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BDD Frameworks Overview
Shapin Anton
August 19, 2016

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• Lead Software Test Automation Engineer
• 9+ years in IT
• Areas of my competency: manual,
automation, performance and etc.
• Successfully completed more than 9 BDD
projects.
Email: anton_shapin@epam.com
Skype: anton_shapin
Shapin Anton

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Agenda
BDD approach1
Pros, cons, restrictions of BDD2
Coding tricks in Cucumber-
JVM
3

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LET`S START !

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Main questions:
What is BDD ?1
Why do we need BDD ?2
What are the “bonuses” and
minuses of BDD approach?
3
Where to begin?4

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What customers see in BDD:
We can understand what our
automated tests are doing.
1
Executable specification.2
Reducing cost of test
automation.
3
A better product.4
We can write clear tests in their
native language.
5

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What qa engineers see in BDD:
Automated tests in native language.
What is it?
1
Should we rewrite all of our tests?2
How we will maintain tests?3
Our tests will be unstable!4
It will be additional work (test-cases should
be migrated to language of scenarios).
5

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BDD approach
BDD(behavior-driven development) - is a set of software engineering practices
designed to help teams build and deliver more valuable, higher quality software faster. It
draws on Agile and lean practices including, in particular, Test-Driven Development (TDD) and
Domain-Driven Design (DDD).
BDD isn’t a software development methodology in its own right. It’s not a replacement
for Scrum, XP, Kanban, RUP, or whatever methodology you’re currently using.
MAIN GOAL: EXECUTABLE SPECIFICATION

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BDD process

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BDD
Given describes the preconditions for
the scenario and prepares the test
environment.
When describes the action under
test.
2
Then describes the expected
outcomes.
3
The And and But keywords can be used
to join several Given, When, or Then
steps together in a more readable way.
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1

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Example of GUI Scenario
Scenario: Running a Full Text Quick Search.
Given I perform Quick Search by "IPhone 4S"
When I click on link 'Search History' on panel 'Quick Search'
Then the term query "IPhone 4S" should be the first in the Search
History grid

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BDD vs “Classical” style of test
AUTOMATED TEST IN GERKHIN FORMAT(TEST IN BDD STYLE) AUTOMATED TEST IN “CLASSICAL” STYLE
Scenario: Running a Full Text Quick Search.
Given I perform Quick Search by "IPhone 4S"
When I click on link 'Search History' on panel 'Quick Search'
Then the term query "IPhone 4S" should be the first in the Search History
grid
@Test
public void checkFullTextSearch() {
homepage.open();
quickSearchForm.setSearchQuery(“IPhone 4S”);
quickSearchForm.perform();
quickSearchForm.openSearchHistory();
searchHistory.isQueryTheFirst(“IPhone 4S”);
}

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How it works
@Given("^I perform Quick Search by "([^"]*)" $")
public void i_perform_quick_search_by(String query) {
driver.findElement(By.id(“searchQuery”)).sendKeys(query);
driver.findElement(By.id(“submit”)).click();
}
Scenario: Running a Full Text Quick Search.
Given I perform Quick Search by "IPhone 4S"
...
Each step maps to Java Method

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The main layers of a Cucumber test suite

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BDD restrictions :
BDD works very well only if the team of
analysts, developers, testers are near, but not
in different locations.
1
Work is performed on an isolated part of
the product by a small team.
2
The system does not have tests with a
complex structure of the test data.
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Pros:
The acceptance criteria are nice thought.1
We get executable specification.2
All test cases and automated tests are up to date.3
Application development time reduced.4
Test logic is in total independent layer of
implementation.
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Manual qa engineer can use automated test scenarios
for manual testing.
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Cons:
It is not possible to do testing in the middle of the
test. Checks are made only in the THEN section.
1
It's hard to maintain reusable steps in the
scenarios. Very often it leads to duplication of
code in the test system.
2
It is difficult to refactor tests.3
It is necessary to create and maintain the
Domain Dictionary for writing tests.
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The complexity of writing test scenarios without
Helper-s (typos, say the phrase can be
different).
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Where to begin
1. Think, whether you need to BDD and formulate specific
goals you want to achieve.
2. Read the book "BDD in Actions".
5. Very carefully think through the architecture of your test
system (What? Where? Why? How?).
4. Create the initial version of the Domain vocabulary and
rules for test scenarios writing.
3. Select the BDD framework. Examine the documentation
carefully.
!!! FORWARD !!!

