In this dynamic digital landscape, automating tests is crucial for ensuring the reliability and efficiency of software applications. Selenium, a powerful automation tool, combined with the Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) framework, Cucumber, offers a robust approach to testing. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore how this tandem simplifies test creation, enhances collaboration between teams, and empowers you to create automated tests that not only find bugs but also document application behavior in plain language. Join us on this journey to streamline your testing processes and elevate software quality.

BDD - Behavior Driven Development

  • It is a technique of agile software development in which test cases are written in a simple text language that even non-programmers can understand.
  • The aim of a Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) framework is to unite diverse project roles, including quality assurance professionals, developers, and business analysts, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the application without delving excessively into its technical complexities.
  • Testers create automated test cases using plain language that customers can easily understand.BDD test automation frameworks then interpret these executable specifications written in straightforward English to verify the success of these tests.One of such framework tools is CUCUMBER.

Cucumber – A BDD Framework Tool

  • Cucumber is a Behavior Driven Development (BDD) framework tool to write test cases. It works based on Given – When – Then Approach.
  • Gherkin is a plain English text language, which helps the tool – Cucumber to interpret and execute the test scripts.

BDD Framework Integration Available with Tools

  • Test Framework : TestNG, JUnit
  • Build Tools : Maven,Ant
  • CI/CD – Jenkins

CUCUMBER ANNOTATIONS: Annotations are predefined text which contain specific meaning. It allows the compiler what should be done during execution.

    • Given: Some given context (Preconditions).
    • When: Some Action is performed (Actions).
    • Then: Output after the above step (Results).
    • And : Between any two statements, it gives the logical AND condition. AND can be combined with the GIVEN, WHEN, and THEN statements.
    • But : Between any two statements, it gives the logical OR condition.

Steps To Use The Selenium With Cucumber Framework

1. Setup

  • JDK
  • Eclipse
  • Install the cucumber plugin from eclipse Marketplace

2. Create Maven project in eclipse and create package for  Java and feature file

3. Update pom.xml with below Cucumber Dependencies 
  • Cucumber-java
  • Cucumber-junit / TestNG

4. Create Folder Features & Create feature file in that  (Example : searchFeature.features) which contains scenario as per given Condition (Given, When, Then)

SearchPage. feature

Feature: Test Google Search Functionality

Scenario: Search and verify page title

Given  #. User is on Google Search page
When #. User search with cucumber framwork keyword
And #. Click on selection options
Then #. User is redirected to search result page
5. Create Java class search.java under package (src/main/java/package) which contains the steps definition 
package example;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;
import io.cucumber.java.After;
import io.cucumber.java.Before;
import io.cucumber.java.en.And;
import io.cucumber.java.en.Given;
import io.cucumber.java.en.Then;
import io.cucumber.java.en.When;
import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;

public class search {
	
	private static WebDriver driver;       
  
    @Before
    public void setUp() throws InterruptedException {
        WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
        Thread.sleep(10);
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
    }
 
    @Test
    public void checkTest()
    {
    	System.out.println("Testing");
    }

	@Given("#. User is on Google Search page")				
    public void open_login_page() throws Throwable							
    {		
		 driver.get("https://www.google.co.in/");
        System.out.println("1. Go to Google search page");					
    }		

    @When("#. User search with cucumber framwork keyword")					
    public void enter_credentails() throws Throwable 							
    {		
       System.out.println("2. Search with cucumber framwork keyword.");		
       driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//textarea[@title='Search']")).sendKeys("cucumber framework");
     Thread.sleep(10);
      driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//img[@alt='Google']")).click();
      Thread.sleep(10);
    }	
    
    @And("#. Click on selection options")
    public void click_login(){
    	System.out.println("3. Click on Google search button");
    	driver.findElement(By.xpath("(.//input[@value='Google Search'])[last()]")).click();
    }

    @Then("#. User is redirected to search result page")					
    public void redirect_homePage() throws Throwable 							
    {    		
        System.out.println("4. User is redirected to search result page");					
        String actTitle = driver.getTitle();
        String expTitle = "cucumber framework - Google Search";
        Assert.assertEquals(actTitle,expTitle);    
    }
	
	/*
	 * @After public void teardown() { driver.quit(); }
	 */
}

6. Run feature file with Run as cucumber feature option to execute the scenario

7. Create a runner class to run single/multiple feature files. Run it as TestNG /Junit

Annotations used- Cucumber Options

  • Features – Path of feature file
  • Glue- path of Java class
File Name : testRunner.java

package example;

import io.cucumber.testng.AbstractTestNGCucumberTests;
import io.cucumber.testng.CucumberOptions;

@CucumberOptions(features="src/main/java/features/searchPage.feature",
glue={"example"},
plugin = { "pretty", "html:target/cucumber-reports" },
monochrome = true)
public class testRunner  extends AbstractTestNGCucumberTests{

}
8. To create cucumber report, create cucumber.properties file and write  – cucumber.publish.enabled=true
After execution, report link will be displayed in console as below:
Report will be displayed like this:
Conclusion: Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) offers the capability for the entire team, including members who may not possess deep technical expertise to participate in writing and testing software. While BDD does present challenges, such as translating plain English (non-technical) text into actual code. Overall, BDD serves as an invaluable guideline to ensure the development of the right software in the right manner.

Payal Nanavati