cucapy-skorun

Coding Best Practices
=====================

1. Elements are defined with css selectors as a rule. However,
* xpath can be used if:
* the element text is needed to specify which element, e.g. //h1[.="Home"] instead of (css) 'h1'
* the xpath does not contain any 'div's.
* xpath is more efficient, such as defining 'li' elements
* elements are always defined with 'id' if possible, then 'class', then 'name', then request an 'id' from Developer

2. DRY. Common sequences are abstracted to methods in _page files. e.g. Logging in
   

3. Static strings are are stored in and called from a 'strings.yml' file
   

   • Central place for updating static text on pages
     
   • Provides structure for localization (l10n) later
     

4. API calls returning a json object are stored in helper files under 'api_helpers' directory
   

5. SQL calls are stored in helper files under 'sql_helpers' directory
   

6. Feature file scenarios are 'implicit', not 'explicit'.
   

   • e.g. "When I log in", instead of "When I enter a user name" + "And I enter a password" + "And I click sign in button"
     
   • The implicit actions are defined in the step definition / called from the _page file
     

7. Site navigation is implicitly tested as part of functional tests, not explicitly as stand-alone tests for navigation
   

8. Actions on elements (such as .text, .click etc) are called inside step definitions or class methods, not defined separately
   

9. Comment the code, no-one likes an Obfuscating Hero.