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Languages, Frameworks
FRAMEWORKSLANGUAGES
RSpec
JDaveCola

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Functional tests
BACK-END TESTS
(SERVICES, API and etc)
UI TESTS
(WEB APPLICATION)
TYPES OF TESTS
The scenarios should
express what a user
should be able to do, and
NOT HOW.
Very important is what a
user should be able to
do, and HOW

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Step structure
WHEN The user clicks the button “SAVE" in the Report Navigation Column on the Search Results page
WHEN
WHO
NAME OF
ACTION
OBJECT OF
ACTION
AREA OF
ACTION
PAGE NAME
LINK+<TITLE>
BUTTON+<TITLE>
TEXTBOX+<TITLE>
…
TABLE
PANEL
POP-UP
MODAL FORM
TAB
…
PAGE NAME
CLICK
SELECT
…
I
THE USER

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Step structure
THEN the term "<query>" should be the first in the Search History grid on the My History page
THEN
WHAT
SHOULD
[NOT] BE
AREA OF
ACTION
PAGE NAME
TABLE
PANEL
POP-UP
MODAL FORM
TAB
…
PAGE NAME
SHOULD BE
SHOULD NOT BE
The term
…

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Step structure
WHEN The user performs the Full Search with parameters: query: “fish"; city: “Murmansk"; on the Home page
COMPLEX
WHO
NAME OF
ACTION
OBJECT OF
ACTION
WITH
PARAMETERS:
PAGE NAME
LINK+<TITLE>
BUTTON+<TITLE>
TEXTBOX+<TITLE>
…
PARAM:VALUE PAGE NAME
PERFORM
FILL
…
I
THE USER

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Small tricks when working with Cucumber-JVM
Scenario Outline: Running a Full Text Quick Search.
Given I perform Quick Search by “<query>"
When I click on link 'Search History' on panel 'Quick Search'
Then the term query “<query>" should be the first in the Search History grid
Examples:
|query |
| IPhone 4S |
| BMW X5 |

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Small tricks when working with Cucumber-JVM
Given the user navigate to the Home page
=
Given the user open the Home page
(?: navigate to|open) не равно (:? navigate to|open)
/**
* Open "Home page"
*/
@Given("^the user (?:navigate to|open) the Home page$")
public void the_user_open_the_Home_page() {
homePage.open();
}

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Small tricks when working with Cucumber-JVM
When the user navigates to “Simple” report type on the page ‘Results’
=
When the user navigates to report type “Simple” on the page ‘Results’
@When("^I navigate to (?:"([^"]*)" report type|report type "([^"]*)" ) on page 'Results'$")
public void I_navigate_to_report (String dataset, String dataset2){
if(dataset!=null) {
// TODO: code goes here
}else{
// TODO: code goes here
}
}

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Small tricks when working with Cucumber-JVM
Given I have 5 cucumbers in my basket
=
Given I have 1 cucumber in my basket
@Given("^I have (d+) cucumbers? in my basket$")
public void i_have_cucumber(int number) {
// TODO: code goes here
}

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Small tricks when working with Cucumber-JVM
Then the response should be JSON:
"""
[{"name":"BMW X5", "color": "Blue"},
{"name":"UAZ Patriot", "color": "Blue"}]
"""
@Then("^the response should be JSON:$")
public void theResponseShouldBeJSON(String expectedJson){
// TODO: code goes here
}

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IDE Helper (plugin for IDEA) to write steps of
scenario
• We can see all implemented
steps when printing text of
step
• We can see full description
of steps
• Helper reduces time of step
creation
KEY POINTS

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Best Practices. Test Step Creation.
User Helpers. For example IntelliJ IDEA plugin «Cucumber for Java»

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Conclusion
1. BDD is a very good approach. But this is not a magic bullet.
2. Improper using will bring more problems than benefits.
5. Tests Stability and BDD usability depends on you.
4. Do not confuse the BDD and tests written in
Gherkin.
3. To use or not to use BDD depends on situation and project.

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Useful materials
1. Video: Useful practices of creation automatic tests by using Cucumber-JVM:
https://goo.gl/ZftM9h
2. Video: From Manual to Automated Testing:
https://videoportal.epam.com/video/noPgmXaX
5. Book: “Specification by Example”
4. Book: “Cucumber Recipes”
3. Book: “BDD in Actions”
6. Allure-cucumber-plugin: https://github.com/kirlionik/allure-
cucumber-plugin

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Thank you for attention!
Email: anton_shapin@epam.com
Skype: anton_shapin