Behave-Gui - A Behave Front-end

Copyright (c) 2021-present Tomra Systems ASA.

Behave-Gui is a web interface for Python Behave. It:

• displays test step implementations alongside feature files
• helps you write new feature files by letting you search for existing test step implementations
• provides a link with search results to go see how existing test step implementations are used in other feature files
• lets you run a feature file with a full console log

Behave-Gui is fully compatible with standard Behave folder structures and configuration (features, test steps and configuration files).

Benefits

• Being able to see test step implementations alongside test steps makes Behave-Gui a powerful viewer for feature tests used as "living documentation"
• Behave-Gui is specially suited for "test review", following the same principles as "code review". It presents information relevant to both developers and testers, facilitating collaboration between the two groups
• Behave-Gui provides an informal environment for editing and developing feature tests suitable for non-technical users uncomfortable with developer IDEs.

Screenshot

Dependencies

Behave-Gui requires Python 3 and Behave. You can install Behave with this command:

python -m pip install behave

Behave-Gui also requires Node.js for its runtime and for the npm package manager.

Installation

The Behave-Gui top-level folder is divided into two subfolders, backend and frontend. Execute the following npm command in each of the two folders to install:

frontend$ npm install
backend$ npm install

Configuration

Default configuration options may be overridden if needed in the file backend\config\default.json:

{
  "Server": {
    "pythonPath": "python",
    "useSspi": false
  }
}

If required, adjust the path to your Python executable in the property "pythonPath" (e.g. "python3")

The option "useSspi" enables node-sspi authentification against Active Directory when Behave-Gui is run on a Windows host.

Startup

From the backend folder, run the following command to start both the front-end and backend:

npm run startall

The above command will alow you to view and run an example test in your web browser at: http://localhost:3000/?feature=/features/examples/documentation.feature

Start on a single port

The compiled application can be served entirely from the 8081 port, eliminating the need for the additional developmement server on port 3000. To enable this, executed the folllowing commands to compile and start the application (Linux example, the same approach also works for Windows):

cd ./behave-gui/frontend
npm run-script build
cd ../backend
npm run-script buildlocal
node server.js

You can then access the example test in your web browser at: http://localhost:8081/?feature=/features/examples/documentation.feature

Usage

• You can find test steps used by other features by typing in "Search steps" type-ahead. Click on the black text to copy the step text. Click on the link to open the feature that uses the test step.
• You can use the dropdown boxes to narrow your search.
• You can use intelligent completion within a feature by typing a word and pressing ctrl+spacebar. An auto-complete list will appear with matching steps. The dropdown filters also work with intelligent completion.
• When you edit a file, a save feature button will appear allowing you to save your changes.
• Pressing "Run feature" will execute your feature. You will see log output under the "Console log" tab.
• You can send in url parameters target and sw which are displayed in the GUI and exposed in Behave via the config.userdata dictionary. See the -D option in the Behave Command-Line Arguments documentation.

Integrate with your own repo

You can delete the example Behave features folder in this repo and replace it with your own by symlinking in the features folder from your own repo (Linux example, the same approach also works for Windows):

git clone https://github.com/behave-contrib/behave-gui.git
cd ./behave-gui/backend
rm -fr ./features
ln -s ~/myrepo/features/

By this simple means you can view your features alongside their step implementations using behave-gui. Note: for this to work, you may need to install behave@1.2.7 directly from github to overcome issue #675: Feature files cannot be found within symlink directories (provided by: smadness, pull #680). See CHANGES.rst

Troubleshooting

If step definitions fail to load and you see an error like the following at the console, you need to set the path to your Python 3 executable in backend/config/default.json (see 'Configuration', above):

backend/runFeatures.py", line 2, in <module>
    import configparser
ImportError: No module named configparser

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

MIT