How to Use Cucumber for BDD Testing

 In modern software development, collaboration between developers, testers, and business stakeholders is crucial. Cucumber is a popular testing tool that supports Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) — a methodology that bridges the communication gap using simple, natural language.

Cucumber allows teams to write test scenarios in plain English using the Gherkin syntax, making it easy for non-technical users to understand and contribute to testing efforts.

What is BDD and Cucumber?

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is an approach that encourages writing tests based on how a user is expected to interact with the system. Cucumber is the tool that makes this possible by letting you write feature files in Gherkin language.

Each feature file describes system behavior through Given-When-Then steps:

Given – the initial context or precondition

When – the action or event

Then – the expected outcome

Setting Up Cucumber

To use Cucumber with a language like Java:

Set up your project using Maven or Gradle.

Add Cucumber dependencies in your pom.xml or build.gradle.

Create the following structure:

features/ – to store .feature files

stepdefinitions/ – for glue code that connects steps to Java

runners/ – to run the tests using @CucumberOptions

Writing a Feature File

Example: login.feature

gherkin

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Edit

Feature: Login functionality

  Scenario: Successful login with valid credentials

    Given the user is on the login page

    When the user enters valid username and password

    Then the user should be redirected to the dashboard

Creating Step Definitions

These are Java methods that perform the actions described in the feature file:

java

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Edit

@Given("the user is on the login page")

public void user_on_login_page() {

    // Code to open login page

}

@When("the user enters valid username and password")

public void enter_credentials() {

    // Code to input username and password

}

@Then("the user should be redirected to the dashboard")

public void redirect_to_dashboard() {

    // Assert dashboard visibility

}

Running the Tests

Use a test runner class with @RunWith(Cucumber.class) and @CucumberOptions to define the path to your features and step definitions.

Conclusion

Cucumber makes BDD simple and effective by aligning technical and business teams through readable test cases. By combining Gherkin and automation code, Cucumber helps ensure your application behaves as expected from the user's perspective — driving quality from requirements to release.

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