This document discusses using Behat and Mink to test web applications. It describes how tightly coupling Behat scenarios to Mink's predefined steps can be difficult to maintain. It recommends using Page Object patterns to encapsulate web pages and remove this coupling. Page objects extend Mink elements and allow interacting with pages and elements in scenarios without relying on Mink steps. This improves organization, readability, and maintainability of tests.

1. Creating Better
Behat Features

2. Behat
➔Created by @everzet
➔BDD framework
➔Scenarios written in Gherkin:
➔Lends itself to describing UI
Given a precondition
When an action happens
Then an outcome can be tested
Given I am a logged in user
When I subscribe to a thread
Then I should receive confirmation

3. The Mink
➔PHP toolkit for interacting with web
pages
➔Abstracts different browser drivers
◆headless browsers
◆Selenium
➔Web page interaction
$active = $element->find(‘css’, ‘#status’)-
>hasText(‘open’);

4. Behat and MinkContext
➔Built in browser interaction
➔Predefined step definitions:
I fill in "#comment-form textfield" with "Hello!"
I should see "Hello!" in the "#comments" element
I fill in "rob" for "form input[name=’username’]"
etc.

5. STOF!
not me

6. Behat and MinkContext
➔Tightly coupled
➔Lack of ubiquitous language
➔Confined to MinkContext definitions
◆Moulding your scenarios to fit
MinkContext
➔Bloody difficult to maintain

7. Behat and MinkContext

8. Introducing PageObjects
➔Implementation by SensioLabs
➔Encapsulate a web page
➔Extends Mink’s DocumentElement
class
➔Removes coupling from feature files

9. PageObjects and Elements
➔Declare elements in the class
➔$form = $this-
>getElement(‘login.form’);
◆returns an extension of Mink’s Element
➔Interact with the elements:
◆$form->pressButton(‘Login’);

10. PageObjects

11. PageObjects within a
Context
➔Contexts extend PageObjectContext
➔Easily get a page object:
◆$page = $page->get(‘Homepage’);
➔Open a page (as though you were in
a browser)
◆$page = $page->get(‘Homepage’)-
>open();
◆->open([‘id’ => ‘12345’])

12. PageObjects within a
Context

13. My process
1. Write feature files
2. Run Behat
3. Add generated step definitions to
Context
4. Create a PageObject to represent a
page
5. Write step definitions
6. Write code

14. Behat in your application
➔Keep everything together
/
app/
bin/
features/
tasks.add.feature
tasks.remove.feature
bootstrap/
fixtures/
Vivait/
Context/
Page/
spec/
src/

15. Behat and Databases
KnpLabs - FriendlyContexts
➔Lots of lovely contexts
◆ But be careful not to reintroduce coupling!
➔AliceContext
@reset-schema @alice(groups) @alice(users)
@alice(filters)
Feature: Pinning filters
In order to easily access filtered issues
As a reporter
I should be able to pin my issues to the main menu

16. ➔Better organised
➔Easier to
maintain
➔Less coupling
➔Nicer to read
End
➔Robin
Cawser
➔Viva IT
Ltd.
➔@robcaws
er

17. Some links
➔http://docs.behat.org/en/latest/
➔https://github.com/sensiolabs/BehatPageObj
ectExtension
➔https://github.com/KnpLabs/FriendlyContexts