No, unfortunately, there isn’t a way to configure the RobotCode extension to automatically resolve imports from a central common.resource file for all files. To be honest, the way you’re currently structuring your project isn’t considered good practice either. Centralizing all libraries and resources in a single common.resource file and importing it into all test cases and keyword resource files leads to several issues:

1. Circular Imports: If common.resource is imported into keyword resource files, circular dependencies can occur because this file is often already included in other files. This can result in warnings or unexpected behavior.

2. Risk of Overwriting Keywords or Variables: A central common.resource file increases the chance of unintentional overwriting of keywords or variables with identical names. This can cause hard-to-debug issues and unexpected behavior during test execution.

3. Performance Issues: Robot Framework checks all known keywords and variables during execution to resolve calls and avoid collisions. A centralized file with many unused keywords and variables significantly increases processing time, especially in large projects.

4. Increased Complexity for Users: A single file containing hundreds or thousands of keywords makes it harder for users to find the relevant ones while writing test cases. This reduces productivity and complicates the test creation process.

Solutions:

1. Modularize Your Resources:
   Define a common.resource file that only includes the libraries and resources genuinely required by all test cases and keyword files. For everything else, import only what’s needed in your tests or resource files.

   • You can group similar resources into their own files, e.g., business-specific (functional) keywords and technical keywords.
   • This structure avoids circular imports entirely and maintains modularity.

2. Disable Warnings in RobotCode:
   If you prefer to stick with your current solution, you can suppress warnings about circular imports and already-imported resources in RobotCode. Here’s how:

   • Directly in the Files:

     # robotcode: ignore[*ResourceAlreadyImported*, PossibleCircularImport]
     *** Settings ***
     Variables variables
     Resource already_imported.resource # robotcode: ignore[ResourceAlreadyImported]
     Resource circular_import.resource # robotcode: ignore[PossibleCircularImport]

     • The first line disables all relevant warnings for the entire file.
     • Alternatively, you can disable specific warnings directly next to the problematic lines.

   • Globally in the Project:
     In VS Code settings, you can disable these warnings globally for your project. Search for robotcode.analysis.diagnosticModifiers.ignore and add the relevant codes (ResourceAlreadyImported, PossibleCircularImport) to the list.

Conclusion:

It’s best to adopt a modular resource structure and only import what’s truly needed to avoid performance and maintainability issues. However, if you want to stick to your centralized solution, you can suppress RobotCode warnings either in specific files or globally for the project.

For more details on this topic and potential issues with centralized common.resource files, check out this YouTube video, which explains the challenges and solutions in greater depth.