Commit 35c9adc

Robot Framework 4.1 release candidate 1

.. default-role:: code

`Robot Framework`_ 4.1 is a new feature release with some nice new features,

such as enhancements to the continue-on-failure mode, as well as bug fixes.

This release candidate contains all planned changes.

All issues targeted for Robot Framework 4.1 can be found

from the `issue tracker milestone`_.

Questions and comments related to the release can be sent to the

`robotframework-users`_ mailing list or to `Robot Framework Slack`_,

and possible bugs submitted to the `issue tracker`_.

If you have pip_ installed, just run

::

to install the latest available release or use

::

to install exactly this version. Alternatively you can download the source

distribution from PyPI_ and install it manually. For more details and other

installation approaches, see the `installation instructions`_.

Robot Framework 4.1 rc 1 was released on Friday July 9, 2021. The final release

is planned for Monday July 19, 2021.

.. _Robot Framework: http://robotframework.org

.. _Robot Framework Foundation: http://robotframework.org/foundation

.. _pip: http://pip-installer.org

.. _PyPI: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/robotframework

.. _issue tracker milestone: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues?q=milestone%3Av4.1

.. _issue tracker: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues

.. _robotframework-users: http://groups.google.com/group/robotframework-users

.. _Robot Framework Slack: https://robotframework-slack-invite.herokuapp.com

.. _installation instructions: ../../INSTALL.rst

.. contents::

:depth: 2

:local:

Most important enhancements

Continue-on-failure mode can be controlled using tags

Robot Framework has for long time had so called "continuable failures" that fail

the test case but allow execution to continue after the failure. Earlier this

functionality could only be enabled by library keywords using special exceptions

and by using BuiltIn keyword `Run Keyword And Continue On Failure`.

Robot Framework 4.1 eases using the continue-on-failure mode on the data level

considerably by allowing tests and keywords to use special tags to initiate it.

The new `robot:continue-on-failure` tag enables the mode so that if any of

the executed keywords fail, next keyword is nevertheless run. This mode does not

propagate to lower level keywords, though, so in them execution stops immediately

and is resumed only on the test or keyword with the special tag. If recursive

usage is desired, it is possible to use another new tag

`robot:recursive-continue-on-failure`. (`#2285`_)

Argument conversion enhancements

Automatic argument conversion has been improved in few different ways:

- `Derived enumerations`__ `IntEnum` and `IntFlag` are supported. With both

of them it is possible to use enumeration member names as well as their

integer values. (`#3910`_)

- Number conversions (`int`, `float` and `Decimal`) support spaces and

underscores as number separators like `2 000 000`. (`#4026`_)

- Integer conversion supports hexadecimal, octal and binary values using

`0x`, `Oo` and `0b` prefixes, respectively. For example, `0xAA`, `0o252`,

and `0b 1010 1010` are alternative ways to specify integer `170`. (`#3909`_)

__ https://docs.python.org/3/library/enum.html#derived-enumerations

Backwards incompatible changes

Robot Framework 4.1 is mostly backwards compatible with Robot Framework 4.0.

There are, however, two changes that may affect some users:

- If `--doc` or `--metadata` gets a value that points to an existing file,

the actual value is read from that file, but in earlier releases the value is

the path itself. It is rather unlikely that anyone has used this kind of

documentation, but with metadata paths are possible. If a path to an existing

file should be used as the actual value, the value should get some extra

content to avoid the path to be recognized. Even a single space like

`--metadata "Example: file.txt"` is enough. (`#4008`_)

- String library methods `should_be_uppercase` and `should_be_lowercase` have

been renamed to `should_be_upper_case` and `should_be_lower_case`, respectively.

Due to Robot Framework's keyword matching being underscore insensitive, this

change does not affect normal usage of these keywords. If someone has used

these methods programmatically, they need to update their code. (`#3890`_)

Deprecated features

Python 2 support

Robot Framework 4.1 is the last release supporting Python 2. Its possible bug

fix releases will still support Python 2 as well, but Robot Framework 5.0 will

require Python 3.6 or newer.

This unfortunately means also the end of Jython__ and IronPython__ support.

Support can be added again if these projects get Python 3.6+ compatible versions

released.

__ https://jython.org

__ https://ironpython.net

Built-in Tidy

The built-in Tidy tool has been deprecated in favor of the externally developed

and much more powerful RoboTidy__ tool. The built-in Tidy will be removed altogether

in Robot Framework 5.0. (`#4004`_)

__ https://robotidy.readthedocs.io

Acknowledgements

Robot Framework 4.1 development has been sponsored by the `Robot Framework Foundation`_

and its `close to 50 member organizations <https://robotframework.org/foundation/#members>`_.

In addition to that, we have got great contributions by the open source community:

- `Oliver Boehmer <https://github.com/oboehmer>`_ added support to control

the continue-on-failure mode using test and keyword tags (`#2285`_).

- `Oliver Schwaneberg <https://github.com/Schwaneberg>`_ enhanced

`Wait Until Keyword Succeeds` to support strict retry interval (`#3209`_).

- `Sergey Tupikov <https://github.com/vokiput>`_ added support to collapse

whitespace with `Should Be Equal` and other comparison keywords (`#3884`_).

