Data Source in Web Testing

In automated web testing, one powerful approach to enhance test coverage and reusability is data-driven testing. In Robonito, we make this possible through a feature called Data Source.

What is a Data Source?

A Data Source is an external file — typically an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV (.csv) — that contains a list of values used to fill in input fields across various test cases.

Instead of writing multiple test cases for different input values, you can record a test case once and run it multiple times with various data values being pulled from a Data Source.

Objective

Our goal with Data Source is simple:

Record once, reuse many times.

You only need to record a single test case, and then:

  1. Upload a Data Source file containing test values.
  2. Configure how the test case should be executed using these values.
  3. Robonito automatically fills the test case input fields with each data row from the data source and executes it.
  4. Review the results in a detailed report.

Configuration Options

You can control how Robonito uses your Data Source using two strategy types:

1. Sequential Strategy

  • Use this when you want to execute the test case in order, from a specific range in the data file.
  • Example: Use rows 1 to 10 only.
  • Every row in that range will be used once.
strategy: sequential
range:
  starting row: 1
  ending row: 10

2. Random Strategy

  • Use this when you want to randomly pick data rows and execute the test case multiple times.
  • You only need to specify how many times the test case should run.
strategy: random
execute count: 5

Supported File Types

  • .csv (Comma-Separated Values)
  • .xlsx (Excel File)

Each row in your file should represent a unique data set, and each column maps to the input fields or parameters in your test case.