How to test for blank text field when using robotframework-selenium?

Question

How can I specify blank/empty value for a text field when using the robotframework-seleniumlibrary with a TSV file? For example, I have the following:

Textfield Value Should Be       identifier=name1       Chris
Textfield Value Should Be       identifier=name2

I want to test that name2 is blank. I have tried leaving it blank (which returns a message about an incorrect number of arguments. I have tried "", which looks for a pair of quotes, and '' which enters a single quote, and selenium seems to look for that

score 32 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 02 '21 at 08:49

32

You can use either a single backslash \ or special variable ${EMPTY} to create an empty string in the test data. User guide has the details: Robot Framework User Guide.

edited Feb 02 '21 at 08:49

Bence Kaulics

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answered Aug 06 '11 at 11:49

janne

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${EMPTY} should work very well and it will be easier understood when reading the test case again... I would try to avoid backslash... – sdmythos_gr Sep 30 '11 at 01:13
Yes, ${EMPTY} is more meaningful than \ (backslash) – Ripon Al Wasim Mar 29 '13 at 06:11
Is ${EMPTY} a built-in variable? – Ripon Al Wasim Mar 29 '13 at 06:20
Other way is to include the `value` attribute of element in the xpath and assert the xpath `//input[@class='xyz' and @value='']` – Dev Sep 07 '20 at 18:52

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 02 '21 at 08:49

11

Yes, ${EMPTY} is a built in variable.

There are many examples, see an example here

edited Feb 02 '21 at 08:49

Bence Kaulics

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answered Mar 10 '15 at 10:27

Manohar Reddy Poreddy

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 25 '19 at 17:34

${EMPTY} is good for a blank value but, surprisingly, it didn't work for an empty value.

I found what I was looking for. The field I was verifying had no value in its value attribute and I wanted to verify it. It was returning '' as the value and when using ${EMPTY} it couldn't find '''' instead. Such a minor thing but ended up solving what I needed, so it depends what you're seeking to verify.

How to test for blank text field when using robotframework-selenium?

3 Answers3

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