Cucumber for Mobile App Testing

Cucumber tool uses the Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) approach for writing test cases. Testers can easily write test cases in plain English using the BDD framework. Hence, stakeholders, managers and testers leverage BDD to avoid going through complicated programming languages. The Cucumber tool can be used for the conduction of mobile app testing by utilizing appium, which is one of the best open-source mobile app automation tools. In this article, you will get to know how cucumber can be used for mobile app testing.

The Cucumber tool can be utilized for conducting mobile app testing. However, a popular automation tool such as Appium should be used.

What is Appium?

It is an open-source mobile app test automation tool that is exclusively used for testing mobile applications. Technologies such as Flutter, React Native, Swift, Objective-C, Java and Kotlin can be used. Languages like PHP, JavaScript, Python and Java are used for writing test cases in Appium. Once the tests are executed, the app will be able to automatically run on the connected device and present the users with interactions as per the test cases.



What is Cucumber testing?

Cucumber testing is a software testing process that focuses and works on an application's behavior. The applications are tested through the Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) framework. Cucumber tests are written in a natural, simple language that can be understood by anyone by putting in the least amount of efforts.

The objective of cucumber testing is to help teams better communicate about the application's behavior. When tests are written in a shared language, the team will be able to assimilate it. Misunderstandings are being avoided and the need for lengthy code discussions is reduced. The traditional code-based tests for collaborators can also be easily changed. This makes more easier and flexible to maintain.

The working context of Cucumber:

The specifications are read by Cucumber from plain-language text files called features. The scenarios are then being checked for testing and then run against the system. Each scenario is then executed as a list of steps. A basic syntax known as 'Gherkin' should be followed by the feature file. The feature file is associated with step definitions by cucumber testing. Then the business-readable language is worked out.

Following are the steps required to configure cucumber with appium for conducting mobile app testing:

1. Setting up Java framework: The first step is to set up Java and the IDE. Then, JUnit and IntelliJ IDEA IDE should be set up. The JDK needs to be downloaded to install Java and run the installer. Subsequently, JAVA_HOME setting should be validated.

 

2. Know about JUnit and IntelliJ IDEA: IntelliJ IDEA is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) written in Kotlin and Java, while JUnit is being used as a unit testing framework.

 

3. Maven project: A Maven project should be created and dependencies should be added. The latest Maven distribution can be downloaded for installing Maven. Once the downloading of zip file is done, it can be unzipped in the folder from where it can be installed and later the path can be set to the PATH environment variable.

 

4. Appium installation: When it comes to installing appium, it can be done by downloading Appium desktop or via NPM. If Appium is being run through an NPM install, there will be a need for NPM and Node.js.

 

5. Dependencies: The dependencies can be added for Appium, Gherkin, Cucumber and extent reports.  

Cucumber testing best practices:

·       The scenarios should be written in Gherkin syntax

·       'Given', 'when' and 'then' steps should be included in the scenarios

·       The scenarios should be concise and clear

·       The cucumber command-line tool should be used to run the tests

·       To run and organize specific scenarios, tags should be used.

Conclusion: The team responsible for incorporating cucumber for mobile app testing should be well-versed and knowledgeable in the working of cucumber and mobile app testing. For an in-depth analysis and strategic solutions, the team has the option to get connected with a leading software testing services company that can tactically solve all their queries.

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