![]() Respect the integrity of the step types: Givens set up initial state, Whens perform an action, and Thens verify outcomes. I once saw a scenario with about 30 When-Then pairs, and many were duplicate behaviors.ĭo not be tempted to arbitrarily reassign step types to make scenarios follow strict Given-When-Then ordering. For instance, the first behavior to search from the search bar may be covered in another feature file. This splitting technique also reveals unnecessary behavior coverage. (Note: Some BDD frameworks may allow disordered steps, but it would nevertheless be anti-behavioral.) Any time you want to write more than one When-Then pair, write separate scenarios instead. Thus, there should be two scenarios instead of one. In Gherkin, one scenario covers one behavior. This makes it easy to see how, in the test above, there are actually two behaviors covered: (1) searching from the search bar, and (2) performing an image search. A Given may not follow a When or Then, and a When may not follow a Then. The reason is simple: any single When-Then pair denotes an individual behavior. This is syntactically incorrect: Given-When-Then steps must appear in order and cannot repeat. Since they don’t focus on the desired behavior, they can be reduced to one declarative step: “Given a web browser is at the Google home page.” This new step is friendlier to read.Īfter the Given step, there are two When-Then pairs. The first two steps are purely setup: they just go to Google, and they are strongly imperative. This is not behavior-driven, it is still procedure-driven. All that happened was that the author put BDD buzzwords in front of each step of the traditional test. Then images related to "panda" are shown on the results page When the user clicks on the "Images" link at the top of the results page Then links related to "panda" are shown on the results page Scenario: Google Image search shows picturesĪnd the user navigates to "" When the user enters "panda" into the search bar I’ve seen many newbies translate a test like this into Gherkin like the following: # BAD EXAMPLE! Do not copy. Images related to “panda” are shown on the results page.Click on the “Images” link at the top of the results page.Links related to “panda” are shown on the results page.The web page loads successfully and the Google image is visible.Below would be a reasonable test procedure: As a result, they may be unnecessarily long, which can delay failure investigation, increase maintenance costs, and create confusion.įor example, let’s consider a test that searches for images of pandas on Google. These procedure-driven tests are often imperative and trace a path through the system that covers multiple behaviors. They often write feature files as if they are writing “traditional” procedure-driven functional tests: step-by-step instructions with actions and expected results. HP ALM, qTest, AccelaTest, and many other test repository tools store tests in this format. The biggest mistake BDD beginners make is writing Gherkin without a behavior-driven mindset. Write Gherkin so that people who don’t know the feature will understand it. The Golden Gherkin Rule: Treat other readers as you would want to be treated. This post will cover how to write top-notch feature files. (Check the Automation Panda BDD page for the full table of contents.) With some basic pointers, and a bit of practice, Gherkin becomes easier. Good Gherkin feature files are not easy to write at first. How am I supposed to write my Gherkin steps? ![]() ![]() You fire open Atom with a Gherkin plugin or Notepad++ with a Gherkin UDL, you type “Given” on the first line, and… That’s great! Big steps! And now, you are ready to write your first Gherkin feature file. You even peeked at Cucumber-JVM or another BDD framework on your own. You picked a good language for test automation. You read the BDD 101 Series up through the previous post. You plan to use behavior-driven development to shift left with testing. So, you and your team have decided to make test automation a priority.
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