Behat boilerplate

Behat is an open source behavior-driven development framework for PHP. It uses the Gherkin language which lets you describe software behaviour without detailing how that behaviour is implemented.

Feature: Global elements

Scenario: Site is accessible
	Given I am on the homepage
	Then the response status code should be 200

Scenario: There are no errors or warnings
	Given I am on the homepage
	Then I should not see "error"
	And I should not see "warning"

This runs two Scenarios (tests) within a Feature (group). It uses the bundled assertions and conditions that are included with Mink - an acceptance test framework that is part of Behat.

You can also define your own conditions, actions and assertions by simply writing a test that Behat does not recognise it will generate the boilerplate code required to implement it, like so:

Scenario: My custom test
	Given I am on the homepage
	And I complete the "test" form
	Then I should see "Thanks for entering"

Would output the following boilerplate to use after running the test:

/**
 * @Given /^I complete the "([^"]*)" form$/
 */
public function iCompleteTheForm($arg1)
{
    throw new PendingException();
}

Project structure

.
├── behat.yml
├── composer.json
└── features
    ├── bootstrap
    │   └── FeatureContext.php
    └── global.feature

• behat.yml - The project configuration file, contains things like the URLs to run tests against and browser driver options.
• composer.json - Declares the Behat dependencies as development dependencies along with Mink and the Goutte browser driver.
• features/ - Contains all the project tests
• features/bootstrap/ - Contains PHP files that define custom conditions, actions and assertions used to write tests.
• features/bootstrap/FeatureContext.php - Loads the Mink context for tests, custom tests can be added as methods on the FeatureContext class.
• features/global.feature - An example feature written in the Gherkin language that should be applicable to any site.

Mink steps

The default conditions, actions and assertions provided by Mink that can be used to write tests.

Given /^(?:|I )am on (?:|the )homepage$/
When /^(?:|I )go to (?:|the )homepage$/
Given /^(?:|I )am on "(?P<page>[^"]+)"$/
When /^(?:|I )go to "(?P<page>[^"]+)"$/
When /^(?:|I )reload the page$/
When /^(?:|I )move backward one page$/
When /^(?:|I )move forward one page$/
When /^(?:|I )press "(?P<button>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )follow "(?P<link>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )fill in "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" with "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )fill in "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" with:$/
When /^(?:|I )fill in "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" for "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )fill in the following:$/
When /^(?:|I )select "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" from "(?P<select>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )additionally select "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" from "(?P<select>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )check "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )uncheck "(?P<option>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
When /^(?:|I )attach the file "(?P[^"]*)" to "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^(?:|I )should be on "(?P<page>[^"]+)"$/
Then /^(?:|I )should be on (?:|the )homepage$/
Then /^the (?i)url(?-i) should match (?P<pattern>"([^"]|\\")*")$/
Then /^the response status code should be (?P<code>\d+)$/
Then /^the response status code should not be (?P<code>\d+)$/
Then /^(?:|I )should see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^(?:|I )should not see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^(?:|I )should see text matching (?P<pattern>"(?:[^"]|\\")*")$/
Then /^(?:|I )should not see text matching (?P<pattern>"(?:[^"]|\\")*")$/
Then /^the response should contain "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^the response should not contain "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^(?:|I )should see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" in the "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
Then /^(?:|I )should not see "(?P<text>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" in the "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
Then /^the "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element should contain "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^the "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element should not contain "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^(?:|I )should see an? "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
Then /^(?:|I )should not see an? "(?P<element>[^"]*)" element$/
Then /^the "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" field should contain "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^the "(?P<field>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" field should not contain "(?P<value>(?:[^"]|\\")*)"$/
Then /^the "(?P<checkbox>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" checkbox should be checked$/
Then /^the checkbox "(?P<checkbox>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" (?:is|should be) checked$/
Then /^the "(?P<checkbox>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" checkbox should not be checked$/
Then /^the checkbox "(?P<checkbox>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" should (?:be unchecked|not be checked)$/
Then /^the checkbox "(?P<checkbox>(?:[^"]|\\")*)" is (?:unchecked|not checked)$/
Then /^(?:|I )should see (?P<num>\d+) "(?P<element>[^"]*)" elements?$/
Then /^print current URL$/
Then /^print last response$/
Then /^show last response$/

Documentation

• Behat cheat sheet
• Writing Features - Gherkin Language
• Defining Reusable Actions - Step Definitions
• Hooking into the Test Process - Hooks
• Testing Features - FeatureContext Class
• Closures as Definitions and Hooks
• Command Line Tool - behat
• Configuration - behat.yml

License

Copyright © 2014 HeyHuman

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.