Basic Keyword Development

Getting Started

In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to develop a simple keyword. Java will be utilized as our default language and platform and Maven will act as our dependency management and build tool. Alternatively, you can use other languages supported by Step (JS, .NET, etc.) as long as the dependencies are correctly downloaded and linked.

You can find details about the Keyword API itself here.

Prerequisites

You must have at least Java 8 SDK installed on your machine for Step Keyword development. There are several ways to install Java 8 SDK depending on your platform:

• Windows: Refer to the official website and follow the instructions, Oracle Java download.
• Debian/Ubuntu: Execute the following command as root: apt-get install default-jdk
• Mac OS: Refer to the official website and follow the instructions, Oracle Java Max OS installation

Setting up Maven

Dependencies

We have created a public maven artifact available on our nexus for your convenience:

  <dependency>
	<groupId>ch.exense.step</groupId>
	<artifactId>step-api-keyword</artifactId>
	<version>1.1.3</version>
</dependency>
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Maven Repository

Exense’s public repository is deprecated. As of version 3.6.1 and onwards, you should be able to pull our dependencies directly out of the public sonatype repository.

We recommend you set up the Maven compiler plugin to use Java 8 using the following code:

  <build>
<plugins>
 <plugin>
  <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.1</version>
  <configuration>
   <source>1.8</source>
   <target>1.8</target>
  </configuration>
 </plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
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Your “pom.xml” should look like the code below:

  <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.example.step</groupId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<artifactId>scripts-keyword-demo</artifactId>

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
  <groupId>ch.exense.step</groupId>
  <artifactId>step-api-keyword</artifactId>
  <version>1.1.3</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
 <plugins>
  <plugin>
   <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
   <version>3.1</version>
   <configuration>
    <source>1.8</source>
    <target>1.8</target>
   </configuration>
  </plugin>
 </plugins>
</build>
</project>
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Basic Example

The following examples apply to all languages supported by Step (i.e, Java, .NET, JS/NodeJS, etc). Syntax may vary due to the language’s specifics, but the objects exposed to the developer should not vary.

Java will be our default platform in our documentation. Make sure your Keyword class extends Step’s class step.handlers.javahandler.AbstractKeyword and that your dependencies have been set up.

Code

We will create a simple keyword by waiting for a period passed into the Input and adding a boolean with a value of true to the Output. Please see the code below:

  import step.handlers.javahandler.AbstractKeyword;
import step.handlers.javahandler.Keyword;

public class KeywordDemo extends AbstractKeyword {
  // Annotation tells step that this function can be used as a Keyword
  @Keyword()
  public void Sleep() throws NumberFormatException, InterruptedException {
   // Waiting for the period passed in Input
   Thread.sleep(Long.parseLong(input.getString("sleep")));
   // Add a boolean object to the Output
   output.add("success", true);
  }
}
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Testing the Keyword Locally

The code below is an example of how you can run your keyword locally as a JUnit test.

  @Test
public void KeywordTest() throws Exception{
  ExecutionContext ctx = KeywordRunner.getExecutionContext(properties, this.getClass());
  Output output = ctx.run("Sleep", "{\"sleep\":\"100\"}");
  System.out.println(output.getPayload());
}
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As a result of the execution, you should be able to see the following message in your console:

  2019-01-11 15:47:07,481 DEBUG [main] s.h.j.KeywordHandler [KeywordHandler.java:91] Invoking method Sleep from class com.example.step.KeywordDemo loaded by sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader@b4c966a
{"success":true}
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Packaging and Deployment

You should now be able to package your class into a single Jar file using Maven. After changing the directory to the one containing your Java class (you may also use your IDE in order to generate the Jar file), you can use the following command:

  mvn clean install
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This will generate the Jar file. Now, you need to copy into the installation path of your Controller. For example, in data/scripts/:

You can now register the keyword into Step. To do this, go to the Keyword tab, click on “New Keyword” and properly complete the required fields:

Note, Jar files can also be dragged and dropped into the input box or uploaded programmatically via REST or our Remote Java Client.

Lastly, you can test your keyword by clicking on the run button and filling the Input value properly.

Summary: This article explains Keywords in Step and demonstrates how to create simple ones.