Zephyr Bots or ZBots are software agents that reside on target automation systems and link the Zephyr Server and the automation tool being used on the target automation system. ZBots help you automate your test cases: when ZBot is running, you can execute Zephyr Vortex jobs that will add automated test cases to the specified folder and create test cycles on the Test Planning page. When a user runs an automated test case on the Test Execution page, the Zephyr Server connects to the target ZBot, sends execution information to it to run one or multiple test scripts, and then retrieves test results to parse and send them to Zephyr:
You can download ZBot directly from Zephyr:
1. Click your username in the top-right corner of the main Zephyr screen and select Download ZBot from the menu:
2. In the subsequent dialog, specify a name for your ZBot so that you can easily identify it in Zephyr and click Download:
3. Unzip the downloaded archive to some folder on your hard drive:
You can start ZBot right after downloading, there is no need to configure it in any way. It is preconfigured to use your Zephyr URL, username and password, however, you can change these values in the conf\zbot.properties file, if needed.
You start ZBot in different ways, depending on the operating system you use:
Windows:
To start ZBot as a service when your computer starts, just run the zbot_install_service_64.bat file.
Linux:
You can also schedule to start ZBot automatically.
A job is a task with a number of parameters. You use it to automate your test cases. You can create three types of jobs: Script Automation, Suite Automation and Folder Watcher.
A Script Automation job triggers a automation script that retrieves data from the specified test automation tool through ZBot and passes it to Zephyr.
To learn how to create and execute a Vortex job, see the corresponding topic:
For more information on Vortex, see Zephyr Vortex.
Before running a job, you need to start ZBot. You can execute your jobs only when ZBot is running. |
Downloading ZBot also creates a Zephyr API token (a token is generated automatically based on the ZBot name) and adds it to the ZBot properties file. You can then use this token to control your ZBot via API. To view the API tokens you have created or to create a new one, click your username in the top-right corner and select API Token from the menu:
Executing Automated Test Cases
Create and Manage API Tokens in Zephyr