Manual input (Captcha) with Robot Framework?

Question

I'm writing an acceptance test for web using Robot Framework + Selenium2Library. The point is that web contain some input field that I can not automate (CAPTCHA), and I can't tell my vendor to turn off this feature while running test. So I have to input this field manually. Now I'm doing this:

Create User
    [Arguments]            ${username}    ${password}
    Open Browser           ${URL}         ${BROWSER}
    Input Text             username       ${username}
    Input Text             password       ${password}
    Sleep                  10             # XXX input CAPTCHA manually here!
    Click Button           submit
    Page Should Contain    ${username} has been created.

I've input CAPTCHA when I tell Robot Framework to Sleep 10, so far so good. But I wonder is there anyway to tell Robot Framework to wait indefinitely, then continue automate task after I finish input that CAPTCHA?

Answer 1

There is a keyword just for this purpose in the Dialog library that comes with Robot Framework.

Execute Manual Step    Please complete the CAPTCHA portion of the form.

Answer 2

I can see a few options:

You can remove sleep and button clicking and do them yourself. Then you can use wait until page contains to continue after you has pushed submit button

Create User
    [Arguments]                 ${username}    ${password}
    Open Browser                ${URL}         ${BROWSER}
    Input Text                  username       ${username}
    Input Text                  password       ${password}
    Log                         Waiting for CAPTCHA
    Wait Until Page Contains    ${username} has been created.    timeout=3600

You can also use Pause Execution keyword from Dialogs-library. This pauses execution until you click OK in a popup.

Create User
    [Arguments]                 ${username}    ${password}
    Open Browser                ${URL}         ${BROWSER}
    Input Text                  username       ${username}
    Input Text                  password       ${password}
    Pause Execution             Enter captcha
    Click Button                submit
    Page Should Contain         ${username} has been created.

The most automated way I can think of is to use a CAPTCHA solving service. I believe they have an API where you send screenshot of your page and get a solved CAPTCHA back. I have never tried them and sharing screenshots of your software may not be an option.