Data Driven Testing Module

In this section, you can find more information about the classes and annotations that Selenium Automation Bundle provides for Data Driven Testing.

Data Module

The data module is located in src/main/groovy/com/sysgears/seleniumbundle/core/. This module contains the classes, annotations, and other components that make possible accessing and mapping test data in data driven tests.

Test Classes Hierarchy for DDT

The data module is represented as a hierarchy of three class: one base class AbstractTestData and two child classes PlainData and HierarchicalData.

AbstractTestData

The abstract class to be extended by the subclasses that provide concrete implementations for the test data objects and the map() method. AbstractTestData provides the constructor to create Test Data instances and a couple of methods — map() and getData().

PlainData

This class represents plain data retrieved from plain data files stored in .csv.

HierarchicalData

This class represents hierarchical data retrieved from .yml files.

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DataLoader

DataLoader is a custom class that reads the contents of CSV or YAML files and loads (read: returns) values as List or Map to the test class.

DataLoader provides three methods to request data from CSV or YAML files. Depending on how your data is structured in a YAML file, you can get a map (an associative array [:]) using readMapFromYaml() or a list using readListFromYaml(), and for CSV files, DataLoader provides readListFromPlainDataFile().

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readListFromPlainDataFile()

A static method that retrieves data as Groovy List.

Parameters

filePath     String     A path to a .csv file with test data.

Returns

The file contents as Groovy List with text split by a pattern specified in ApplicationProperties.groovy.

Usage

You need to pass the path to a data file in YAML format as the first argument when instantiating the HierarchicalData class discussed above.

class Tools_PlainData extends FunctionalTest {
  private data = new PlainData(DataLoader.readListFromPlainDataFile("src/test/resources/data/google/test_data.csv",
              conf.data.plain.dataSetSeparator), this.class).data
}

Notice that the method uses the separator specified in ApplicationProperties.groovy, which is "\n\n" by default.

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readMapFromYml()

A static method that retrieves data as Groovy Map by running a private method readRawDataFromYml() in DataLoader.

Parameters

file     String     A path to a .yml file with test data.

Returns

The file contents as Groovy Map.

Usage

You need to pass the path to a data file in YAML format as the first argument when instantiating HierarchicalData.

class Tools_HierarchicalData extends FunctionalTest {
  private data = new HierarchicalData(DataLoader.readMapFromYml("src/test/resources/data/google/test_data.yml"),
              this.class).data
}

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readListFromYaml()

A static method that retrieves data as Groovy List by running a private method readRawDataFromYml() in DataLoader.

Parameters

file     String     A path to a .yml file with test data.

Returns

The file contents as Groovy List.

Usage

You need to pass the path to a data file in YAML format as the first argument when instantiating the HierarchicalData class discussed above.

class Tools_HierarchicalData extends FunctionalTest {
  private data = new HierarchicalData(DataLoader.readListFromYml("src/test/resources/data/google/test_data.yml"),
              this.class).data
}

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Annotations

Selenium Automation Bundle provides three annotations to help you build requests when you store data in YAML files.

@Query

You need to use the @Query annotation before the test class. @Query is always used with @Find annotation.

Usage example:

@Query(@Find(name = "category", value = "News"))
void myMethod() {}

@Find

The @Find annotation is used to get the arguments for the @Query annotation.

Usage example:

@Query(@Find(name = "tomato", value = "potato" ))
void myMethod() {
    myPageObject.doSomethingToTest()
}

To make this annotation work, your YAML file must contain the field tomato with the value potato:

- tomato: potato

@Locator

The @Locator annotation will let you specify the values you need to use in your test. The annotation accepts a string with any level of nesting. The nested elements must be separated by a dot.

Usage example: For example, your Yaml file may have the following structure:

- query: something on the highest level
  result:
    food: value on a lower level

To access the values stored in query and food, you can use @Locator in your test classes this way:

void checkSomething(@Locator("query") String query, @Locator("result.food") String food) {
     pageObject.doSomethingWith(query).doSomethingAgain(food)
}

As you can see, you need to pass only the last nested element to the page object method. @Locator will return the correct data according to the request.