Type Registry

Parameter types let you convert parameters from cucumber-expressions to objects. Data table and doc string types let you convert data tables and doc strings to objects. Like step definitions, type definitions are part of the glue. When placed on the glue path Cucumber will detect them automatically.

For example, the following class registers a custom “Author” data table type:

package com.example;

import io.cucumber.java.DataTableType;
import io.cucumber.java.en.Given;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

public class StepDefinitions {

    @DataTableType
    public Author authorEntry(Map<String, String> entry) {
        return new Author(
            entry.get("firstName"),
            entry.get("lastName"),
            entry.get("famousBook"));
    }

    @Given("There are my favorite authors")
    public void these_are_my_favourite_authors(List<Author> authors) {
        // step implementation
    }
}

package com.example

import io.cucumber.java.DataTableType
import io.cucumber.java.en.Given
import kotlin.streams.toList

class StepDefinitions {

    @DataTableType
    fun authorEntry(entry: Map<String, String>): Author {
        return Author(
                entry["firstName"],
                entry["lastName"],
                entry["famousBook"])
    }

    @Given("There are my favorite authors")
    fun these_are_my_favourite_authors(authors: List<Author>) {
        // step implementation
    }
}

package com.example

import io.cucumber.scala.{ScalaDsl, EN}

class StepDefinitions extends ScalaDsl with EN {

    DataTableType { entry: Map[String, String] =>
        Author(
            entry("firstName"),
            entry("lastName"),
            entry("famousBook"))
    }

    Given("There are my favorite authors") { authors: List[Author] =>
        // step implementation
    }
}

The parameter type example:

package com.example;

import io.cucumber.java.ParameterType;
import io.cucumber.java.en.Given;

public class StepDefinitions {

    @ParameterType(".*")
    public Book book(String bookName) {
    	return new Book(bookName);
    }	

    @Given("{book} is my favorite book")
    public void this_is_my_favorite_book(Book book) {
        // step implementation
    }
}

package com.example;

import io.cucumber.java.ParameterType
import io.cucumber.java.en.Given

class StepDefinitions {

    @ParameterType(".*")
    fun book(bookName: String): Book {
        return Book(bookName)
    }

    @Given("{book} is my favorite book")
    fun this_is_my_favorite_book(book: Book) {
        // step implementation
    }
}

package com.example

import io.cucumber.scala.{ScalaDsl, EN}

class StepDefinitions extends ScalaDsl with EN {

    ParameterType("book", ".*") { bookName: String =>
        Book(bookName)
    }

    Given("{book} is my favorite book") { book: Book =>
        // step implementation
    }
}

The docstring type example:

package com.example;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import io.cucumber.java.DocStringType;
import io.cucumber.java.en.Given;

public class StepsDefinitions {

    private static ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();

    @DocStringType
    public JsonNode json(String docString) throws JsonProcessingException {
        return objectMapper.readValue(docString, JsonNode.class);
    }

    @Given("Books are defined by json")
    public void books_are_defined_by_json(JsonNode books) {
        // step implementation
    }
}

package com.example

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
import io.cucumber.java.DocStringType
import io.cucumber.java.en.Given

class StepsDefinitions {

    companion object {
        private val objectMapper = ObjectMapper()
    }

    @DocStringType
    @Throws(JsonProcessingException::class)
    fun json(docString: String): JsonNode {
        return objectMapper.readValue(docString, JsonNode::class)
    }

    @Given("Books are defined by json")
    fun books_are_defined_by_json(books: JsonNode) {
        // step implementation
    }
}

package com.example

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
import io.cucumber.scala.{ScalaDsl, EN}

object StepsDefinitions {
    private val objectMapper = ObjectMapper()
}

class StepsDefinitions extends ScalaDsl with EN {

    DocStringType("json") { docString: String =>
        objectMapper.readValue(docString, classOf[JsonNode])
    }

    Given("Books are defined by json") { books: JsonNode =>
        // step implementation
    }
}

For lambda defined step definitions, there are DataTableType, ParameterType and DocStringType functions:

package com.example;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

import io.cucumber.java8.En;

import java.util.Map;

public class LambdaStepDefinitions implements En {
    
    private static ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();

    public LambdaStepDefinitions() {
        
        DataTableType((Map<String, String> entry) -> new Author(
            entry.get("firstName"),
            entry.get("lastName"),
            entry.get("famousBook")
        ));

