Accessing desktop application through RDC

[Sheetal Shahare]

How do i access desktop application present on remote sever using robot framework

e.g my robot framework set up on machine A 

and i need to automate desktop application present on machine B

how do i  access machine B from machine A?

Kindly provide me the solution.

[David]

Taking the remote case aside (consider it local rather than remote first for test planning), what libraries were you considering to use to automate the application with?

From there, the next step is probably whether the desired libraries can run off RF's (python/java/.NET remote server) to execute the keywords remotely on machine B. Other option would be for RF libraries themself that support remote execution say via RemoteWebDriver interface if you deploy it correctly the test setup (e.g. WinAppDriver and the various RF Selenium/mobile based libraries that can interact with WinAppDriver).

For other library suggestions, there's AutoItLibrary, and there may be other for RF that may be .NET based, search around online.

[Dave Amies]

Hi Sheetal,

You haven't given much detail about what you are trying to do and why, so i'll ask some questions that will help us find you a solution:

1) Can you just install robot framework and the required libraries on machine B and just run your tests there? this is usually the easiest solution, but there may be a valid reason you can't?

2) Ignore automation for a moment if you are manually testing the desktop application on machine B from machine A, how do you access machine B from machine A? is it RDP, Citrix, Team Viewer, VNC, something else?

Assuming that option 1 is not possible and you are using one of the remote desktop viewing programs I mentioned, your best option is probably the SikuliLibrary (https://github.com/rainmanwy/robotframework-SikuliLibrary), which is something I normally recommend as a last resort because it has so many limitations, really option 1 is your best option as it will be much easier for you.

Dave.

[Sheetal Shahare]

Hi Dev,

Machine B is dedicated SIT Environment so I can’t install RF In there. When it comes to do manual testing we access machine B using RDC.  

Now through automation,

Need to figure out how to access machine B 

I will keep sikuli option last as it’s image based and not sure how certain this solution would be.

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[Dave Amies]

Hi Sheetal,

Well if you can't install RF on Machine B (or another SIT Environment machine) and you are accessing via RDC (which uses the RDP protocol), then image based solutions are your only option, which is why I suggested SikuliLibrary, there are other image based solutions but start with SikuliLibrary as the other ones aren't used by many people so could be hard to get help with.

Is the reason you can't install RF on Machine B because it's a shared SIT machine? if so It is probably worth asking for a machine in the SIT Environment that can be dedicated to automation so you can install RF on it, this is really still your best option.

If Machine B is a dedicated SIT Environment machine and assigned to you there should be no issue with installing test automation software (RF) on it, you might need to ask for permission or for an admin person to install it, but the justification should be evident.

Dave.

[Sheetal Shahare]

Thanks a lot Dave ,

I have asked them to assign dedicated environment for Automation and install desktop app in the same environment . In that case I don’t need to worry about machine B. 😁

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[Dave Amies]

Great,

Next you will need to figure out the best library to use with your app, is your desktop app on Windows? do you know what language/development tools the dev team are using?

if windows and you aren't sure then probably the best bet is to start with flaui Library (https://github.com/GDATASoftwareAG/robotframework-flaui) as this covers most windows applications. But if you are using SAP GUI or a Java app there may be better options.

In general when automating applications the more you can find out about the technologies used to build the application, the easier the automation will be as you can search and find libraries that have been tuned for that technology.

Dave.

[Sheetal Shahare]

Thanks Dev,

Desktop application built using  .Net 

Please let me know if there's any specific desktop libraries required  for automation?

Just for my understanding why we need technologies ( java, sap, .net)  specific libraries for desktop automation?

because when it comes to Web automation, we don't care what technology application build in

[Dave Amies]

Hi Sheetal,

For a .Net application i'd suggest you try FlaUILibrary (https://github.com/GDATASoftwareAG/robotframework-flaui)

"Just for my understanding why we need technologies ( java, sap, .net)  specific libraries for desktop automation?

because when it comes to Web automation, we don't care what technology application build in"

You almost got it, but not quite. for any application desktop or web you can always automate it using image based libraries like SikuliLibrary, but there are limitations with that which is why it's your last resort. A better option if you can is to use a technology specific library, so for Web automation most people use SeleniumLibrary which is a technology specific library for web pages, so likewise for a desktop application you want to find out what technology was used to create the desktop application and choose a suitable test library. 

Hope that clears everything up,

Dave.