As an automation tester, choosing the right tool for web UI automation can be a crucial decision. Two of the most popular tools in this space are Cucumber and Karate. In this article, we'll take a look at both tools, compare them, and help you determine which one is the best fit for your needs.
Cucumber is a behavior-driven development (BDD) framework that provides a way to automate acceptance tests and validate that a system works as expected. It uses the Gherkin language, which allows developers to write tests in plain English, making it easier for non-technical stakeholders to understand the tests. Cucumber is best suited for teams who value collaboration between developers and non-technical stakeholders, as the language is user-friendly and easy to understand. For example, a simple test in Cucumber might look like this:
Feature: Login
Scenario: Successful Login
Given the user is on the login page
When the user enters their username and password
Then the user should be redirected to the home page
On the other hand, Karate is a unified framework for both API and UI testing that's designed to make it easy for developers to write tests in a simple and expressive language. Karate supports a wide range of features, including data-driven testing, parallel execution, and even performance testing. In addition, Karate has built-in support for UI automation, which means that developers can write UI tests directly within the same framework they use for API testing. A simple test in Karate might look like this:
Feature: Lauching App in chrome browser
Background:
* configure driver = { type: 'chrome'}
Scenario: User must able to login in SauceDemo
Given driver 'https://www.saucedemo.com/'
* driver.maximize()
And input('input[name=user-name]','standard_user')
And input('input[name=password]','secret_sauce')
When click('input[name=login-button]')
* delay(2000)
Then waitForUrl('https://www.saucedemo.com/inventory.html')
In terms of implementation, both Cucumber and Karate are relatively straightforward to set up and start using. For Cucumber, you'll need to write tests in the Gherkin language and set up a testing framework that supports Cucumber. For Karate, you'll simply write tests in a Java-based language and use the Karate library to execute your tests.
One key difference between Cucumber and Karate is that Cucumber focuses primarily on acceptance testing and is best suited for teams who value collaboration between developers and non-technical stakeholders. Karate, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive solution that's designed specifically for developers, with a wider range of features and capabilities, including built-in support for UI automation.
Another difference is the level of expressiveness in the language used to write tests. Cucumber's Gherkin language is user-friendly and easy to understand, making it a good choice for teams that value collaboration and clear communication. However, this simplicity can also make it more limited in terms of the types of tests you can write. Karate's Java-based language is more expressive, allowing for more complex tests, but may be less accessible to non-technical stakeholders.
In conclusion, both Cucumber and Karate are powerful tools for web UI automation, and the best fit for your needs will depend on your specific requirements and preferences. If you value collaboration and a user-friendly language, Cucumber may be the best choice. However, if you're looking for a more comprehensive solution that's designed specifically for developers, Karate may be the better fit. Ultimately, the best way to determine which tool is right for you is to try both and see which one works best for your team.