnFailIgnoreNOISE (NOISE/FAIL classification)

Concepts

• context.md – Runtime context (adapter, app, window)
• objektzustaende.md – Widget states (exists, visible, enabled, ...)
• okw_parameters.md – Timeouts and parameters (DE)
• synchronization_strategy.md – Sync strategy
• widgets_common.md – Widget hierarchy and OkwWidget interface
• table_tokens.md – $TAB/$LF token syntax
• regex_best_practices.md – Regex tips for Robot Framework

Waiting for Values and Synchronization

Verify keywords automatically wait for expected values (with timeout and polling):

# Set timeout (optional, default: 10s)
SetOKWParameter    TimeOutVerifyValue    15

# Keyword waits up to 15s for the expected value
VerifyValue    Status    Logged in

Write actions (Click, SetValue, TypeKey, Select) check preconditions first: exists → scroll_into_view → visible → enabled → editable → until_not_visible

Details: docs/okw_parameters.md, docs/synchronization_strategy.md

License

• Community (non-commercial): see LICENSE
• Commercial: see COMMERCIAL_LICENSE.md
• FAQ: docs/license_faq.md