# Kookaburra # Kookaburra is a framework for implementing the [Window Driver] [1] pattern in order to keep acceptance tests maintainable. ## Setup ## Kookaburra itself abstracts some common patterns for implementing the Window Driver pattern for tests of Ruby web applications built on [Rack] [2]. You will need to tell Kookaburra which classes contain the specific Domain Driver implementations for your application as well as which driver to use for running the tests (currently only tested with [Capybara] [3]). The details of setting up your Domain Driver layer are discussed below, but in general you will need the following in a locations such as `lib/my_application/kookaburra.rb` (replace `MyApplication` with a module name suitable to your actual application: module MyApplication module Kookaburra ::Kookaburra.adapter = Capybara # Note: the following assigned classes are defined under your # application's namespace, e.g. MyApplication::Kookaburra::APIDriver ::Kookaburra.api_driver = APIDriver ::Kookaburra.given_driver = GivenDriver ::Kookaburra.ui_driver = UIDriver ::Kookaburra.test_data_setup do provide_collection :accounts # See section on Test Data for more examples of what can go here. end end end ### RSpec ### For [RSpec] [4] integration tests, just add the following to `spec/support/kookaburra_setup.rb`: require 'my_application/kookaburra' RSpec.configure do |c| c.include(Kookaburra, :type => :request) end ### Cucumber ### For Cucumber, add the following to `features/support/kookaburra_setup.rb`: require 'my_application/kookaburra' Kookaburra.adapter = Capybara World(Kookaburra) Before do # Ensure that there isn't state-leakage between scenarios kookaburra_reset! end This will cause the #api, #given and #ui methods will be available in your Cucumber step definitions. ## Defining Your Testing DSL ## Kookaburra attempts to extract some common patterns that make it easier to use the Window Driver pattern along with various Ruby testing frameworks, but you still need to define your own testing DSL. An acceptance testing stack using Kookaburra has the following four layers: 1. The **Business Specification Language** (Cucumber scenarios and step definitions) 2. The **Domain Driver** (Kookaburra::GivenDriver and Kookaburra::UIDriver) 3. The **Window Driver** (Kookaburra::UIDriver::UIComponent) 4. The **Application Driver** (Capybara and Rack::Test) ### The Business Specification Language ### The business specification language consists of the highest-level descriptions of a feature that are suitable for sharing with the non/less-technical stakeholders on a project. Gherkin is the external DSL used by Cucumber for this purpose, and you might have the following scenario defined for an e-commerce application: # purchase_items_in_cart.feature Feature: Purchase Items in Cart Scenario: Using Existing Billing and Shipping Information Given I have an existing account And I have previously specified default payment options And I have previously specified default shipping options And I have an item in my shopping cart When I sign in to my account And I choose to check out Then I see my order summary And I see that my default payment options will be used And I see that my default shipping options will be used Note that the scenario is focused on business concepts versus interface details, i.e. you "choose to check out" rather than "click on the checkout button". If for some reason your e-commerce system was going to be a terminal application rather than a web application, you would not need to change this scenario at all, because the actual business concepts described would not change. ### The Domain Driver ### The Domain Driver layer is where you build up an internal DSL that describes the business concepts of your application at a fairly high level. It consists of three top-level drivers: the `APIDriver` (available via `#api`) for interacting with your application's external API, the `GivenDriver` (available via `#given`) which really just wraps the `APIDriver` and is used to set up state for your tests, and the UIDriver (available via `#given`) for describing the tasks that a user can accomplish with the application. Given the Cucumber scenario above, the step definitions call into the Domain Driver layer to interact with your application: # step_definitions/various_steps.rb Given "I have an existing account" do given.existing_account(:my_account) end Given "I have previously specified default payment options" do given.default_payment_options_specified_for(:my_account) end Given "I have previously specified default shipping options" do given.default_shipping_options_specified_for(:my_account) end Given "I have an item in my shopping cart" do given.an_item_in_my_shopping_cart(:my_account) end When "I sign in to my account" do ui.sign_in(:my_account) end When "I choose to check out" do ui.choose_to_check_out end Then "I see my order summary" do ui.order_summary.should be_visible end Then "I see that my default payment options will be used" do ui.order_summary.payment_options.should be_account_default_options end Then "I see that my default shipping options will be used" do ui.order_summary.shipping_options.should be_account_default_options end The step definitions contain neither explicitly shared state (instance variables) nor any logic branches; they are simply wrappers around calls into the Domain Driver layer. There are a couple of advantages to this approach. First, because step definitions are so simple, it isn't necessary to force *Very Specific Wording* on the business analyst/product owner who is writing the specs. For instance, if she writes "I see a summary of my order" in another scenario, it's not a big deal to have the following in your step definitions (as long as the author of the spec confirms that they really mean the same thing): Then "I see my order summary" do ui.order_summary.should be_visible end Then "I see a summary of my order" do ui.order_summary.should be_visible end The step definitions are nothing more than a natural language reference to an action in the Domain Driver; there is no overwhelming maintenance cost to the slight duplication, and it opens up the capacity for more readable Gherkin specs. The fewer false road blocks you put between your product owner and a written specification, the easier it becomes to ensure her participation in this process. The second advantage is that by pushing all of the complexity down into the Domain Driver, it's now trivial to reuse the exact same code in developer-centric integration tests. This ensures you have parity between the way the automated acceptance tests run and any additional testing that the development team needs to add in. You could write the same test using just RSpec as follows: # spec/integration/purchase_items_in_cart_spec.rb