Introduction to Cucumber

Before we learn about Cucumber , lets understand BDD What is Behaviors Driven Development?
Consider you are assigned to create Funds Transfer module in a Net Banking application.
There are multiple ways to test it
1.

Fund Transfer should take place if there is enough balance in source account

2.

Fund Transfer should take place if the destination a/c details are correct

3.

Fund Transfer should take place if transaction password / rsa code / security
authentication for the transaction entered by user us correct

4.

Fund Transfer should take place even if it's a Bank Holiday

5.

Fund Transfer should take place on a future date as set by the account holder

The test scenario become more elaborate and complex as we consider additional features
like transfer amount X for an interval Y days/months , stop schedule transfer when the total
amount reaches Z , and so on
The general tendency of developers is to develop features and write test code later. As,
evident in above case, test case development for this case is complex and developer will put
off testing till release , at which point he will do quick but ineffective testing.
To overcome this issue (Behavior Driven Development) BDD was conceived. It makes the
entire testing process easy for a developer
In BDD, whatever you write must go into Given-When-Then steps. Lets consider the same
example above in BDD

Given that a fund transfer module in net banking application has been developed
And I am accessing it with proper authentication
When I shall transfer with enough balance in my source account
Or I shall transfer on a Bank Holiday
Or I shall transfer on a future date
And destination a/c details are correct

And transaction password/rsa code / security authentication for the transaction is correct
And press or click send button
Then amount must be transferred
And the event will be logged in log file
Isn't it easy to write and read and understand? It covers all possible test cases for the fund
transfer module and can be easily modified to accommodate more. Also, it more like writing
documentation for the fund transfer module.
What is Cucumber?
Cucumber tools also support Behavior Driven Development (BDD).It offers a way to write
tests that anybody can understand, regardless of their technical knowledge.

In BDD, users (business analysts, product owners) first write scenarios or acceptance tests
that describes the behavior of the system from the customer's perspective, for review and
sign-off by the product owners before developers write their codes.
Cucumber use Ruby programming language.
What are the benefits?
1.

It is helpful to involve business stakeholders who can't easily read code

2.

Cucumber focuses on end-user experience

3.

Style of writing tests allow for easier reuse of code in the tests

4.

Quick and easy set up and execution

5.

Efficient tool for testing

Advantages of Cucumber over other tools?

Cucumber

HP ALM (QTP)

Selenium

It is free

QTP is expensive

It is free

It's a behavior driven

It's a Functional

It's a Functional and

development tool

Plugin in cucumber works faster

Automation Tool

Plugin are slower

Performance ( Selenium Grid) test

tool

compare to Cucumber and

Selenium

Cucumber supports other

language as well beyond Ruby like

Java, Scala, Groovy etc.

Writing automation steps are

Cucumber supports only web

environment

cucumber

VB script

joint effort of testers and developer

QTP supports only

In QTP only tester

Selenium supports Java, .Net

and many other languages

writes automation steps

Plugins are slower than

Support web, desktop

and any client server
application

Like Cucumber, writing

automation steps are joint effort of
testers and developer
Supports only web
environment

Cucumber Installation
Cucumber installation could be tiresome but its relatively easy.
Here is a roadmap of components that need to be installed to make Cucumber work

PART A) Install Ruby:

Step 1) Got to http://rubyinstaller.org/downloads/
Select a package as per your OS Version
If you have 32bit version OS than click on Ruby2.0.0-p451 or have a 64bit OS then click on
Ruby2.0.0-p451(x64)

Once download is complete, start the installation. Select Your Preferred language For
Installation

Step 2) Accept license and click on next

Step 3) Select your Installation Directory & Select all Options

Step 4) Wait for installation to complete.

Step 5) Once installation is complete After install ruby Lets Run Ruby!

Step 6) You will see Ruby Command prompt same as windows cmd.

Part B Install Ruby Development Kit

Step 1) Download Development kit here . Development kit should be same version as that
of Ruby you downloaded.

Step 2) The development kit is in .7zip format file and when you execute it ask for extract
file. Just choose any directory you want extract and extract it

Step 3) Now in extracted folder you see dk.rb file. it is development kit installation file, we
need it when we install development kit in ruby.

Step 4) Go back to Ruby cmd prompt. And locate development kit directory in cmd which
you extracted for development kit.

Step 5) Now type command "ruby (your development kit path) dk.rb init" to initialize
process of development kit as shown in image.

Step 6) Next, we have to install development kit. Type command in cmd "ruby (your
development kit path)dk.rb install" for installation.

Step 7) Devkit installation completed:

PART C) Install Cucumber

Step 1) Type in Ruby cmd "gem install cucumber". This command will download and install
Cucumber at command line itself

After few seconds cucumber installation procedure has been start

Step 2) To verify cucumber is installed successfully or not just type "cucumber version"

PART D) Install IDE

To write Cucumber Test Scripts, you need IDE
There are two popular GUI based script editor for Windows which can be used for
Cucumber - .
1. Ruby mine: You can download from http://www.jetbrains.com/ruby/download/
2. Komodo edit 1.8 You can download from http://www.activestate.com/komodoide/downloads
I suggest as a beginner, use komodo edit as it is easy to use.

