With the creation of the cucumber framework came the creation of the Gherkin Scripting format (also known as the Given-When-Then format). The structure of a Gherkin script is very straight-forward: Given provides you with the background When tells you what is being created Then tells you the expected results. Writing a script in a Given-When-Then format may be fairly simple. Writing a good Gherkin Script is an Art. Some are Picassos, some are Monets, some look like they were created by a toddler with a crayon. In this presentation Mr. Eakin will offer some tips on writing good Gherkin Scripts and show you how a well crafted Gherkin Script can be a beautiful work of Art.

1. Local Touch – Global Reach
www.us.sogeti.com
The Art of Gherkin Scripting
Matthew Eakin, Manager
Managed Testing Practice
Sogeti, USA
Matthew.Eakin@us.sogeti.com

2. 2www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Agenda
Where did Gherkin Scripts come from?
• BDD
• The cucumber automation framework
What are Gherkin scripts?
• Given
• When
• Then
Expressive Scenarios
• Background
• Scenario Outline
• Data Tables
Gherkin script writing Tips

3. 3www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
What is Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)?
• Dan North’s response to issue encountered teaching TDD.
– Where to start? What to test? How much to test? Tests are not tied to a business need.
• BDD is about implementing an application by describing its behavior from the
perspective of its stakeholders.
• BDD focuses on obtaining a clear understanding of desired software behavior
through discussion with stakeholders.
• A communication and collaboration framework for developers, QA, and non-
technical or business participants in a software project.
• Consists of 3 components:
– Test-Driven Development (TDD)
– Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
– Acceptance Test Driven Development(ATDD)

4. 4www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
The Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) Timeline

5. 5www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
The Cucumber Framework
An automated testing framework created by Aslak Hellesoy in 2008.
Based on Behavior-Driven Development.
Gherkin Scripting is used to describe the
users behavior.
Stakeholder readable–in the domain language.

6. 6www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
What are Gherkin Scripts?
Gherkin Scripts: connects the human concept of cause and effect to the
software concept of input/process/output.
>Given – indicates something that we accept to be true in a scenario
>When – indicates the event in a scenario
>Then – indicates an expected outcome
Can also use “And” and “But” steps to help make a Given, When, or Then
more descriptive
In the “language of the domain” – scripts are written using the language, terms
and definitions of the domain.
It is “stakeholder readable” – if a script is written for business acceptance it
should be written so the business users can understand it and follow what is
happening. If a script is written for an Integration Test of a Web Service it
should be written so the developers and testers of the Web Service can
understand it and follow what is happening.

7. 7www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Given
The purpose of Given steps is to put the system in a known state before the user (or
external system) starts interacting with the system (in the When steps)
Indicates something that we accept to be true in a scenario
Sometimes know as preconditions
GREAT place to set-up test data
Hint: no functionality should be changing in the Given step. So…you should rarely have
an error in the Given steps.
>Examples:
Given the BadPasswordUser logs into Online Banking
And navigates to the Account History page
And selects a Premier Checking account
Given I am entitled to Initiate Payment And Payee Maintenance
And I have 1 Bill Pay account
And I have accounts entitled to Bill Pay
And I have a funding account

8. 8www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
When
The purpose of When steps is to describe the key action the user
performs
It is what the business is requesting
It is what the developers are developing
It is what the testers are testing
The MONEY step: it is what everyone is being paid
to build & test
>Examples:
When the user Logs in
When I view the Pay Bills tab
When I select a Bill Pay account

9. 9www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Then
The purpose of Then steps is to observe outcomes
• The expected results of the When statement
The observations should be related to the business value/benefit in your feature
description
The observations should also be on some kind of output – that is something that
comes out of the system (report, user interface, message) and not something
that is deeply buried inside it (that has no business value)
> Examples:
Then I will see a highlighted Pay Bills tab
And I will see a header that reads "Enter Payment Criteria“
And I will see a table containing payment method icons to the left of each transaction
Then the too many characters error message appears

10. 10www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
There is no After step
Unfortunately Gherkin scripting does not provide an elegant way to clean-up test data
or exit out of an application.
There is no “After” step.
Instead use “And…”

11. 11www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Backgrounds
Allow you to write part of a script to be executed before each Scenario in the
Feature File
• Allows readers to focus on what is important in the Scenario
• Can be very useful if multiple Scenarios in a Feature have same “Given” steps
Syntax:
Background: <name>
Given <action> #will be executed before each Scenario
Scenario: <name1>
When …
Then …
Scenario: <name2>
When …
Then …