describe "Purchase Items in Cart" do example "Using Existing Billing and Shipping Information" do given.existing_account(:my_account) given.default_payment_options_specified_for(:my_account) given.default_shipping_options_specified_for(:my_account) given.an_item_in_my_shopping_cart(:my_account) ui.sign_in(:my_account) ui.choose_to_check_out ui.order_summary.should be_visible ui.order_summary.payment_options.should be_account_default_options ui.order_summary.shipping_options.should be_account_default_options end end Whether in Cucumber step definitions or developer integration tests, you will usually interact only with the GivenDriver and the UIDriver. #### TestData #### `Kookaburra::TestData` is the component via which the `GivenDriver` and the `UIDriver` share information. For instance, if you create a user account via the `GivenDriver`, you would store the login credentials for that account in the `TestData` instance, so the UIDriver knows what to use when you tell it to `#sign_in`. This is what allows the Cucumber step definitions to remain free from explicitly shared state. The `TestData` class can be configured to contain both collections of test data as well as default data that can be used as a starting point for creating new resources in the application. To configure `TestData`, call `Kookaburra.test_data_setup` with a block (usually in your `lib/my_application/kookaburra.rb` file): module MyApplication module Kookaburra # ... ::Kookaburra.test_data_setup do provide_collection :animals set_default :animal, :name => 'horse' :size => 'large', :number_of_legs => 4 end end end Then, in any context where you have an instance of `TestData` (such as in `GivenDriver` or `UIDriver`), you can add/retrieve items to/from collections and access default data: class MyApplication::Kookaburra::GivenDriver < Kookaburra::GivenDriver def existing_account(nickname) default_account_data = test_data.default(:account) # do something to create account in application # ... # make the details of the new account available to the rest of the test test_data.accounts[nickname] = account end end class MyApplication::Kookaburra::UIDriver < Kookaburra::UIDriver def sign_in(account_nickname) # pull stored account details from TestData account_info = test_data.accounts[account_nickname] # do something to log in using that account_info end end #### APIDriver #### The `Kookaburra::APIDriver` is used to interact with an application's external web services API. You tell Kookaburra about your API by creating a subclass of `Kookaburra::APIDriver` for your application: # lib/my_application/kookaburra/api_driver.rb class MyApplication::Kookaburra::APIDriver < Kookaburra::APIDriver def create_account(account_data) post_as_json 'Account', 'api/v1/accounts', :account => account_data hash_from_response_json[:account] end end #### GivenDriver #### The `Kookaburra::GivenDriver` is used to create a particular "preexisting" state within your application's data and ensure you have a handle to that data (when needed) prior to interacting with the UI. Like the `APIDriver`, you will create a subclass of `Kookaburra::GivenDriver` in which you will create part of the Domain Driver DSL for your application: # lib/my_application/kookaburra/given_driver.rb class MyApplication::Kookaburra::GivenDriver < Kookaburra::GivenDriver def existing_account(nickname) # grab the default account details and add a unique username and # password account_data = test_data.default(:account) account_data[:username] = "test-user-#{`uuidgen`.strip}" account_data[:password] = account_data[:username] + "-password" # use the API to create the account in the application account_details = api.create_account(account_data) # merge in the password (since API doesn't return it) and store details # in the TestData instance account_details.merge(:password => account_data[:password]) test_data.accounts[nickname] = account_details end end #### UIDriver #### `Kookaburra::UIDriver` provides the necessary tools for driving your application's user interface using the Window Driver pattern. You will subclass `Kookaburra::UIDriver` for your application and implement your testing DSL within your subclass: # lib/my_application/kookaburra/ui_driver.rb class MyApplication::Kookaburra::UIDriver < Kookaburra::UIDriver # makes an instance of MyApplication::Kookaburra::UIDriver::SignInScreen # available via the instance method #sign_in_screen ui_component :sign_in_screen def sign_in(account_nickname) account = test_data.accounts[account_nickname] navigate_to :sign_in_screen sign_in_screen.submit_login(account[:username], account[:password]) end end ### The Window Driver Layer ### While your `GivenDriver` and `UIDriver` provide a DSL that represents actions your users can perform in your application, the [Window Driver] [1] layer describes the individual user interface components that the user interacts with to perform these tasks. By describing each interface component using an OOP approach, it is much easier to maintain your acceptance/integration tests, because the implementation details of each component are captured in a single place. If/when that implementation changes, you can---for example---fix every single test that needs to log a user into the system just by updating the SignInScreen class. You describe the various user interface components by sub-classing `Kookaburra::UIDriver::UIComponent`: # lib/my_application/ui_driver/sign_in_screen.rb class MyApplication::Kookaburra::UIDriver::SignInScreen < Kookaburra::UIDriver::UIComponent component_locator '#new_user_session' component_path '/session/new' def username in_component { browser.find('#session_username').value } end def username=(new_value) fill_in('#session_username', :with => new_value) end def password in_component { browser.find('#session_password').value } end def password=(new_value) fill_in('#session_password', :with => new_value) end def submit! click_on('Sign In') no_500_error! end def submit_login(username, password) self.username = username self.password = password submit! end end ## Contributing to kookaburra ## * Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet * Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it * Fork the project * Start a feature/bugfix branch * Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution * Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally. * Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it. ## Copyright ## Copyright © 2011 Renewable Funding, LLC. See LICENSE.txt for further details. [1]: http://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/WindowDriver.html "Window Driver - Martin Fowler" [2]: http://rack.rubyforge.org/ "Rack: a Ruby Webserver Interface" [3]: https://github.com/jnicklas/capybara "jnicklas/capybara - GitHub" [4]: http://rspec.info "RSpec.info: home"