BDD & Cucumber
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🥒 BDD & Cucumber

BDD framework philosophy, Gherkin syntax (Given/When/Then), feature files, and step definitions.

What is Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)?

BDD bridges the communication gap between business analysts, developers, and QA engineers by writing software specs in plain human-readable language.

Gherkin Syntax Keywords

Gherkin is the structured English syntax used in Cucumber feature files.

Keyword Purpose Example
Feature Title & summary of functionality Feature: User Authentication
Scenario Specific test case or user flow Scenario: Successful login with valid email
Given Precondition state of system Given user is on login page
When Action executed by user When user enters valid credentials
Then Expected outcome assertion Then user should see dashboard

Cucumber Feature File Example

Writing plain text scenarios in a `.feature` file.

login.feature Gherkin 
Feature: User Login Feature

  Scenario Outline: Login with multiple user credentials
    Given User is on login page
    When User enters "" and ""
    And Clicks submit button
    Then Login status should be ""

    Examples:
      | username | password | status  |
      | admin    | pass123  | success |
      | guest    | wrong    | fail    |

Step Definition Class in Java

Mapping Gherkin steps to Java execution code using `@Given`, `@When`, `@Then` annotations.

LoginSteps.java Java 
import io.cucumber.java.en.*;

public class LoginSteps {
  @Given("User is on login page")
  public void openLoginPage() {
    System.out.println("Opening login page...");
  }

  @When("User enters {string} and {string}")
  public void enterCredentials(String user, String pass) {
    System.out.println("Entering: " + user);
  }

  @Then("Login status should be {string}")
  public void verifyStatus(String status) {
    System.out.println("Status verified: " + status);
  }
}