Updates:
Status: Pending
Comment #3 on issue 430 by pekka.klarck: Keyword visibility modifiers for
resource files
http://code.google.com/p/robotframework/issues/detail?id=430
Should Robot prevent using private keywords in test cases or other resource
files? Or would it be enough just to see this information clearly in
documentation and perhaps leave private keywords away from docs generated
with libdoc.py?
Personally I think that the documentation aspect is enough. I don't think
preventing people from using keywords they find useful makes anything good.
If a keyword is clearly labeled private, users ought to know that using it
can be risky and they should contact the author and ask making it public.
Importantly the could anyway use the keyword right away. If they couldn't
use it directly they would likely copy it somewhere creating unnecessary
duplication.
Another positive side of making this only a documentation aspect is that
the implementation is a lot easier.
Issue 925 proposes an idea to add generic categorization support for
keywords. If nobody can give convincing reasons why the framework should
prevent using private keywords I'll merge this issue with it.
