In software engineering, Behavior-Driven-Development (BDD) is an agile software development process which helps to understand how the application should behave. It emerged from Test-Driven- Development (TDD). The practice of BDD does assume the use of specialized software tools to support the development process.
BDD is largely facilitated through the use of a simple Domain-Specific-Language (DSL) using natural- language constructs e.g. English-like sentences that can express the behavior and the expected outcomes.
BDD focuses on:
° Where to start in the process
° What to test and what not to test
° How much to test in one go
° What to call the tests
° How to understand why a test fails
BDD is about rethinking the approach to Unit Testing and Acceptance Testing in order to avoid issues that naturally arise.
BDD specifies that business analysts and developers should collaborate in this area and should specify behavior in terms of User Stories. Each User Story should in some way as the following structure,
Title: –
An explicit title.
Acceptance criteria: –
A description of each specific scenario of the narrative with the following structure:
° Given: the initial context at the beginning of the scenario, in one or more clauses;
° When: the event that triggers the scenario;
° Then: the expected outcome, in one or more clauses.
A very brief example of this format is,
In this example we automate the Flipkart website using BDD. First we login to the website by giving Username and Password and navigate to the home page by clicking on the login button.
@Test
Feature: Automate the flipkart Website
Scenario:
Given The “Login” page is displayed
When the user enters “Username and “Password” And “Login”
button is pressed
Then the “Home” page is displayed
Example:
|TestCase |
| Automate the flipkart Website
Top 5 Tips for Developing Test Automation using BDD,
1. Understand BDD Concept: –
BDD requires an absolutely different tester’s role. If something does not work after implementation, it means that we haven’t created such a scenario. To know the BDD process for the testers means understanding that their goal is not only to find bugs but to prevent them in early stages of development.
2. Understand the Specification: –
It is important to have a clear idea about specification, understand the system behavior. So, get a clear idea from the product owner.
3. Write Thorough Feature Files: –
After understanding all the specifications, we need to write down all possible scenarios, conditions and expectations in the form of a feature file.
4. Know the Code-Base: –
Now working on implementation of those feature files. Knowing all details of the test code will speed up the full process. Writing the methods which are reusable is more efficient.
5. Try to Understand the Missing Scenarios: –
In case of insufficient understanding of the project concept and not considering all possibilities, the scenarios might not be full and comprehensive enough. In BDD practice a missing scenario is considered to be a bug, that is why the team working on the scenarios is essential.
Conclusion:-
BDD makes Test Automation =easier. By using plain language, everyone in the product life cycle is able to write behavior scenarios. BDD increases and improves collaboration.
