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Robot Framework Electron & VS Code

Test an Electron app

Electron is the Browser library plus keywords to start and close Electron applications. It contains every Browser keyword and takes the same import arguments. The windows of an application are ordinary Browser pages.

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

The library needs a small hook in the Browser library that is not released yet. Until it is, install it from the repository’s uv workspace. That workspace takes robotframework-browser from a local clone with the hook, as described in the repository’s AGENTS.md.

Terminal window
uv sync

First test

Section titled “First test”

Import Electron instead of Browser, start the application, and use Browser keywords on its window:

*** Settings ***
Library    Electron


*** Test Cases ***
Greeting Is Shown
    New Electron Application    /opt/my-app/my-app
    Click    text=Say hello
    Get Text    id=greeting    ==    Hello!
    Close Electron Application

An app from source

Section titled “An app from source”

An app that runs on the plain Electron binary gets its app folder as an argument. Get Electron Executable from the Electron.Helper library provides the binary:

*** Settings ***
Library    Electron
Library    Electron.Helper


*** Variables ***
${ELECTRON_VERSION}       44.7.0
${ELECTRON_EXECUTABLE}    ${NONE}


*** Test Cases ***
App From Source
    ${electron} =    Get Electron Executable    ${ELECTRON_VERSION}    ${ELECTRON_EXECUTABLE}
    New Electron Application    ${electron}    args=${{ [$EXECDIR + "/app"] }}

Get Electron Executable downloads the given Electron release on first use and caches it. If executable is set, for example with --variable ELECTRON_EXECUTABLE:/path/to/electron, it returns that path and downloads nothing. See Downloads and cache.

Windows and closing

Section titled “Windows and closing”
  • New Electron Application returns the browser id, the context id and the details of the first window’s page, like New Persistent Context.
  • Windows that the app opens later can be selected with Switch Page NEW.
  • Close Electron Application, Close Browser, Close Context and Browser’s automatic closing all end the application.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”