12. 12www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Background Example
Scripts that looked like this… Becomes this…
Scenario: Wait State Message displayed for
Reference Search
Given I am logged in as a BOL user
When I view the Pay Bills tab
Then I will see a highlighted Pay Bills tab
Scenario: Wait State Message displayed for
Reaction Search
Given I am logged in as a BOL user
When I select a Bill Pay account
Then I will see a header that reads "Enter Payment
Criteria"
Background: logging in as a BOL user
Given I am logged in as a BOL user
Scenario: Wait State Message displayed for
Reference Search
When I view the Pay Bills tab
Then I will see a highlighted Pay Bills tab
Scenario: Wait State Message displayed for
Reaction Search
When I select a Bill Pay account
Then I will see a header that reads "Enter Payment
Criteria"

13. 13www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Scenario Outlines
Cucumber allows you to write one Gherkin Script but execute it multiple times
Use keywords to tie to an example table
Great if you have several TestCases where only variables change
Sample Code:
Scenario Outline: submit guess
Given the secret code is "<code>"
When I guess "<guess>"
Then the mark should be "<mark>"
Example:
| code | guess | mark |
| 1234 | 1234 | ++++ |
| 1234 | 1243 | ++-- |
| 1234 | 1423 | +--- |
| 1234 | 4321 | ---- |

14. 14www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Scenario Outline Example…
Scripts that looked like this… Becomes this…
Scenario: all numbers correct and in order
Given the secret code is “1234"
When I guess “1234"
Then the mark should be “++++"
Scenario: all numbers correct 2 in order
Given the secret code is “1234"
When I guess “1243"
Then the mark should be “++--"
Scenario: all numbers correct one in order
Given the secret code is “1234"
When I guess “1423"
Then the mark should be “+---"
Scenario: all numbers correct none in order
Given the secret code is “1234"
When I guess “4321"
Then the mark should be “----”
Scenario Outline: submit guess
Given the secret code is "<code>"
When I guess "<guess>"
Then the mark should be "<mark>"
Example: all numbers correct
| code | guess | mark |
| 1234 | 1234 | ++++ |
| 1234 | 1243 | ++-- |
| 1234 | 1423 | +--- |
| 1234 | 4321 | ---- |

15. 15www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Data Tables in Gherkin Scripts
Cucumber allows you to put tables directly in your Gherkin Scripts
Use a pipe “|” to separate columns in the table
Use ctrl+alt+l (lowercase letter L) to align tables in cucumber
For example:
Given I ran the Boston Marathon in 3:45
And I ran the Columbus Marathon in 3:29
And I ran the New York Marathon in 4:10
Can become:
Given I ran:
| race | time |
| Boston Marathon | 3:45 |
| Columbus Marathon | 3:29 |
| New York Marathon | 4:10 |
The Scenario becomes much clearer!!

16. 16www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Other ways of writing tables
Cucumber gives you the flexibility to put the table headers on the left
side…
Given I have a vehicle with the following description:
| Wheels | 2 |
| Max Speed | 60 mph |
| Accessories | lights, shopping basket |
You can also just specify a list…
Given my wife gave me the following shopping list:
| onions |
| tomatoes |
| milk |
| Fruity Pebbles |

17. 17www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tips for Writing Good Gherkin Scripts
1) Start with the WHEN
2) One WHEN per scenario – single responsibility principle
3) One action per step
4) Brian Marick’s Agile Testing Quadrants/Mike Cohn’s Test
Automation Pyramid
5) Tags – a great way to organize your scripts
6) Don’t mix domains
7) Maintainability of Scripts (and Code)
8) Are any steps re-usable?
9) Do or do not, there is no try
10) Start with the conversation
11) Gherkin Scripts make great Acceptance Criteria but not a
good User Story

18. 18www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #1: Start with the WHEN
Key question to ask: What are you trying to build/test in this scenario?
• What is the MAGIC??
• Should be stated in the Scenario Name
This becomes your WHEN step
Once you know the action, step #2 is the result (the THEN)
Last step is to figure out how to get to the WHEN
This is the functionality the business is requesting
This is what the Programmers are building
This is what the Testers are testing

19. 19www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Begin with the WHEN, an example…
Epic/Project: A college sports web site where you can find out all kinds of facts about
any colligate sports team.
Requirement 4: A search page for college basketball teams rosters. To display a
teams roster select the team. Columns visible are:
• Player Jersey Number
• Player Name
• Position
• Height
• Weight
• Year (Fr., Soph., Jr., Sr.)
• Hometown (Previous School)
What is the WHEN (the action)?

