Tasks
In Robot Framework for RPA, Tasks are where the action happens. When run, the robot script will execute the keywords specified in its tasks in sequence.
Take this example .robot
file:
*** Settings ***
Documentation Example robot that downloads a remote Excel file and opens it.
Library RPA.Excel.Files
Library RPA.HTTP
*** Tasks ***
Download an Excel file, open it, and close it
Download https://robotsparebinindustries.com/SalesData.xlsx overwrite=True
Open Workbook Data.xlsx
Close Workbook
This script has one Task that we called Download an Excel file, open it, and close it
.
To accomplish the task, we call three keywords: Download
, Open Workbook
, and Close Workbook
.
Tasks basic syntax
Tasks must be contained in a *** Tasks ***
section.
The singular form
*** Task ***
also works, but we suggest to use*** Tasks ***
for better compatibility with Robocorp Lab notebook mode.
The first line contains the name of the task. All other lines need to be indented with spaces.
Tasks documentation
Using the [Documentation]
setting, you can add a more detailed description of what the task does:
*** Settings ***
Documentation Example robot that downloads a remote Excel file and opens it.
Library RPA.Excel.Files
Library RPA.HTTP
*** Tasks ***
Download an Excel file, open it, and close it
[Documentation] Downloads the sales data file from the intranet, opens it, and closes it.
Download https://robotsparebinindustries.com/SalesData.xlsx overwrite=True
Open Workbook Data.xlsx
Close Workbook
Task setup and teardown
Using the [Setup]
and [Teardown]
settings, you can execute keywords before and after a task is run:
*** Settings ***
Documentation Example robot that takes a screenshot of a webpage.
Library RPA.Browser
*** Tasks ***
Take a screenshot of the intranet homepage
[Setup] Open Available Browser https://robotsparebinindustries.com/
Screenshot
[Teardown] Close All Browsers