Why Do Most UI Test Automation Fail? (Part 2: Wrong Choice of Test Syntax Framework)

Chose the wrong Gherkin BDD frameworks. Should have used simple RSpec or xUnit (spec style)

Updated (2023–05–05): “Cucumber is Dying”, What did we learn?

What is a test syntax framework?

Automation (also known as Driver) frameworks drive the application’s UI; test syntax frameworks provide the test structure and assertion mechanism.

Have a look at the below test script.

The highlighted (in light yellow) are test steps (or fragments) of an automation framework, in this case, Selenium WebDriver. The rest is provided by the test syntax framework, in this case, RSpec. Line 15 is an assertion step.

The granddaddy of the test syntax frameworks is JUnit created by Kent Beck and Erich Gamma in 1997. As its name suggests, it is designed for unit testing. With JUnit-style…