        ParameterType("book", ".*", (String bookName) -> new Book(bookName));

        DocStringType("json", (String docString) -> 
            objectMapper.readValue(docString, JsonNode.class));
    }
}

package com.example

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

import io.cucumber.java8.En

class LambdaStepDefinitions : En {

    init {
        val objectMapper = ObjectMapper()

        ParameterType("book", ".*") { s : String ->
            Book(s)
        }

        DataTableType { entry: Map<String, String> ->
            Author(entry["firstName"], entry["lastName"], entry["famousBook"])
        }

        DocStringType("json") { docString: String -> 
            objectMapper.readValue(docString, JsonNode::class)
        }
    }
}

Using the @DefaultParameterTransformer, @DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer and @DefaultDataTableCellTransformer annotations, it is also possible to plug in an ObjectMapper. The object mapper (Jackson in this example) will handle the conversion of anonymous parameter types and data table entries.

Using the DefaultParameterTransformer, DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer and DefaultDataTableCellTransformer methods, it is also possible to plug in an ObjectMapper. The object mapper (Jackson in this example) will handle the conversion of anonymous parameter types and data table entries.

package com.example;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import io.cucumber.java.DefaultDataTableCellTransformer;
import io.cucumber.java.DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer;
import io.cucumber.java.DefaultParameterTransformer;

import java.lang.reflect.Type;

public class StepDefinitions {

    private final ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();

    @DefaultParameterTransformer
    @DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer
    @DefaultDataTableCellTransformer
    public Object transformer(Object fromValue, Type toValueType) {
        return objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType));
    }
}

package com.example

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
import io.cucumber.java.DefaultDataTableCellTransformer
import io.cucumber.java.DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer
import io.cucumber.java.DefaultParameterTransformer

import java.lang.reflect.Type

class StepDefinitions {

    private val objectMapper = ObjectMapper()

    @DefaultParameterTransformer
    @DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer
    @DefaultDataTableCellTransformer
    fun transformer(fromValue: Any, toValueType: Type): Any {
        return objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType))
    }
}

package com.example

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
import io.cucumber.scala.ScalaDsl

import java.lang.reflect.Type

class StepDefinitions extends ScalaDsl {

    private val objectMapper = ObjectMapper()

    DefaultParameterTransformer { (fromValue: String, toValueType: Type) => 
        objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType)) 
    }

    DefaultDataTableCellTransformer { (fromValue: String, toValueType: Type) => 
        objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType)) 
    }

    DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer { (fromValue: Map[String, String], toValueType: Type) => 
        objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType))
    }
}

For lambda defined step definitions, there are DefaultParameterTransformer, DefaultDataTableCellTransformer and DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer methodfunctionblockfunctionfunction:

package com.example;

import io.cucumber.java8.En;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

import java.lang.reflect.Type;

public class LambdaStepDefinitions implements En {
    
    public LambdaStepDefinitions() {
        ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();

        DefaultParameterTransformer((String fromValue, Type toValueType) ->
            objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType)));

        DefaultDataTableCellTransformer((fromValue, toValueType) ->
            objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType)));

        DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer((fromValue, toValueType) ->
            objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType)));
    }
}

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper

import io.cucumber.java8.En
import java.lang.reflect.Type

class LambdaStepDefinitions : En {
    init {
        val objectMapper = ObjectMapper()

        DefaultParameterTransformer { fromValue: String, toValueType: Type -> 
            objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType)) 
        }

        DefaultDataTableCellTransformer { fromValue, toValueType -> 
            objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType)) 
        }

        DefaultDataTableEntryTransformer { fromValue, toValueType -> 
            objectMapper.convertValue(fromValue, objectMapper.constructType(toValueType))
        }
    }
}

A Parameter Type lets you transform an argument from a string to another type before it’s passed to the step definition.

For example, let’s define our own “Person” type:

ParameterType(
  name: 'person',
  regexp: /[A-Z][a-z]+/,
  transformer: -> (name) { Person.new(name) }
)

Here’s an example of how to use this in a step definition:

Then /^a user {person} should have {int} followers$/ do |person, count|
  assert(person.is_a?(Person))
end

If you are using a type that has not yet been defined, you will get an error similar to:

The parameter type "person" is not defined.

If you are using a type that has not yet been defined, you will get an error similar to:

The parameter type "person" is not defined.

