Cucumber Interview Questions and Answers (2023)

Gherkin is the language that is used by the Cucumber tool. It is a simple English representation of the application behavior. Gherkin language uses several keywords to describe the behavior of applications such as Feature, Scenario, Scenario Outline, Given, When, Then, etc.

A feature file must provide a high-level description of an Application Under Test (AUT). The first line of the feature file must start with the keyword ‘Feature’ followed by the description of the application under test.

A feature file may include multiple scenarios within the same file. A feature file has the extension .feature.

Mentioned below are the keywords that are used for writing a scenario:

• Given
• When
• Then
• And

Scenario outline is a way of parameterization of scenarios. This is ideally used when the same scenario needs to be executed for multiple sets of data, however, the test steps remain the same. Scenario Outline must be followed by the keyword ‘Examples’, which specify the set of values for each parameter.

Cucumber tool provides support for multiple programming languages such as Java, .Net, Ruby etc. It can also be integrated with multiple tools such as Selenium, Capybara, etc.

A step definition file in Cucumber is used to segregate the feature files from the underlying code. Each step of the feature file can be mapped to a corresponding method on the Step Definition file.

While feature files are written in an easily understandable language like, Gherkin, Step Definition files are written in programming languages such as Java, .Net, Ruby, etc.

BDD is a methodology to understand the functionality of an application in the simple plain text representation.

The main aim of the Behavior Driven Development framework is to make various project roles such as Business Analysts, Quality Assurance, Developers, Support Teams understand the application without diving deep into the technical aspects.

A feature file can contain a maximum of 10 scenarios, but the number can vary from project to project and from one organization to another. But it is generally advisable to limit the number of scenarios included in the feature file.

Background keyword is used to group multiple given statements into a single group. This is generally used when the same set of given statements are repeated in each scenario of the feature file.

Pipe symbol (|) is used to specify one or more parameter values in a feature file.

Examples keyword is used to specify values for each parameter used in the scenario. Scenario Outline keyword must always be followed by the keyword Examples.

File Extension for a feature file is .feature. A feature file is ideally written in a notepad file and is saved with the extension feature.

Cucumber Options tag is used to provide a link between the feature files and step definition files. Each step of the feature file is mapped to a corresponding method on the step definition file.

Below is the syntax of Cucumber Options tag:

@CucumberOptions(features="Features",glue={"StepDefinition"})

Cucumber can be integrated with the Selenium Webdriver by downloading the necessary JAR files.

Given below are the list of JAR files that are to be downloaded for using Cucumber with Selenium web driver:

• cucumber-core-1.2.2.jar
• cucumber-java-1.2.2.jar
• cucumber-junit-1.2.2.jar
• cucumber-jvm-deps-1.0.3.jar
• cucumber-reporting-0.1.0.jar
• gherkin-2.12.2.jar

Cucumber tool is generally used in real-time to write acceptance tests for an application. It is generally used by non-technical people such as Business Analysts, Functional Testers, etc.

Cucumber Natural Plugin is the plugin that is used to integrate Eclipse with Cucumber.

TestRunner class is used to provide the link between the feature file and the step definition file. The next question provides a sample representation of how the TestRunner class will look like. A TestRunner class is generally an empty class with no class definition.

When integrated with Selenium, the starting point of execution must be from the TestRunner class.

No code should be written under the TestRunner class. It should include the tags @RunWith and @CucumberOptions.

Features property is used to let the Cucumber framework identify the location of the feature files.

Glue property is used to let the Cucumber framework identify the location of step definition files.

Two files required to execute a Cucumber test scenario are:

• Features
• Step Definition

Although Cucumber and Jbehave are meant for the same purpose, acceptance tests are completely different frameworks

• Jbehave is pure Java-based and Cucumber is Ruby-based.
• Jbehave are based on stories while Cucumber is based on features.

A test harness for Cucumber and rspec allows for separating responsibility between setting up the context and interacting with the browser and cleaning up the step definition files.

• Rspec is used for Unit Testing.
• Cucumber is used for Behavior-driven development. Cucumber can be used for System and Integration Tests.

• Ruby and its Development Kit
• Cucumber
• IDE like ActiveState
• Watir ( To simulate browser)
• Ansicon and rspec (if required)

Selenium is an automation tool which is a widely used tool for Functional Testing of the web-based application. Selenium supports different language like ruby, java, python C#, etc.

Cucumber and Selenium are two popular technologies. Many organizations use Selenium for functional testing. These organizations which are using Selenium want to integrate Cucumber with Selenium as Cucumber helps you to read and to understand the application flow.

In general, a framework is an entity which binds several modules in a logical sequence to cover the end-to-end flows of an application. The objective of investing in a framework is to test a product which has a recurring roadmap and regular release cycle.

1. It supports Safari browser via a third-party driver. It is experimental and comes with limited functionality.

2. It provides an Android driver to run tests on its native mobile browser.

1. Before: executes before the feature file execution.

2. After: executes after the feature file execution.

3. BeforeStep: executes before each step execution.

4. AfterStep: executes after each step execution.

We use to compile the cucumber feature files and step definitions. If there occur any compilation errors, then it shows them on the console.

Cucumber tool is normally used in real-time to mark receipt tests for an application. It is normally used by non-technical people such as Functional testers, Business analysts etc.

A regular expression is a pattern recounting a definite amount of text. The essential regular expression consists of a single literal character.

The three popular BDD testing tools are:

• Specflow
• JBehave
• Cucumber

• Automated tests
• Documentation

We can create Cucumber profiles to run specific features and step definitions.

We can use following command to execute a cucumber profile cucumber features -p

Ex: cucumber features -p regression

Cucumber tags help in filtering the scenarios. We can tag the scenarios and then run them based on tags.

• We can add tags to scenarios with the <@> symbol.
• We can use the following command to run a cucumber tagged scenario.

cucumber features -t @<tag_name>

Example: cucumber features -t @test

TDD stands for Test Driven Development.

• Cucumber is a Ruby based framework.
• JBehave is a JAVA based framework.
• Specflow is a .NET based framework.

• Given defines the context of the scenario.
• When defines the actions of the scenario.
• Then defines the outcome of the scenario.

TRUE

• Gradle
• Maven

• JUnit
• TestNG

• Page Object Model
• Log4j
• Extent Reporting
• Dependency Injection (Example: Pico Container)
• Object Repository