Meta Specs

Meta specs are Gherkin specifications that describe how steps in features will execute and are the automation glue in Gwen. They define all the step definitions and bindings required for automation and attach to features at runtime.

StepDefs

Composable step definitions

Step definitions are defined as @StepDef annotated Scenarios with names that map to steps in features and bodies that call out to DSL steps to perform operations.

tip

Put all your step definitions in meta to keep your features clean and free of automation concerns.

Consider the following feature step:

Feature Step

File: features/todo.feature

  Given a new todo list

A step definition for executing this step could be defined in meta as follows:

StepDef

File: features/todo.meta

  @Context
  @StepDef
  Scenario: a new todo list
    Given my todo list can be located by css ".todo-list"
     When I navigate to "${todo.page.url}"
     Then the page title should contain "TodoMVC"
      And my todo list should not be displayed

Calls DSL steps:

Notice how the name of the StepDef matches the name of the feature step (excluding the leading Given keyword). This is how step definitions bind to feature steps in Gwen; by name. Notice also that the body calls out to several DSL steps to perform the desired operations. Composing StepDefs in this manner is all you need to do to make your features executable.

StepDefs with parameters

StepDefs can also be declared to accept parameters using one or more <param-name> placeholders in the declared name as follows:

Feature Step

  Then the list will contain 2 items

StepDef with a parameter

  @Assertion
  @StepDef
  Scenario: the list will contain <expected-count> items
    Given the item count can be located by css ".todo-count strong"
     Then the item count should be "$<expected-count>"

Calls DSL steps:

Here the name of the StepDef matches the name of the step in the feature when the value 2 (in the feature step) is substituted in place of <expected-count> in the StepDef name. This is how parameters are passed to StepDefs in Gwen; by substitution. The last step in the body utilises the parameter value as $<expected-count>.

Synchronized StepDefs

In the rare case where you might need to synchronize the execution of your StepDef to a single thread (due to resource contention or a conflict for example), you can do so by tagging it with the @Synchronized annotation. Gwen will then guarantee that only one thread will execute your StepDef at any given time when multiple features or scenarios are executed in parallel mode by concurrent threads.

Meta Load Strategies

Associative Strategy

Since v2.40.0

When associative meta is enabled, a meta and feature file are considered to be associated with each other if the two files are in the same directory and have the same names (excluding their file extensions). The associative strategy will, for every feature:

Auto discover all the meta files in the path to the feature file and only load those that are either:
- Not associated with any feature (one or many)
- Associated with the current feature (one or none)
Execute the feature

Default setting

Associative meta is enabled by default since Gwen 3.

If you have your meta and feature files in a directory structure as follows:

/features
 ├── todo.meta
 ├── todo.feature
 ├── /dir1
 │    ├── todo1.meta
 │    ├── todo1.feature
 │    └── todo1a.feature
 └── /dir2
      ├── todo2.meta
      ├── todo2.feature
      └── /dir3
           └── todo3.feature

When you launch Gwen to execute on the features directory, the associative strategy will:

Load the todo.meta and execute the todo.feature
Load the todo.meta and todo1.meta and execute the todo1.feature
Load the todo.meta and execute the todo1a.feature
Load the todo.meta and todo2.meta and execute the todo2.feature
Load the todo.meta and execute the todo3.feature

When you launch Gwen to execute on the features/dir1 directory, the associative strategy will:

Load the todo.meta and todo1.meta and execute the todo1.feature
Load the todo.meta and execute the todo1a.feature

When you launch Gwen to execute the features/dir2/todo2.feature file, the associative strategy will:

Load the todo.meta and execute the todo2.feature

External Strategy

Since v1.0.0

The external strategy enables you to manage common and reusable meta files in a directory that is separate or external to your features directory. How you name your meta files or manage your meta directory structure does not matter. This strategy can be used in conjunction with any other meta load strategy.

Project
Standalone

Yarn
npm
pnpm

Example

To load a single meta file from an external directory, use the -m|meta CLI option and specify the path to the meta file:

yarn gwen -m external/meta/common.meta

To recursively load all meta files in an external directory:

yarn gwen gwen/features -m external/meta

Meta Specs

StepDefs​

Composable step definitions​

StepDefs with parameters​

Synchronized StepDefs​

Meta Load Strategies​

Associative Strategy​

External Strategy​

Import Strategy​

Default Strategy​