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Gwen 3 Migration Guide

tip

See what's new in Gwen 3.

This guide will help you to migrate an existing Gwen project over to Gwen 3. If you want to start a new project from scratch, go straight to the getting started guide instead.

1. Setup​

Choose your current Gwen 2 setup​

If you are using Gwen as a standalone application on your machine, nothing has changed in terms of setup and installation. You can continue updating Gwen in the same manner you have been with prior versions. The setup instructions on our getting started page contain all the details you need know in that regard. You will however need to make some settings changes as described next.

2. Settings​

The following settings changes have been made to Gwen 3. Scan all your .properties files and update accordingly.

New names​

The following settings have been renamed.

Gwen 2 nameGwen 3 name
gwen.feature.failfastgwen.feature.failfast.enabled
gwen.rp.heartbeatgwen.rp.heartbeat.enabled
gwen.web.capture.screenshotsgwen.web.capture.screenshots.enabled
gwen.web.browsergwen.target.browser

Removed alias​

The following settings alias has been removed.

RemovedAlways use this name
gwen.behaviour.rulesgwen.behavior.rules

New defaults​

The following settings have new defaults. If you want to continue using prior defaults for these, explicity set them in your current properties file.

SettingGwen 2 defaultGwen 3 default
gwen.associative.metafalsetrue
gwen.behavior.ruleslenientstrict
gwen.feature.modeimperativedeclarative
gwen.report.suppress.metafalsetrue
gwen.auto.discover.data.csvtruefalse

New setttings impacting prior behaviour​

The following new settings have configured defaults that change prior behaviour. If you want to revert to the prior behaviour, you will need to explicitly set these in your settings file accordingly.

New SettingSincePrior defaultNew default
gwen.auto.bind.tableData.outline.examplesv3.15.0falsetrue
gwen.error.messages.inline.locatorsv3.31.0truefalse

New formats​

Two new settings formats have been introduced:

  • HOCON (Human-Optimized Config Object Notation)
    • The is now the recommended and default settings format
    • A superset of JSON
    • Maintained in *.conf files
  • JSON
    • Pure JSON format
    • Maintained in *.json files

The legacy Java style properties format is still supported and you can continue using properties files if you wish.

  • Properties
    • Flat name = value pairs
    • Maintained in *.properties files

Migrate your settings (optional)​

Choose one of three options:​

Repeat the following to convert every .properties file you have:

  • Create a new file in the same location and with the same name but with a .conf extension
  • Convert each setting to its HOCON equivalent and save it to your new .conf file
    • See example below
  • Discard your .properties file when done (or rename with the .properties.bak extension)

Example​

Properties file: gwen.properties

# RP client settings
rp.endpoint = http://localhost:8080
rp.uuid = 28b262e7-8a9d-4928-b2a3-649562d5c63d
rp.project = default_personal
rp.launch = Gwen

# Gwen core settings
gwen.behavior.rules = strict
gwen.report.overwrite = false

# Gwen RP settings
gwen.rp.heartbeat.timeoutSecs = 5
gwen.rp.send.failed.errorBlocks = leaf
gwen.rp.send.failed.stepDefs = none
gwen.rp.send.stepDefs = inlined
gwen.rp.testCaseId.keys = auto

# Chrome settings
gwen.web.chrome.args.0 = --ignore-certificate-errors
gwen.web.chrome.args.1 = --window-size=1920,1080

# Gwen web settings
gwen.web.sendKeys.clearFirst = false
gwen.web.sendKeys.clickFirst = false
gwen.web.wait.seconds = 9

Equivalent HOCON file: gwen.conf

// RP client settings
rp {
  endpoint = "http://<host>:<port>"
  uuid = "28b262e7-8a9d-4928-b2a3-649562d5c63d"
  project = "default_personal"
  launch = "Gwen"
}

// Gwen settings
gwen {

  // General settings
  behavior {
    rules = "strict"
  }
  report {
    overwrite = false
  }

  // Gwen RP settings
  rp {
    heartbeat {
      timeoutSecs = 5
    }
    send {
      failed {
        errorBlocks = "leaf"
        stepDefs = "none"
      }
      stepDefs = "inlined"
    }
    testCaseId {
      keys = "auto"
    }
  }

  // Gwen web settings
  web {

    // General web settings
    sendKeys {
      clearFirst = false
      clickFirst = false
    }
    wait {
      seconds = 9
    }

    // Chrome settings
    chrome {
      args = [
        "--ignore-certificate-errors",
        "--window-size=1920,1080"
      ]
    }
    
  }
}

3. CLI​

New -c|--conf option​

The -p|--properties CLI option has been deprecated and replaced with the -c|--conf option which now accepts .conf, .json, and .properties files. The former will still work for .properties files until the next major release (and will be removed then). You should use the new launch option going forward.

Default -r|--report option​

The output directory for all Gwen reports now has a default value configured in the new gwen.cli.options.report default CLI setting. So you no longer need to explicitly specify the -r|--report CLI option every time you launch Gwen and want reports to be generated. You can however continue to explicitly pass it through and override the default if you want to. Alternatively, change the default.

HTML reports by default​

HTML reports will now be generated by default when you launch Gwen since the report output directory now has a configured default. They will also be generated by default for dry runs when you specify the -n|--dry-run switch.

If you don't want any reports generated, invoke Gwen with the -f|--format CLI option passing in none.

4. String interpolation​

Interpolation by concatenation has been deprecated in favor of substitution. You should convert all usages of conatenation to their substitution equivalents. Concatenation has been dropped since v3.14.0.

5. Log4j​

Gwen uses log4j2 as of v3.1.0 for Gwen 3 (and v2.54.0 for Gwen 2). If you are using custom log4j.properties files with Gwen, you will need to convert them over to version 2 equivalents.