Automation testing is an important step in developing software or web applications. Automation testing helps software application companies improve software quality, usability, reliability, and many other factors by reducing testing time, effort, and cost compared to manual software testing.
BDD (Behavior Driven Development) is a software development methodology in which an application is documented and designed around the behavior a user expects to experience when interacting with it. SpecFlow and Cucumber are the most popular frameworks for this BDD testing. These frameworks allow the developers to write the test scenarios in a very simple and representative way so that they are very easy to understand by all the stakeholders involved.
In this article, first, you will see a brief introduction to these two automation testing frameworks, SpecFlow and Cucumber. Then, you will see how these can be integrated with other testing tools and frameworks to perform automation testing.
Contents
Introduction to SpecFlow
SpecFlow is a BDD (Behavior Drive Development) software testing tool for the .NET platform. SpecFlow is an open-source platform. BDD means the developers no longer need to consider tests when building a program. Instead, they may think in terms of “behavior.” This helps the software application developer to present more complex ideas and concepts easily. It is hosted on a popular online platform, namely GitHub. This testing helps the developer to create ATDD acceptance test drivers for .NET applications (Acceptance test driver development).
Integrating SpecFlow with other testing tools and frameworks for automation testing has various advantages. These benefits are it provides unit testing, it helps to design the test scenarios efficiently, The developers can write the tests in English grammar, and it has low-level cost of bugs SpecFlow also provides the option to perform documentation in real-time. The tests performed on SpecFlow are written in simple English.
The simple language allows the developers and the program’s producers to provide feedback to the programmers on which sections they want to preserve and which parts they want to remove. This ease of workflow increases the testing efficiency and saves time, resulting in productive cooperation. Popular companies and tech giants using the SpecFlow are Dell, FM Global, Charles Schwab, Nordstrom, Flatiron, Federal Home Loan Bank, etc.
When it comes to integrating SpecFlow with other testing tools, cloud testing tools like LambdaTest prove to be a viable solution. LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform to run manual and automated tests at scale. The platform allows you to perform real-time and automation testing across 3000+ environments and real devices cloud.
Automation testing with SpecFlow and LambdaTest brings together the benefits of behavior-driven development (BDD) and a powerful cloud-based testing platform. Combining SpecFlow’s BDD approach with LambdaTest’s cloud-based testing capabilities creates a potent framework for efficient, scalable, and comprehensive automation testing. This integration empowers teams to confidently deliver high-quality software, aligning testing efforts closely with business expectations.
Introduction to Cucumber
Cucumber is also a BDD (Behavior Drive Development) software testing tool. Software developers use this famous tool to create test cases for software application behavior testing. Cucumber is also famous among developers for developing acceptance test cases in web application automation testing. Cucumber is written in the Gherkin language. Gherkin is a very simple and easy-to-understand language, just like English. Initially, Cucumber was written in Ruby language. But after some time, it is transferred to the Java framework.
Both of these tools have native JUnit support. Cucumber, among other tools and frameworks, can be paired with Selenium, Watir, and Capybara. Cucumber supports popular programming languages like Java, Perl, PHP, Python, and.Net. Cucumber’s test code is easy to represent and comprehend. This makes it easy for all stakeholders on board throughout development. Anyone, from testers to developers to product owners and business analysts, can write behavior scenarios for the web application and give their valuable input in the development process.
This ease of workflow using Cucumber, when integrated with other testing tools and frameworks, increases testing efficiency and saves time, resulting in productive cooperation. Popular companies and tech giants using SpecFlow are JPMorgan Chase, AT&T, loanDepot, Live Nation, etc.
Integrating SpecFlow or Cucumber with Different Testing Tools and Frameworks
Now, let us see some popular tools and frameworks with which you can integrate the SpecFlow or Cucumber to perform automation testing.