If you are using a type that has not yet been defined, you will get an error similar to:

The parameter type "person" is not defined.

If you are using a type that has not yet been defined, you will get an error similar to:

The parameter type "person" is not defined.

You can define your own parameter types and data table types.

For more information on how to use Parameter Type with Cucumber-js, please see the parameter_types.feature.

For more information on how to use Data Tables with Cucumber-js, please see the cucumber-js documentation.

If you want to, you can use the predefined JacksonDefaultDataTableEntryTransformer trait which defines default transformers using Jackson Scala Module.

See Default Jackon DataTable Transformer.

Recommended location

The recommended location to define custom parameter types, would be in

features/support/parameter_types.rb.

features/support/parameter_types.js.

src/test/java/com/example/ParameterTypes.java.

src/test/kotlin/com/example/ParameterTypes.kt.

src/test/kotlin/com/example/ParameterTypes.scala.

This is just a convention though; Cucumber will pick them up from any file

under features.

on the glue path.

Profiles

Cucumber profiles are not available on Cucumber-JVM. However, it is possible to set configuration options using Maven profiles.

For instance, we can configure separate profiles for scenarios which are to be run in separate environments like so:

    <profiles>
        <profile>
          <id>dev</id>
            <properties>
                <cucumber.filter.tags>@dev and not @ignore</cucumber.filter.tags>
            </properties>
        </profile>
        <profile>
          <id>qa</id>
            <properties>
                <cucumber.filter.tags>@qa</cucumber.filter.tags>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            ...
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.0-M4</version>
                <configuration>
                    <systemPropertyVariables>
                       <cucumber.filter.tags>${cucumber.filter.tags}</cucumber.filter.tags>
                    </systemPropertyVariables>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

To mimick similar behavior using Gradle, see the Gradle docs on Migrating Maven profiles and properties.

Cucumber profiles are not available on Cucumber-JVM. However, it is possible to set configuration options using Maven profiles.

For instance, we can configure separate profiles for scenarios which are to be run in separate environments like so:

    <profiles>
        <profile>
          <id>dev</id>
            <properties>
                <cucumber.filter.tags>@dev and not @ignore</cucumber.filter.tags>
            </properties>
        </profile>
        <profile>
          <id>qa</id>
            <properties>
                <cucumber.filter.tags>@qa</cucumber.filter.tags>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            ...
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.0-M4</version>
                <configuration>
                    <systemPropertyVariables>
                       <cucumber.filter.tags>${cucumber.filter.tags}</cucumber.filter.tags>
                    </systemPropertyVariables>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

To mimick similar behavior using Gradle, see the Gradle docs on Migrating Maven profiles and properties.

Cucumber profiles are not available on Cucumber-JVM. However, it is possible to set configuration options using Maven profiles.

For instance, we can configure separate profiles for scenarios which are to be run in separate environments like so:

    <profiles>
        <profile>
          <id>dev</id>
            <properties>
                <cucumber.filter.tags>@dev and not @ignore</cucumber.filter.tags>
            </properties>
        </profile>
        <profile>
          <id>qa</id>
            <properties>
                <cucumber.filter.tags>@qa</cucumber.filter.tags>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            ...
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.0-M4</version>
                <configuration>
                    <systemPropertyVariables>
                       <cucumber.filter.tags>${cucumber.filter.tags}</cucumber.filter.tags>
                    </systemPropertyVariables>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

To mimick similar behavior using Gradle, see the Gradle docs on Migrating Maven profiles and properties.

For more information on how to use profiles with Cucumber-js, please see the profiles.feature.

You can specify configuration options for Cucumber in a cucumber.yml or cucumber.yaml file. This file must be in a .config directory, or config subdirectory of your current working directory.

config/cucumber.yml
## ##YAML Template
html_report: --format progress --format html --out=features_report.html
bvt: --tags @bvt

Defining a template requires a name and then the command-line options that you want to execute with this profile.

The example above generates two profiles:

html_report, with a list of command-line options that specify new output formats, and
bvt, which executes all Features and Scenarios tagged with @bvt.

Cucumber-Rails creates a cucumber.yml file in the project config directory containing a number of predefined profiles, one of which is the default profile. When Cucumber is run from the command line, it is usually necessary to provide both the directory name containing the root directory of the tree containing feature files and the directory name containing references to the necessary library files. In a typical project, cucumber --require features features/some/path will suffice. Repetitious usages can be added to user-defined profiles contained in the project’s cucumber.yml file.

