Perform database tests without actually connecting to a database

Libraries DatabaseLibrary
1

In many cases with unit tests there are cases where you want to test how your application interacts with a database without actually connecting to and obtaining database records from the RDBMS. In my case, I am working with a large industrial application that connects with a database, but it is not a common database like Oracle or SQL Server.

Presently, the tests run for about 24 hours to complete the execution of all of the tests, where we are trying to make the test as much like the “real world” as possible, but we also have another mode that runs through all of the tests but ideally, it would be finished all of the tests in about 1 hour.

In my experience with C#/.NET, I have used tools to a create “fake” in-memory databases for testing using E.F.F.O.R.T. (see https://entityframework-effort.net/) or Moq (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/visual-studio-toolbox/unit-testing-moq-framework) before but I am not sure off the top of my head how to do that with Python Robot so I was wondering if anyone here has any suggestions.

Is it possible to perform tests without actually “hitting the database” with the robot framework? In my case the tests framework is python which is actually calling and exercising a C#/.NET application.
Here is what the source code looks like:

*** Settings ***
Resource    ../../../Resources.robot
Library     Process

Suite Setup     Do Suite Setup
Suite Teardown  Do Suite Teardown
Test Setup      Do Test Setup
Test Teardown   Do Test Teardown

Test Template   Test Results of A ${pressure_type} Pressure Exceeding HighLimit Using Config ${config_file}
Default Tags    RobotFrameworkCompatible

*** Keywords ***
Do Suite Setup
    Set Default Protection Type  HighPressure
    Set Suite Variable  ${bypass.status}    d459ba36-221b

Do Suite Teardown
    Set current_status Attribute For Status Point ${bypass.status} To 0

Do Test Teardown
    Stop PressureProtection

Do Test Setup
    Set current_status Attribute For Status Point ${bypass.status} To 0

*** Keywords ***
Initialize Test for HPP Pressure Type ${pressure_type} using config ${config_file}
    ${PressureProtection_config} =  Join Path  ${CURDIR}  ${config_file}
    Start PressureProtection with config ${PressureProtection_config}
    Wait for 2s
    Set Default HPP Pressure Type  ${pressure_type}
    Disable all stations

    Set Safe Pressure at location OS0
    Set Safe Pressure at location OS1
    Set Safe Pressure at location OS2
    Set Safe Pressure at location OS3
    Set Safe Pressure at location OS4
    Set Safe Pressure at location OS5

Disable all stations
    At Location OS0 set opMode to disabled
    At Location OS1 set opMode to disabled
    At Location OS2 set opMode to disabled
    At Location OS3 set opMode to disabled
    At Location OS4 set opMode to disabled
    At Location OS5 set opMode to disabled

Set Safe Pressure at location ${station}
    At Location ${station} set pressure to 1
    At Location ${station} set highLimit to 1000

Enable all stations
    At Location OS0 set opMode to enabled
    At Location OS1 set opMode to enabled
    At Location OS2 set opMode to enabled
    At Location OS3 set opMode to enabled
    At Location OS4 set opMode to enabled
    At Location OS5 set opMode to enabled

At Location OS5 Set Pressure Over Limit and expect commout and stop line immediately to impact upstream stations
    At Location OS5 set pressure to 1001
    Wait for ${SECONDS_TO_RAISE_ALARM}s

    At Location OS5 expect Commout and Stop Line Immediately to impact ${UPSTREAM_OF_STATION5} in the last ${SECONDS_TO_CHECK_FOR_RAISED_ALARM}s

    # sanity checks; of course none of this stuff should trigger
    At Locations ${ALL_STATIONS} expect no Cascade Shutdown Command in the last ${SECONDS_TO_CHECK_FOR_RAISED_ALARM}s
    At Locations ${ALL_STATIONS} expect no Cascade Reset Command in the last ${SECONDS_TO_CHECK_FOR_RAISED_ALARM}s
    Expect NO Stop Stations Alarm at locations ${UPSTREAM_OF_STATION5} in the last ${SECONDS_TO_CHECK_FOR_RAISED_ALARM}s

Test Results of A ${pressure_type} Pressure Exceeding HighLimit Using Config ${config_file}
    [Documentation]  Assumption is OS5 is configured as "DriveUpstreamToCommoutAndShutdownImmediately"

    Initialize Test for HPP Pressure Type ${pressure_type} using config ${config_file}

    At Location OS5 set pressure to 600
    Wait for ${SECONDS_TO_RAISE_ALARM}s

    Enable all stations
    Wait for ${SECONDS_TO_RAISE_ALARM}s

    At Location OS5 Set Pressure Over Limit and expect commout and stop line immediately to impact upstream stations

    At Location OS5 set pressure to 1000
    Wait for ${SECONDS_TO_RAISE_ALARM}s
    At Location OS5 expect an alarm 'Pressure returned to normal' in the last ${SECONDS_TO_CHECK_FOR_RAISED_ALARM}s

    Set current_status Attribute For Status Point ${bypass.status} To 1
    Wait for ${SECONDS_TO_RAISE_ALARM}s
    At Location OS5 Set Pressure Over Limit and expect commout and stop line immediately to impact upstream stations

*** Test Cases ***
Suction Test      Suction    suction_config.yaml
Discharge Test    Discharge  discharge_config.yaml
Case Test         Case       case_config.yaml

Does anyone have any suggestions? TIA.

2

It turned out that this specific test should not be part of the short 1 hour test suite, so the issue has been resolved.

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