pause scenario execution

[patmuk]

Expected behavior

I would like to pause a scenario execution and wait for the user to press the RETURN key.
This would help using gauge to script demos. I would need this to convince my colleagues to move from cucumber (as it works there).
However, I can not get StdIn :(

My could would look like this:

@Step("Wait for RETURN key pressed")
public void waitForRETURNkey(){
   System.out.println("Paused - please press RETURN to continue."): //this works
   System.in.read(); //This does not work. Is the StdIn set to dev/null?
}

Actual behavior

My Step prints Paused - please press RETURN to continue. and continues instantly.

Steps to reproduce

1. gauge init java
2. implement my step code above
3. call the step from a spec file
4. gauge run

Gauge version

Gauge version: 1.0.0

Plugins
-------
html-report (4.0.5)
java (0.6.8)
screenshot (0.0.1)

Is there a JVM option I could set?
Thanks for your help in advance, highly appreciated.

[sriv]

Thanks for reporting this @patmuk. You are right, the stdin was not getting redirected properly. I've pushed a commit to address this.

[gaugebot]

The fix should be available in nightly >= 3-8-2018

[ajoecker]

Would it make sense to have an API method for this ? Just thinking

In general, I think it would be nicer to have to declare Gauge.pause() instead of the System.in.read() or similar

[patmuk]

@sriv great, thanks for the fast fix!!
@ajoecker Gauge.pause() sounds good. I think writing test scenarios and using some in interactive demos is a good way, I can elaborate on that more if desired.
However, adding Gauge.pause() is as well an commitment to support pausing, and might have undesired side effects in CI environments when configured poorly (i.e. stdIn not deactivated). Though an env setting could activate/deactivate it.

Having said that, I am for Gauge.pause() :)

[sriv]

Some context: Someone had asked for stdin redirect earlier, with gauge-ruby. The user wanted to use pry, a library that breaks and gives a REPL for instant debugging.

Gauge.pause() was simple, too simple to honour the need of pry session. Hence we just redirected the stdin and let the user use the debugger.

If you feel having a pause API is good, then please open a feature request. It is not complicated to build :)

[patmuk]

Hi @sriv,
I just tried it out with

Gauge version: 1.0.0

Plugins
-------
html-report (4.0.5)
java (0.6.9.nightly-2018-09-03)
screenshot (0.0.1)

which does not work. System.in.read() immediately returns with -1, meaning that the stream is closed.
Did you tried it? With another Java method? (Such as Scanner?)

[sriv]

Hi @patmuk - please try again (uninstall and reinstall gauge-java version (0.6.9.nightly-2018-09-03). The nightly build was triggered prematurely.

[ajoecker]

However, adding Gauge.pause() is as well an commitment to support pausing, and might have undesired side effects in CI environments when configured poorly (i.e. stdIn not deactivated). Though an env setting could activate/deactivate it.

People can do this now already, without the pause method - but I am not sure, whether it is possible to prevent the redirect under a certain environment...
and even if not, this would be discovered immediately and would not have any critical impact besides stalling the CI

[ajoecker]

I opened a FR getgauge/gauge#1165 - please add your thoughts and comments there

[patmuk]

@sriv thanks! Works like charm now! I will close this ticket.
@ajoecker I meant that we should have a setting to en-/disable the pausing. This way one could have a different env for CI, which ignores it, while using the cli one can enable the pause.
I will write that in the ticket you created, thanks!