Skip to content

📔 Gherkin Steps Library

The foundational lexicon for surgical technical validation.

This library documents the reusable common steps provided by the framework. These steps are organized by component to help you build comprehensive test suites.

🌐 API Testing (api_steps.py)

Standardized steps for REST API validation, supporting dynamic variables, complex JSON assertions, and file uploads.

  • Given the API base URL is "{base_url}": Sets the target host.
  • When I set request headers: Takes a table of key-value pairs (no trailing colon).

Requests & Uploads

  • When I send a "{method}" request to "{path}": Simple HTTP call.
  • When I send a "{method}" request to "{path}" with query parameters: Uses a Behave table.
  • When I send a "{method}" request to "{path}" with JSON body: Uses a docstring for the payload.
  • When I send a "POST" request to "{path}" with form data: For x-www-form-urlencoded.
  • When I upload the file "{filename}" to "{endpoint}": Generic multipart/form-data upload.

Assertions & Variables

  • Then the response status code should be {status_code:d}: Standard status check.
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should be "{expected}": Dot-notation JSON validation.
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should be {expected:d}: Integer validation.
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should be a "{py_type}": Type check (str, int, float, bool, dict, list).
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should contain "{substring}": Substring matching.
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should be >= {value:d}: Numeric comparison.
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should match regex "{pattern}": Regular expression matching.
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should be null: Explicit null check.
  • Then the response header "{header_name}" should be "{expected}": Case-insensitive header check.
  • Then the response body should be empty: Verifies no body is returned.
  • Then the response time should be less than {ms:d} ms: Performance guardrail.
  • Then I store the response JSON path "{path}" as "{var_name}": Capture values for reuse.
  • Then the stored variables "{var_a}" and "{var_b}" should be different: Uniqueness check.
  • Then the response JSON path "{path}" should equal stored variable "{var_name}": Cross-request verification.

Debugging

  • Then I print the response JSON: Pretty-prints the response body.
  • Then I print the request headers: Displays the sent headers for triage.

Security Sanity Checks

  • Then the response should not leak server metadata: Checks for version numbers in 'Server' and presence of 'X-Powered-By'.
  • Then the response should contain mandatory security headers: Validates HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  • Then all session cookies should be secure: Audits cookies for Secure, HttpOnly, and SameSite (Lax/Strict) flags.

🖱️ GUI Testing (gui_steps.py)

Steps for web UI interaction and validation, including robust waits and visual captures.

Interaction

  • Given I navigate to "{url}": Browser navigation.
  • When I click on the element with text "{text}": Generic text-based interaction.
  • When I click on the button with text "{button_text}": Specifically targets button elements.
  • When I scroll to the bottom of the page: Dynamic page navigation.

Validation

  • Then the page title should be "{expected_title}": Title verification.
  • Then I should see the text "{text}": Global page source check.
  • Then I should see an element with class "{class_name}": CSS-based visibility check.

Visual Comparison & Regression

  • Then the "{description}" element should visually match the baseline image "{name}": Pixel-perfect match (0% tolerance).
  • Then the "{description}" page should visually match the baseline image "{name}" with a {threshold:f}% tolerance: Configurable layout shift protection.

🏷️ Framework Tags

The framework supports specialized Behave tags to control driver lifecycle:

  • @reuse_driver: Apply to a Feature to share a single browser session across all its scenarios.
  • @reset_driver: Apply to a Scenario to force a browser restart, even if reuse is enabled globally.

Visual Captures

  • Then I take a screenshot named "{screenshot_name}": Standard screenshot with HTML embedding support.

📄 PDF Testing (pdf_steps.py)

Specialized steps for verifying document downloads and content.

  • When I wait for {seconds:d} seconds for the download to complete: Timing control.
  • Then the downloaded file "{filename}" should exist: Integrity check.
  • Then the PDF "{filename}" should have at least {page_count:d} pages: Structure check.
  • Then I verify the content of the first {count:d} pages of "{filename}" contains "{keyword}": Text-in-PDF validation.

🛠️ How to use these steps

To leverage these steps in your project, ensure your environment.py or steps directory imports them:

# API Steps
from qa_framework.steps.api_steps import *

# GUI Steps
from qa_framework.steps.gui_steps import *

# PDF Steps
from qa_framework.steps.pdf_steps import *

# Common/Utility Steps (like 'I wait for N seconds')
from qa_framework.steps.common_steps import *

Accelerating QA engineering with standardized building blocks.