SpecFlow - Basics

Before we talk about Spec Flow, we should know Cucumber 

• Testing Frame work
• Support BDD
• Uses Gherkins 
• Cucumber is written in Ruby but test code can be written in c#, Java , Python etc.

 [ Installation & Set Up of Spec Flow in Visual Studio  Learn from official Spec Flow documentation ]

Creating a Mind map for clarity of things 

Specflow by Aadhith Kalathil Bose

What is Spec Flow?

• Official .Net version of Cucumber 
• Testing Frame Work 
• Support BDD (Behavior Driven Development)
• Uses Gherkins 
• Gherkin support English, German, Spanish, French etc. 

So before going further a brief idea about BDD and Gherkins 

BDD 

• Can be considered as a refinement of TDD (Test Driven Development) and ATDD (Acceptance Test Driven Development). [Definition not available in the scope of this study]
• Thinking "from the outside in". Should Test Behavior Not test implementation. 
• Apply 5 Why's 
• Used in Toyota Company (Source Wiki)
• Problem - The vehicle will not start
• Why? - The battery is dead. (first why)
• Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
• Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
• Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced. (fourth why)
• Why? - The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root cause)
• Why we are using 5Why's ???? To get the root cause 
• is understandable by different stake holders (BA, QA, Devops) to improve communication
• driven by Business Value

Why BDD Framework ? 

Hopefully through this pic we all understand the problems in software development / testing. 

The big hurdle for SW development / testing is Communication

We can overcome such problems through Gherkins

Gherkins 

• Language that Cucumber / Spec Flow understand
• Ubiquitous  language - means normal language Eg: English
• Directly interact with the development code but tests are written in a language that is quite easy to understand by the business stakeholders. [a practical example will give you more understanding of this]
• Removes any misunderstandings / confusion in Communication. 
• Not necessarily used to write automated tests. 
• Primarily used to write structured tests which can be used as project documentation.
• The property of being structured gives us the ability to automate them :)
• This automation is done by Spec Flow / Cucumber

More Readings

Example of Gherkins / Cucumber / Spec Flow / BDD 

Feature : Create A New Facebook Account 

Scenario : Successful sign up

Once successfully signed in, a confirmation E-mail and a  personal greetings is sent 

Given I have chosen to sign up

When I entered the details such as Name, Email, Phone Number, DOB and Gender

Then I should receive a confirmation E-mail

And I should see personal greeting mail

Scenario : Duplicate Email

To create an account with an existing E-mail in FB

Given I have chosen to sign up

When I entered the details such as Name, Email, Phone Number, DOB and Gender

Then an error message is shown that E-mail already registered 

And I should get the option to claim the E-mail address. 

When we look at the above example - we can see that any business users can understand what the test is going to do. 

• Stake holders can visualize what the test is intended to do
• Can give feedback [Just visualize - how the test we write in POM / Facade can be read by Stake holders. It's very difficult for person with out programming knowledge]

A simple Practical Example in Git Hub. 

Feature File is like body of your car, engine is different. 

Key Words

Feature: Defines what feature you will be testing in the tests below

• Each Gherkin file begins with a Feature keyword.
• Feature defines the logical test functionality
• e.g if you are testing a payment gateway your Feature will become Payment Gateway 
• If you are testing the LogIn functionality then the Feature will become Login
• The idea of having a feature file is to put down a summary of what you will be testing.
• serve as the documentation for your tests
•  good point to start for a new team member

Background: used to define steps which are common to all the tests in the feature file

• Eg: Think of Login, which is common to all tests. 

Scenario: Each Feature will contain some number of tests to test the feature. Each test is called a Scenario 

• Eg: add product to basket
• A scenario is equivalent to a test in our regular development process. Each scenario/test can be basically broken down into three parts:
  • Precondition to the test, which represent with (Given) keyword
  • Test step execution, which represent with (When) keyword
  • Verification of the output with expected result, which represent with (Then)

Given: Tells the pre-condition of the test. For example in an E-commerce website, if you want to add a product to the basket, then the pre-condition is that you should be on the Products Page

• Eg: user is on the Home Page / product page

When: Defines the action of the test

• Eg: User add the first product to basket. 

Then: States the post condition. You can say that it is expected result of the test

• Eg: Then the product should be added. 

And: Defines additional conditions of the test

Eg: Given User is on Home Page

     When User Navigate to LogIn Page
     And User enters UserName and Password
     Then Message displayed Login Successfully

But: used to add negative type comments

Eg: Given User is on Home Page

 When User Navigate to LogIn Page
     And User enters UserName and Password
     But The user credentials are wrong
     Then Message displayed Wrong UserName & Password

* keyword - 

• whole purpose of having Given, When, Then and all the other keywords
• Cucumber doesn’t care about what Keyword you use
•  it cares about what code it needs to execute for each step [Step Definition] 
• all the keywords can be replaced by the * keyword 

Eg: Scenario: Successful Login with Valid Credentials

     * User is on Home Page
     * User Navigate to LogIn Page
     * User enters UserName and Password
     * Message displayed Login Successfully

I had create a Spec Flow code for Google search in Git Hub. https://github.com/fasteningcode/SpecFlow_googleSearch/

Source