How do I use execute within a step?

[jgarber]

I would imagine:

step "First thing" do
  # something
end

step "First thing and something else" do
  execute "First thing"
end

But I get undefined method 'name' for "First thing":String because #execute calls step.name. How is #execute supposed to be called if not like above? And if I'm completely misusing execute, what should you do to call one step from another? (I don't want to have to underscore it myself)

[oriolgual]

execute is an internal method that shouldn't be used from a feature. If you want to execute a step from another step you do have to underscore it. In your case would be first_thing. If you don't want to underscore it, I would suggest extracting the logic in "First thing" step to another method, and calling this very method from other steps.

step "First thing" do
  do_something
end

step "First thing and something else" do
  do_something
end

def do_something
  # something
end

[josepjaume]

Yeah, @oriolgual just hit the nail in the head here. Spinach aims to allow you to use OO principles in your step definitions, so that's a perfectly valid move :)