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How to use Gherkin in Robot Framework
Robot Framework is a popular Python-based testing tool maintained by the community and available free of charge. This gives it a great price/performance ratio. Its syntax is based on keywords. But can Robot Framework handle BDD and Gherkin? Let’s take a closer look.
Gherkin syntax is widely used for writing test scenarios — and for good reason. Its simplicity makes it easy to understand even for non-technical stakeholders, which can be a real advantage. Gherkin uses the following keywords to define a test case:
- Feature: Describes the functionality (the goal).
- Scenario: A description of a specific test case.
- Given: The initial condition (“when I’m in a certain state”).
- When: The user’s action (“when I do something”).
- Then: The expected result (“then something should happen”).
- And/But: Used to chain multiple steps.
Example scenario:
- We want to open a browser at www.edhouse.cz.
- Then click on the search icon.
- Type e.g. “Robot Framework” into the search box.
- The search results page should contain the text “Robot Framework”.
We use the Selenium library to control the browser. The core code for this scenario might look like this:
You can find the full source code on our GitHub.
Some keywords take variables. For example, in the keyword I enter "${search_string}" in the search field, the variable search_string can be replaced with any value.
The result of the test appears in the standard HTML output like this:
Although Robot Framework is primarily built for keyword-driven testing, it handles Gherkin easily without major hurdles. There is no need to install anything extra as Gherkin is supported natively in Robot Framework.