Step 1) Open Downloaded Setup file and Click On next

Step 2) Accept license agreement

Step 3) Select directory for installation and click on next

Step 4) Click on next to install

Step 5) Installation process starts

Step 6) Komodo install successfully

PART E) Installation For AnsiCon:

In command prompt

A "Pass" Cucumber test case is shown in Green

A "Fail" Cucumber test case is shown in Red

To show colorized text in cmd prompt you have to install Ansicon tool. You can download
Installation Steps
Step 1) Download Ansicon here

Step 2) Select a folder as per your windows OS versions

Step - 3) Execute file ansicon

AnsiCon installed successfully

PART F) Installation Watir

Watir is used for Web Automation in Cucumber
To install Watir , in ruby cmd type "gem install watir"

PART G) rspec Installation

It is used to run additional libraries of cucumber
for test run.
To install rspec, in ruby cmd type "gem install rspec"

PART H) colorize Installation

It helps to colorize error syntax
To install rspec, in ruby cmd type "gem install colorize"

Finally you are done and all set J

Cucumber Basics
For every cucumber project there is a single directory at the root of the project named
"features". This is where all of your cucumber features will reside. In this directory you will
find additional directories, which is step_definition and support directories

What is "Feature File"?

Feature File consist of following components

Feature: A feature would describe the current test script which has to be executed.
Scenario: Scenario describes the steps and expected outcome for a particular test
case.
Scenario Outline: Same scenario can be executed for multiple sets of data using
scenario outline. The data is provided by a tabular structure separated by (I I).
Given: It specifies the context of the text to be executed. By using datatables "Given",
step can also be parameterized.
When: "When" specifies the test action that has to performed
Then: The expected outcome of the test can be represented by "Then"

Example:
Feature: Visit career guide page in career.guru99.com

Scenario : Visit career.guru99.com

Given: I am on career.guru99.com
When: I click on career guide menu
Then: I should see career guide page

What is "Step Definition"

Step definition maps the test case steps in the feature files (introduced by
Given/When/Then) to code, which executes and checks the outcomes from the system
under test. For a step definition to be executed, it must match the given compoent in a
feature. Step definition is defined in ruby files under "features/step_definitions/*_steps.rb".
Example for Step Definition: Here we will above example of browsing career.guru99.com
do We will use features like "When, Then, Given "
Step 1:
Given (/^ I am on career.guru99.com$/) do
Browser.goto "http://career.guru99.com" -This will visit career.guru99 on browser
end
Step 2:

When (/^ click on career guide menu$/) do

Browser.text (:name, " career guide" ).click This will click "career guide menu"
end
Step 3:
Then (/^ I should see career guide page$/) do
Browser.goto "http://career.guru99.com/category/career-guide/" - It will visit "career guide
page"
end
Summary:

You need 2 Files Features and Step Definition to execute a Cucmber test scenario
Features file contain high level description of the test scenario in simple language
Steps Definition file contains the actual code to execute the test scenario in the
Features file.

Your First Cucumber Script

Test Scenario: Verify output when Email id is not entered
Test Steps:
1.

Open Browser

2.

Go To http://demo.guru99.com/

3.

Do not enter Email id

4.

Click Submit

Expected Result: Error is shown

Step 1) Open komodo Editor via windows start menu

You will See Komodo Dashboard as below

Step 2) Now we have to create a

1.

new feature file in feature folder

2.

step definition file in step _definitions folder

3.

config file in support folder

Create a New file From the File > New > New File

Step 3) Save File in "yourfolder/features/" with name "yourfilename.feature"

Step 4) To execute our scenario, save the following commands in the Feature File

Step 5) Now lets Run our First feature file.!

Click on "Start Command Prompt With ruby"

Step 6) Type "cucumber yourfolder/your feature file path and press enter

It will look like this!

You see the error because you have to write step definitions file for feature file
Step 7) Lets create step definition file for our Feature File!
Create a new file in komodo editor

Step 8) Save File As below in "yourfolder/features/step_definititons" with name test_step.rb

Step 9) Write the following code into the step file

Above code will call the gems we have installed.

Next add Step Definitions For Scenario as below:

Step 10) Now, again run our feature file:

The result is

Step 11) Lets code the next scenario

Test Scenario: Verify output when Email id is not entered
Test Steps:
1.

Open Browser

2.

Go To http://demo.guru99.com/

3.

Do enter Email id

4.

Click Submit

Expected Result: Error is shown

let's write feature and scenarios as below for this testing

And write step definitions as below for this scenario:

Run feature file from ruby cmd

Sample code of feature file:

Feature: guru99 Demopage Login
In order to Login in Demopage we have to enter login details
Scenario: Register On Guru99 Demopage without email
Given I am on the Guru99 homepage
When enter blank details for Register
Then error email shown
Scenario: Register On Guru99 Demopage with valid email
Given I am on the Guru99 homepage
When enter details for Register
Then login details shown
Sample of of step definition file for this feature file:
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require 'watir-webdriver'

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require 'colorize'
browser = Watir::Browser.new
Given (/^I am on the Guru99 homepage$/)do
browser.goto "http://demo.guru99.com"
end
When (/^enter blank details for Register$/)do
browser.text_field(:name,"emailid").set(" ")
browser.button(:name,"btnLogin").click
end
Then (/^error email shown$/)do
puts " Email is Required".red
browser.close
end
When (/^enter details for Register$/)do
browser = Watir::Browser.new
browser.goto "http://demo.guru99.com"
browser.text_field(:name,"emailid").set("guru99@gmail.com")
browser.button(:name,"btnLogin").click
end
Then (/^login details shown$/)do
puts " Sucessfully register"
browser.close
end