Mainframe3270Library

Introduction

Mainframe3270 is a library for Robot Framework based on the py3270 project, a Python interface to x3270, an IBM 3270 terminal emulator. It provides an API to a x3270 or s3270 subprocess.

Compatibility

Mainframe3270 requires Python 3. It is tested with Python 3.7 and 3.10, but should support all versions in between these.

Installation

In order to use this library, first install the package from PyPI.

pip install robotframework-mainframe3270

Or you can upgrade with:

pip install --upgrade robotframework-mainframe3270

Then, depending on your OS, proceed with the corresponding chapters in this README.

Windows

You need to install the x3270 project and put the directory on your PATH.

The default folder is "C:\Program Files\wc3270". This needs to be in the PATH environment variable.

Unix

You can install the x3270 project from the instructions page. Or if it is available in your distribution through:

sudo apt-get install x3270

or

brew install x3270

More information can be found on the Wiki page of this project.

Example

*** Settings ***
Library    Mainframe3270

*** Test Cases ***
Example
    Open Connection    Hostname    LUname
    Change Wait Time    0.4 seconds
    Change Wait Time After Write    0.4 seconds
    Set Screenshot Folder    C:\\Temp\\IMG
    ${value}    Read    3    10    17
    Page Should Contain String    ENTER APPLICATION
    Wait Field Detected
    Write Bare    applicationname
    Send Enter
    Take Screenshot
    Close Connection

Keyword Documentation

You can find the keyword documentation here.

Importing

Arguments:

• visible = True
• timeout = 30
• wait_time = 0.5
• wait_time_after_write = 0
• img_folder = .
• run_on_failure_keyword = Take Screenshot

By default the emulator visibility is set to visible=True. In this case test cases are executed using wc3270 (Windows) or x3270 (Linux/MacOSX). You can change this by setting visible=False. Then test cases are run using ws3720 (Windows) or s3270 (Linux/MacOS). This is useful when test cases are run in a CI/CD-pipeline and there is no need for a graphical user interface.

Timeout, waits and screenshot folder are set on library import as shown above. However, they can be changed during runtime. To modify the wait_time, see Change Wait Time, to modify the img_folder, see Set Screenshot Folder, and to modify the timeout, see the Change Timeout keyword. Timeouts support all available Robot Framework time formats.

By default, Mainframe3270 will take a screenshot on failure. You can overwrite this to run any other keyword by setting the run_on_failure_keyword option. If you pass None to this argument, no keyword will be run. To change the run_on_failure_keyword during runtime, see Register Run On Failure Keyword.

Running with Docker

The Docker image contains everything that is needed to run Mainframe tests. Currently the image is not published to Docker hub, so steps to use it

• Build image:

  docker image build --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=3.7-alpine -t mainframe3270 .
  

  Here, BASE_IMAGE can be one of the available tags for the python docker images. Please note that only alpine based images (e.g. 3.7-alpine) are supported.

• Run all tests:

  docker container run --rm -it mainframe3270
  

Reports are saved to /reports. You can retrieve these by mapping the directory as volume. On Windows, run this command to mount your local reports directory with the container:

docker container run --rm -it -v %cd%\reports:/reports mainframe3270

On Linux/MacOSX, run:

docker container run --rm -it -v ${pwd}/reports:/reports

If you want to run single/specific tests, they can be mentioned at the end of command. Currently, only a single argument can be given, so multiple tests need to be given with wildcards like:

docker container run --rm -it -v %cd%\reports:/reports mainframe3270 *PF*

When developing tests, source code and tests can alsp be mounted with the container. The command to run tests using current sources is:

• Windows:

docker container run --rm -it -v %cd%\reports:/reports -v %cd%\atests:/tests -v %cd%\Mainframe3270:/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/Mainframe3270 mainframe3270

The reports directory needs to be created beforehand.

• Linux/MacOSX:

docker container run --rm -it -v ${pwd}/reports:/reports -v ${pwd}/atests:/tests -v ${pwd}/Mainframe3270:/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/Mainframe3270 mainframe3270

Contributing to Robot-Framework-Mainframe3270-Library

Interested in contributing to the project? Great to hear! Whether you found a bug, or want to develop a new feature, please refer to our Contributing Guidelines to help you get started.

Keyword Tests

To run all the library tests, you will need to create a user on the pub400 website.

WIKI

For more information visit the repository Wiki.

Authors

• Altran - Altran Web Site
• Samuel Cabral
• Joao Gomes
• Bruno Calado
• Ricardo Morgado

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see LICENSE.md for details.