- `Mikhail Tuev <https://github.com/miktuy>`_ fix using `--removekeywords` when

test contains IF structure (`#4009`_) and renamed String library methods for

consistency (`#3890`_).

- `Vinay Vennela <https://github.com/vinayvennela>`_ enhanced the dry-run mode

to allow modifying tags using `Set Tags` and `Remove Tags` keywords (`#3985`_).

- `@asonkeri <https://github.com/asonkeri>`_ fixed keyword documentation

scrollbar issues in Libdoc HTML output (`#4012`_).

Huge thanks to all sponsors, contributors and to everyone else who has reported

problems, participated in discussions on various forums, or otherwise helped to make

Robot Framework and its community and ecosystem better.

| `Pekka Klärck <https://github.com/pekkaklarck>`__

| Robot Framework Creator

Full list of fixes and enhancements

.. list-table::

:header-rows: 1

* - ID

- Type

- Priority

- Summary

- Added

* - `#4009`_

- bug

- high

- Rebot generates invalid output.xml when using `--removekeywords` and there's IF on test case level

- rc 1

* - `#4036`_

- bug

- high

- Log generation fails if using `--expandkeywords` and test contains `ELSE` branch

- rc 1

* - `#2285`_

- enhancement

- high

- Support controlling continue-on-failure mode using test and keyword tags

- rc 1

* - `#3910`_

- enhancement

- high

- Support `IntEnum` and `IntFlag` in automatic argument conversion

- rc 1

* - `#3798`_

- bug

- medium

- Screenshot library prevents graceful termination of execution if wxPython is installed

- rc 1

* - `#3973`_

- bug

- medium

- `--exitonfailure` mode is not initiated if test is failed by listener

- rc 1

* - `#3985`_

- bug

- medium

- Tags set using keywords don't appear in dryrun logs

- rc 1

* - `#3994`_

- bug

- medium

- Skipped tests will have fail status if suite teardown fails

- rc 1

* - `#3996`_

- bug

- medium

- `--exitonfailure` incorrectly initiated if test skipped in teardown

- rc 1

* - `#4012`_

- bug

- medium

- Keyword documentation scrollbar issues in a small browser window

- rc 1

* - `#4030`_

- bug

- medium

- Libdoc stores data type documentation with extra indentation

- rc 1

* - `#4034`_

- bug

- medium

- `@{varargs}` with default value in user keyword arguments not reported as error correctly

- rc 1

* - `#3209`_

- enhancement

- medium

- `Wait Until Keyword Succeeds`: Support retry time with strict interval

- rc 1

* - `#3398`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Execution in teardown should continue after keyword timeout

- rc 1

* - `#3818`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Rebot should not take into account SKIP status when merging results

- rc 1

* - `#3884`_

- enhancement

- medium

- BuiltIn: Support collapsing whitespaces with `Should Be Equal` and other comparison keywords

- rc 1

* - `#3909`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Support binary, octal and hex values in argument conversion with `int` type

- rc 1

* - `#3934`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Remote: Support Unicode characters in range 0-255, not only 0-127, in binary conversion

- rc 1

* - `#3946`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Parser should detect invalid arguments in user keyword definition

- rc 1

* - `#4004`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Deprecate built-in Tidy tool in favor of external Robotidy

- rc 1

* - `#4008`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Support reading `--doc` and `--metadata` from file

- rc 1

* - `#4026`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Support space and underscore as number separators in argument conversion

- rc 1

* - `#4037`_

- enhancement

- medium

- Support `${var}[key]` syntax with lists that allow also key access

- rc 1

* - `#4027`_

- bug

- low

- Wrong error message when test fails in teardown and skip-on-failure is active

- rc 1

* - `#4035`_

- bug

- low

- Log not expanded correctly if all tests are skipped

- rc 1

* - `#3890`_

- enhancement

- low

- String: Rename `should_be_uppercase` to `should_be_upper_case` (and same with `lower`)

- rc 1

* - `#3991`_

- enhancement

- low

- Officially remove support for using using colon (`:`) in Settings section

- rc 1

* - `#4003`_

- enhancement

- low

- Remove outdated information from installation instructions

- rc 1

Altogether 28 issues. View on the `issue tracker <https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues?q=milestone%3Av4.1>`__.

.. _#4009: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4009

.. _#4036: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4036

.. _#2285: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/2285

.. _#3910: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3910

.. _#3798: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3798

.. _#3973: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3973

.. _#3985: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3985

.. _#3994: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3994

.. _#3996: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3996

.. _#4012: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4012

.. _#4030: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4030

.. _#4034: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4034

.. _#3209: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3209

.. _#3398: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3398

.. _#3818: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3818

.. _#3884: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3884

.. _#3909: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3909

.. _#3934: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3934

.. _#3946: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3946

.. _#4004: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4004

.. _#4008: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4008

.. _#4026: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4026

.. _#4037: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4037

.. _#4027: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4027

.. _#4035: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4035

.. _#3890: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3890

.. _#3991: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/3991

.. _#4003: https://github.com/robotframework/robotframework/issues/4003