Writing Your First Gherkin Feature File

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Now that you have Cucumber set up in your project, it’s time to write your first Gherkin feature file. This guide will help you create a feature file and define scenarios using Gherkin syntax.

Gherkin feature files are written with the .feature extension and contain a structured language with keywords like Feature, Scenario, Given, When, Then, And, and But. Let’s write a simple feature file for a checking the navigation on the Kicks Web App functionality.

Creating a Feature File

First, navigate to your project’sfeaturesdirectory. This is where all your feature files will reside. To get started with our scenarios, we need to create a new file. Create a file named home-screen.feature inside the features directory.

Path: home-screen.feature

src/test/resources/features/home-screen.feature

By creating the home-screen.feature file, we establish a dedicated space for our home screen scenarios. This approach not only helps in organizing our tests but also makes it easier to locate and update them as needed.

Write a Feature Scenario

Ensuring a seamless user experience starts with verifying that all navigation links on the home screen function as expected. Below we are going test a few test cases related to the navigation menu.

home-screen.feature

# Author: J Richard | Mastering QA
Feature: Home Screen - Verify Web App Navigation Menu Links

  Scenario: Click the Login Icon
    Given the user is on the home screen
    When the user clicks the "login" icon
    Then the "Login" screen is displayed

  Scenario: Click the Products link
    Given the user is on the home screen
    When the user clicks the "Products" link
    Then the "Products" screen is displayed

Understanding Gherkin Syntax

Feature: Provides a detailed overview of the feature being tested, outlining its purpose and functionality.
Scenario: Specifies a particular test case for the feature, illustrating a unique situation to validate its performance.
Given: Establishes the initial conditions and context necessary for the test to proceed, ensuring a proper setup.
When: Captures the specific actions taken by the user during the test, detailing the interactions that trigger the functionality.
Then: Articulates the expected results of the test, defining the criteria for success and the desired behavior of the feature.

Given the user is on the home screen

This step sets the initial context. It assumes the user has already landed on the home screen of the web application.

When the user clicks the "login" icon

This action step simulates the user clicking on the login icon, which is expected to take them to the login screen.

Then the "Login" screen is displayed

The final step verifies the outcome, ensuring that clicking the login icon indeed navigates the user to the login screen.

Click the Products Link Test
The second scenario is pretty much similar but in this case we will be clicking the products link and verifying that we landed there successfully.

Conclusion

You’ve written your first Gherkin feature file. Next, you’ll learn how about Scenario Outlines and Examples. Continue to the next guide to explore step definitions.

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