This document discusses various methods for feeding automated tests with data, including scenario outlines, inline tables, YAML files, CSV files, and Excel spreadsheets. It begins by explaining Ruby array and hash objects, then demonstrates using scenario outlines, inline tables, YAML files, CSV files, and the Simple XLSX Reader gem to read spreadsheet data into tests. The document concludes by providing contact information for questions.

1. Feeding Your Automated Tests
A Practical Demo
Joseph E. Beale
02/16/2016

2. Agenda
• Scenario Outlines
• Inline Tables
• YAML Files
• CSV Files
• Excel Spreadsheets

3. But before we can get into those…
• We need to understand two Ruby object
classes:
1. Array – a group of data elements accessed using
subscripts (0…n)
2. Hash – a group of key/value pairs where you
access the value via the key.

4. Array and Hash Methods
• .each – is used to iterate through all items in
an array:

5. Array and Hash Methods
• .each can also be used on a hash:

6. Array and Hash Methods
• Access an array value using the associated
subscript and a hash value using the
associated key:

7. What is a Scenario Outline
• If I have the following Gherkin Scenario:

8. What is a Scenario Outline
• If I want to do multiple searches, I have to
change the parameters every time.

9. Scenario Outlines to the Rescue
• Conversion to Scenario Outline allows me to
drive multiple searches with data!

10. Demo
• Live demo of search engine testing using a
scenario outline.

11. What is an Inline Table?
• Suppose I want to feed multiple data elements
through one step in the scenario?
• Example: several steps to get to a page and
then multiple elements to enter on that page.

12. Inline Table With Header
• Insurance application, add beneficiaries:

13. Inline Table With Header
• You can then use the table headers as hash
keys to access the data in the rows:

14. Demo
• Live demo of printing out data from an inline
table.

15. What is a YAML file?
• YAML = “YAML Ain’t Markup Language”
• Data serialization using colons and indentation

16. Using YAML
• One ordinary usage for a YAML file is storing
different logins for your system:

17. Using YAML
• Normal hash principals apply to YAML files:

18. Using YAML
• Another way of using YAML files is for a list of
items, like names of insurance companies:

19. Using YAML
• So after using the initial hash key to get the
list, you then treat it like an array:

20. Demo
• Demo of using YAML file for login ID and
password, plus printing out the list of
insurance name.

21. What is a CSV file?
• Comma Separated Value file; really just an
ordinary text file that follows this format:

22. Using the Ruby CSV class
• Ruby has a built-in class CSV that is designed
to help you manage these very common files.

23. Using the Ruby CSV class
• The .read method wraps our file into a CSV
object. The result is an array of arrays:

24. Using the Ruby CSV class
• Even better, adding headers to the file and
one argument to the method call creates a
CSV table object:

25. Demo
• Demo of using CSV.read method with and
without headers.

26. The Ubiquitous Spreadsheet
• Almost everywhere you go in the IT world, you
will find data in spreadsheets.
• Spreadsheets are so commonly used for test
requirements that some tools have add-ins to
use them for importing test artifacts.
• Spreadsheets are the main source of data for
data-driven automation tools.

27. Introducing Simple XLSX Reader
• There are several gems that allow you to
access spreadsheet data in Ruby. I prefer
Simple XLSX Reader for input data.
• To install, add to Gemfile:

28. Using Simple XLSX Reader
• Let’s look at a scenario where we will input
and modify the data from a spreadsheet.

29. Using Simple XLSX Reader
• The spreadsheet data looks like this:

30. Using Simple XLSX Reader
• Since a spreadsheet file is really a set of
sheets, we need to specify one sheet:

31. Using Simple XLSX Reader
• Now we can iterate through the array of
arrays and identify the various cells using
subscripts:

32. Bonus Code
• Finally, as a bonus, this is how you can take
the modified sheet and write it out to a new
.csv file that can then be opened in Excel:

33. Demo
• Demo of using Simple XLSX Reader to input a
spreadsheet into a Ruby object, plus
modifying the data and writing out to a new
.csv file.

34. Questions?
Contact me:
joseph.beale92@gmail.com
Or:
Connect with me on LinkedIn!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-
beale-023b719