20. 20www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Example, ctd…
Test Case: Select the team and their roster will be displayed.
Gherkin Script:
Given I navigate to the web page
When I select “The Ohio State University Men’s Basketball” Team
Then I will see the following players:
| No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | Hometown (Prev School)
| 0 | D'Angelo Russell | Guard | 6-5 | 180 | FR | Louisville, Ky. (Montverde Academy)
| 1 | Jae'Sean Tate | Forward | 6-4 | 190 |FR | Pickerington, Ohio (Pickerington Central)
| 2 | Marc Loving | Forward | 6-72 | 15 | SO | Toledo, Ohio (St. John Jesuit)
| 3 | Shannon Scott | Guard | 6-1 | 185 | SR | Alpharetta, Ga. (Milton)
| 10 | David Bell | Center | 6-10 | 225 | FR | Garfield Heights, Ohio (Garfield Heights)
| 12 | Sam Thompson | Forward | 6-7 | 200 | SR | Chicago, Ill. (Whitney Young)
| 15 | Kam Williams | Guard | 6-2 | 175 | RS | FR | Baltimore, Md. (Mount St. Joseph's)
| 23 | Amir Williams | Center | 6-11 | 250 | SR | Detroit, Mich. (Detroit Country Day)

21. 21www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #2: One WHEN per Scenario
Only one WHEN per Scenario
Key testing concept: you only want to test one piece of functionality per script
• Isolate the functionality
• Isolate the issue (if any are found)
Exceptions:
• End-to-End tests
• Regression scripts

22. 22www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #3: One action per step
You want to make sure each step does only one action.
This makes the code more maintainable & re-usable.
Problem step:
• When I enter “abc” in the username and “123” in the password and click the login
button
Better steps:
• When I enter “abc” in the username
• And I enter “123” in the password
• And I click the login button

23. 23www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Technology-Facing
Tip #4: Brian Marick’s Testing Quadrants
Functional/
Integration
Tests
UAT
Exploratory
Usability
Unit Tests
Component
Tests
Performance
Load
Security
Q2 Q3
Q1 Q4
SupportingTheTeam
CritiqueProduct
Business-Facing
Automated &
Manual
Automated &
Manual
Automated Tools
Rarely Use
Gherkin
Scripts
Gherkin
Acceptance
Scripts
Gherkin
Integration
Scripts

24. 24www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
The Automation Testing Pyramid
Created by Mike Cohn in Succeeding with Agile
Essential points:
1. Unit Tests form the base of your testing strategy.
2. You should have more Unit Tests than any other kind of test.
3. There is no direct relationship between Unit and GUI tests.

25. 25www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Example of a UAT (Quadrant 3) Test
User Story:
As a sports fan
I need to see a roster of players on a team
So I can
Acceptance Criteria: select a team will display a roster of that team
Information: A search page for college basketball teams rosters. To display a teams roster select the
team. Columns visible are:
• Player Jersey Number
• Player Name
• Position
• Height
• Weight
• Year (Fr., Soph., Jr., Sr.)
• Hometown (Previous School)
Scenario: Select the team and their roster will be displayed.
Gherkin Acceptance Script:
Given I navigate to the web page
When I select a Team
Then I will see a roster of players

26. 26www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Example of an Integration (Quadrant 2) Test
Gherkin Integration Script:
Given I navigate to the web page
When I select “The Ohio State University Men’s Basketball” Team
Then I will see the following players:
| No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | Hometown (Prev School)
| 0 | D'Angelo Russell | Guard | 6-5 | 180 | FR | Louisville, Ky. (Montverde Academy)
| 1 | Jae'Sean Tate | Forward | 6-4 | 190 |FR | Pickerington, Ohio (Pickerington Central)
| 2 | Marc Loving | Forward | 6-72 | 15 | SO | Toledo, Ohio (St. John Jesuit)
| 3 | Shannon Scott | Guard | 6-1 | 185 | SR | Alpharetta, Ga. (Milton)
| 10 | David Bell | Center | 6-10 | 225 | FR | Garfield Heights, Ohio (Garfield Heights)
| 12 | Sam Thompson | Forward | 6-7 | 200 | SR | Chicago, Ill. (Whitney Young)
| 15 | Kam Williams | Guard | 6-2 | 175 | RS | FR | Baltimore, Md. (Mount St. Joseph's)
| 23 | Amir Williams | Center | 6-11 | 250 | SR | Detroit, Mich. (Detroit Country Day)