To execute the profile, use:

\[user@system project] cucumber --profile html_report
\[user@system project] cucumber -p bvt

Use the flag --profile or -p to execute Cucumber with a profile. You can still use other command line arguments alongside --profile or -p, if desired.

\[user@system project] cucumber --profile html_report --tags ~@wip

Multiple profiles can even be specified together. The following executes all Features and Scenarios tagged @bvt, with the specified progress and HTML output.

\[user@system project] cucumber -p html_report -p bvt

Default Profile

Cucumber profiles are not available on Cucumber-JVM. See above.

For more information on how to use profiles with Cucumber-js, please see the profiles.feature.

Chances are you’ll want to execute Cucumber with a particular profile most of the time. The Cucumber configuration file uses a default profile to provide this functionality. When you specify a default profile, you are telling Cucumber to use the default command-line options whenever you don’t explicitly specify a different profile.

Using the same example, perhaps we want the html_report profile to be our default execution.


1. config/cucumber.yml
   ## ##YAML Template
   default: --profile html_report --profile bvt
   html_report: --format progress --format html --out=features_report.html
   bvt: --tags @bvt

\[user@system project] cucumber

With this setup, Cucumber will now use both the bvt profile and html_report profile, testing all Features and Scenarios tagged with @bvt, along with the progress output and HTML output.

Preprocessing with ERB

ERB (Embedded RuBy) is a Ruby specific tool.

The cucumber.yml file is preprocessed by ERB (Embedded RuBy). This allows you to use Ruby code to generate values in the cucumber.yml file.

So, if you have several profiles with similar values, you might do this:


1. config/cucumber.yml
   ## ##YAML Template
   <% common = "--tags ~@wip --strict" %>
   default: <%= common %> features
   html_report: <%= common %> --format html --out=features_report.html features

Environment Variables

Cucumber-JVM does not support configuration of Cucumber with an env file.

Cucumber-js does not support configuration of Cucumber with an env file.

You can use environment variables in the profile argument list, just as you would normally specify them on the command-line.


1. config/cucumber.yml
   \##YAML Template
2. ## ie profile executes the browser features with Internet Explorer
   default: --profile html_report --profile bvt
   html_report: --format progress --format html --out=features_report.html
   bvt: --tags @bvt
   ie: BROWSER=IE

When running Cucumber, it can sometimes be handy to pass special values to Cucumber for your step definitions to use.

You can do this on the command line:

   cucumber FOO=BAR --format progress features

You can now pick up ENV\['FOO'] in Ruby (for example, in env.rb, or a Step Definition) and perform actions according to the value.

You can also do this in cucumber.yml.

For example, the following sets up a profile that runs the specified Tag and sets an environment variable:

   baz: --tags @mytag FOO=BAR

Local Cucumber customisation code in support/env.rb itself as that file is typically overwritten by script/generate cucumber:install | rails g cucumber. Customisations that must be loaded before the rest of Cucumber initialises must be placed at the beginning of the env.rb file.

Every file ending in .rb that is found in features/support is loaded by Cucumber. Therefore, if you place local customisations in any .rb file in that directory, they will get loaded. However, be advised that in Cucumber < 4.x, the --dry-run option only excludes files in features/support that match the regexp /env\\..\*/ (note that the trailing dot is significant). So a file with local customisations called my_locals.rb will be loaded regardless. In Cucumber 4.x, all support files, including env.rb files, are loaded.

If you put custom files inside features/support that you do not wish loaded when you do a dry-run with Cucumber, you can use the --exclude flag to ensure they aren’t loaded. In Cucumber versions < 4.x, you can also prefix the filenames with env, as in env.local.rb. Note that a file called local_env.rb, for example, does not match the regex above and therefore will be loaded in all versions of Cucumber unless specifically excluded.

As a matter of good practice you should always run script/generate cucumber | rails g cucumber:install whenever you install an updated version of Cucumber or cucumber-rails. However, this overwrites features/support/env.rb. In order to keep any custom configurations from your env.rb file, check in your env.rb along with the rest of your version controlled files and be prepared to diff and merge changes to env.rb between versions of Cucumber-Rails.

Cucumber Configuration

Type Registry

Recommended location

Profiles

Default Profile

Preprocessing with ERB

Environment Variables