Cucumber vs Selenide: What are the differences?
Introduction
Cucumber and Selenide are two popular tools used in test automation. While both serve the purpose of automating tests, they have some key differences that set them apart. In this article, we will explore the main differences between Cucumber and Selenide.
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Integration with BDD Framework: Cucumber is a Behavior Driven Development (BDD) tool that allows you to write test scenarios in a human-readable format using Gherkin syntax. It promotes collaboration between developers, testers, and business stakeholders. On the other hand, Selenide is a UI automation framework that focuses on simplifying web testing by providing a concise and expressive API. It does not have native support for BDD, but you can integrate Selenide with Cucumber or other BDD frameworks if needed.
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Test Execution: In Cucumber, test scenarios are executed in a sequential manner where each step is executed one after another. Cucumber generates reports that provide detailed information about the executed scenarios, their status, and any failures encountered. Selenide, on the other hand, executes tests directly using a WebDriver instance. Test cases in Selenide can be executed either in sequence or parallel, depending on the test framework used. Selenide also provides built-in screenshots and error messages for failed tests.
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Test Syntax: Cucumber test scenarios are written in Gherkin syntax, which is a natural language representation that focuses on describing the behavior of the system from a user's perspective. Each step in Cucumber is mapped to a step definition, which contains the actual code implementation. Selenide tests are written in a programming language, such as Java, and leverage the Selenide API for interacting with web elements. The syntax used in Selenide is more code-centric and requires programming skills to write and maintain the tests.
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UI Interaction: Cucumber focuses on the high-level interaction with the application, where test steps are written in a human-readable format and do not involve low-level UI interactions. It encourages testers to focus on the behavior of the system rather than implementation details. Selenide, on the other hand, provides a rich set of methods and utilities for interacting with web elements and performing actions like clicking, entering text, selecting options, etc. It enables testers to have fine-grained control over the UI interactions.
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Maintenance and Flexibility: Cucumber scenarios are written in a declarative style, which makes them more readable and easier to maintain. They encapsulate the test steps and make them independent of the underlying implementation. Any changes in the UI or application logic can be easily handled by updating the corresponding step definitions. Selenide, being a code-centric framework, requires more effort in terms of maintenance as tests are tightly coupled with the code. Changes in the application may require updating the tests as well.
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Reporting and Documentation: Cucumber provides detailed reports in various formats, such as HTML, JSON, and XML. These reports include information about the test execution status, failed scenarios, and step-level details. The reports can be easily shared with stakeholders to facilitate collaboration and provide visibility into the testing progress. Selenide, on the other hand, does not provide built-in reporting capabilities but can be integrated with other reporting tools or frameworks to generate customized reports.
In Summary, Cucumber and Selenide differ in their approach to test automation. While Cucumber focuses on behavior-driven development and collaboration, Selenide emphasizes UI automation and simplicity. Understanding these key differences can help you choose the right tool for your automation needs.
