Compact and streaming-ready output for Robot Framework.

A custom output listener for Robot Framework enabling real-time analysis in a more compact format.

Note: The current version is still pre-alpha and the format specified may still change.

Why

The default Robot Framework output and reports quickly get really big or break when running big or long-running cases. Log handling is also using a lot of resources and if robot execution just breaks, the output.xml usually is corrupted and needs manual fixes.

Scoping the problem

The default output of Robot Framework (output.xml, log.html and report.html):

• Unable to stream the log by default during the run
• The output generation is a resource-heavy task that can and does break executions.
• output.xml, log.html, report.html get really big on disk.
• The output.xml needs "closing", so any problems while creating it yield a corrupted XML file and no logs.
  • Post-processing is only possible in some cases and is also resource intensive.
  • ..and in cases where the output.xml already breaks the post-processing is not possible.
• Flattening and changing the robot code is a big task and is only sometimes possible.

Scoping the solution

We need:

• Compact format to reduce the file size and reduce the load on machine resources.
• The output file that is intact after each write (journaling/transactional pattern).
• Ability to control how much space the logs can take.
• Ability to stream the log during the run
• Match the original data content, so it is possible to create the existing logs from the new data format.
• Solution needs to work without changes to the robot code itself.

What

Implementation is based on a Robot Framework Listener, so it's possible to use it in any Robot Framework run using the --listener argument.

Installation

Install with:

pip install robotframework-output-stream

Usage

python -m robot -l NONE -r NONE -o NONE --listener robot_out_stream.RFStream:--dir=<dir_to_output>:--max-file-size=<5m>:--max-files=<5>:--log=<log.html>

• The -l NONE and -r NONE -o NONE arguments disable the standard Robot Framework output.
• More details on the arguments are below.

Dealing with sensitive data in the logs

• See: Handling Sensitive Data

How

The "how" of the solution is essentially the listener arguments, data format and the parsers:

• Format specification
• Listener arguments