27. 27www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #5: Tags
A great way to organize your scripts
Syntax: @<text>
Example:
@acceptance @roster_display
Scenario: Team roster displayed
Given I navigate to the web page
When I select a Team
Then I will see a roster of players
@integration @roster_display
Scenario: Team roster displayed
Given I navigate to the web page
When I select “The Ohio State University Men’s Basketball” Team
Then I will see the following players:
| No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | Hometown (Prev School)
| 0 | D'Angelo Russell | Guard | 6-5 | 180 | FR | Louisville, Ky. (Montverde Academy)
| 1 | Jae'Sean Tate | Forward | 6-4 | 190 |FR | Pickerington, Ohio (Pickerington Central)
| 2 | Marc Loving | Forward | 6-72 | 15 | SO | Toledo, Ohio (St. John Jesuit)
| 3 | Shannon Scott | Guard | 6-1 | 185 | SR | Alpharetta, Ga. (Milton)
| 10 | David Bell | Center | 6-10 | 225 | FR | Garfield Heights, Ohio (Garfield Heights)
| 12 | Sam Thompson | Forward | 6-7 | 200 | SR | Chicago, Ill. (Whitney Young)
| 15 | Kam Williams | Guard | 6-2 | 175 | RS | FR | Baltimore, Md. (Mount St. Joseph's)
| 23 | Amir Williams | Center | 6-11 | 250 | SR | Detroit, Mich. (Detroit Country Day)

28. 28www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #6: Don’t mix domains
Adapted from Markus Gärtner’s Principles of ATDD blog
http://www.shino.de/2014/05/28/principles-of-atdd-single-responsibility-
principle/#more-3181
Question: What is wrong with this script?
Scenario: A simple Google search scenario
Given I am on the main Google search page
When I fill in “q” with “ATDD by example”
And I click “gbqfb” button
Then I should see “ATDD by Example: A Practical Guide to Acceptance Test-Driven
Development (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Beck))”
Answer: The domains are mixed.

29. 29www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Solution…
Scenario: A simple Google search scenario
Given I am on the main Google search page
When I fill in the Search field with “ATDD by example”
Then I should see “ATDD by Example: A Practical Guide to Acceptance Test-Driven
Development (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Beck))”

30. 30www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #7: Is the Script (and supporting code) maintainable?
Maintainable scripts are ones that do not need to be changed if the
system changes
Goal: In the GIVEN, push the brittleness into the code and out of
your scripts so you rarely have to change it
Example of brittle Gherkin code (this is used in all 527 scripts):
Given I navigate to mattsbank.com
And I enter “matt” in the UserName field
And I enter “abc123” in the Password field
And I click the “LogIn” button
And I land on my account information page
How to make it more maintainable
Given I navigate to Online Banking
And I log in as a ValidPasswordUser
And I land on my account information page
Hardcoded URL
Hardcoded Login Information
“Soft” URL
“Soft” Login

31. 31www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Why is the script more maintainable?
Back-End
Apps
Objects
Step Definitions
(cucumber)
Gherkin Given a ValidPasswordUser logs into
Online Banking
Given /^…
user = User.new
on(LoginPage).login(user.valid_password)
End
Login Page
User
Information
Database
User
Password
Database
User Class
Object
PushBrittlenessDown

32. 32www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #8: Re-Usability of Steps
Often steps will say different things but do the same thing
The fewer cucumber steps you have, the more clean your code is
• Easier to maintain
• Easier to debug
• Easier to understand
Automation can significantly help re-usability
Refactoring is a key development concept
• You want to refactor your Gherkin scripts

33. 33www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #9: Master Yoda says…
Either a step works or it doesn’t, there is no might or should
Was: Then I should see the Wrong Account Number error message
Becomes: Then the Wrong Account Number error message is displayed

34. 34www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #10: Start with a Conversation
There is no better way to get the language of the domain than to actually hear a
business person talk through it.
When you first talk with the business owner about a User Story/Requirement let
them talk about.
• Take good notes.
• Are there any special data or environment requirements needed? The
Given…
• What is the action they are requesting you build? The When…
• What is the result of the action? The Then…
Take these notes back and write your Gherkin scripts.
• Use as much of the actual conversation as you can.

35. 35www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #11: Gherkin Scripts make Bad User Stories
When you write a User Story as a Gherkin script you will still have…
• I need…directly ties to the When steps in a Gherkin Script. Tells the team what
functionality needs to be built/tested.
But you will lose…
• As a…there is no place in a Gherkin Script to tell the team what persona is using
the application.
• So I can…there is no place in a Gherkin script to tell the team why this particular
change is needed. What is the business or user need? You still don’t know the
answer.

36. 36www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Tip #11b: Gherkin Scripts Make Great Acceptance Criteria
When you write an Acceptance Criteria as a Gherkin script you will gain…
• A clear definition of “done”…this is what the business is telling you it expects.
• A “happy path” script of what the business wants…you will now have most of
your first test script handed to you by the business.
• A solid basis for additional test cases/objectives…with a “happy path” script
already created by the business, creating test cases/objects around it becomes
much easier.
• Example:
– When I select a team
Then I will see the teams roster

37. www.us.sogeti.com
Local Touch – Global Reach
Thank you