Integration with Selenium
Selenium is one of the most popular tools for website and web application automation testing processes. Selenium allows software developers to control and manage how the website and the components of web applications will interact with the end-users. You can easily integrate SpecFlow or Cucumber with Selenium to perform end-to-end web application automation testing.
To integrate the SpecFlow or Cucumber with Selenium, there are some steps you need to follow before starting the software automation testing process.
- First, install the Selenium WebDriver and all the required web drivers for the web browsers you want to test your application.
- Then, you must create a base class to help initialize the WebDriver instance for each scenario or feature and the POM (Page Object Model). The same base class will also help to dispose of these instances and POM. A POM encapsulates the web elements and the actions for each application page.
- Then, you need to write the test cases in Gherkin. After writing the test case scenarios, you need to map them to the POM and WebDriver methods. These help execute the actions and assertions required in the software automation testing using SpecFlow or Cucumber with Selenium.
Integration with NUnit
NUnit is a unit testing framework that can be integrated with SpecFlow or Cucumber for software or website automation testing. It is an open-source platform, and it was initially ported from JUnit. However, the current version, NUnit 3.0, is completely rewritten. It supports a wide range of .NET platforms. This test framework allows the software developers to write and execute automated tests for their code using the NUnit framework. NUnit is written in C# and can test code in any .NET language, such as C#, VB.NET, and F#. The framework includes several assert methods for ensuring the code under test works properly.
- To integrate NUnit with SpecFlow or Cucumber, you must first install the SpecFlow.NUnit or Cucumber to use its features while performing the automation testing process.
- Then, you need to write the test cases in Gherkin.
- After writing the test cases, you need to map those test cases to the methods that apply methods and assertions.
- You can use the behavior and the execution of the tests by using many available NUnit attributes. These attributes are [Test], [SetUp], [TearDown], [Category], and [Ignore].
- There are also some NUnit assertions available that can be used to verify the test results and expectations. These assertions are Assert.AreEqual, Assert.IsTrue, and Assert.Throws
Integration with MSTest
MSTest is another useful framework that can be integrated with SpecFlow or Cucumber for the automation testing process. MSTest is a unit testing framework for .NET. It is built and comes with Visual Studio, providing features and functionalities similar to NUnit. In earlier days, MSTest came with a command-line tool for the software test execution. This framework is also known as the Visual Studio Unit Testing Framework. However, it is popularly known as MSTest among software application developers.
MSTest consists of all the useful tools to verify and validate the test code of the software application. There are various attributes available in this framework. Some of the popular attributes are like Assert.AreEqual, Assert.IsTrue, and Assert.Throws [TestInitialize], [TestMethod], [TestCleanup], etc. MSTest can be easily integrated with SpecFlow or Cucumber framework to perform software or website automation testing.
- To use the MSTest framework, you first need to install SpecFlow.MsTest or Cucumber.MsTest packages. These packages help the developer to enable framework integration and add the attributes, configurations, and other necessary files to perform test execution.
- Then, you need to write the test scenarios in Gherkin.
- After writing the test scenarios, you need to map the test scenarios to the methods to build and apply logic and assertions. The different attributes like Assert.AreEqual, Assert.IsTrue, and Assert.Throws [TestInitialize], [TestMethod], [TestCleanup], etc., are used to control the behavior and execution of tests.
This way, you can use the MSTest framework with SpecFlow or Cucumber for the automation testing process.
Conclusion
Software and web application developers use automation testing to improve software quality, usability, reliability, and many other factors by reducing testing time, effort, and cost compared to manual software testing. Behavior-Driven Development is a software development methodology in which the software application is documented and designed around the behavior of a user’s expectations. Two frameworks are mostly used for this kind of test: SpecFlow and Cucumber.
SpecFlow is a software testing tool for the .NET platform. Cucumber is used to develop acceptance test cases in web application automation testing. But these can also be integrated with other testing tools. Hope you get an idea of how you can integrate SpecFlow and Cucumber with other testing tools like Selenium, NUnit, and MSTest.
