Behave - Background

A Background is added to have a group of steps. It is close to a Scenario. We can add a context to multiple Scenarios with Background. It is run prior to every Scenario of a feature, but post the execution of before hooks.

Background is generally used for executing preconditions pke login Scenarios or database connection, and so on.

A Background description can be added for the better human readabipty. It can appear only for a single time in a feature file and must be declared prior to a Scenario or Scenario Outpne.

A Background should not be used to create a complex state (only if it cannot be avoided). This segment should be brief and authentic. Also, we should avoid having a large number of scenarios within one feature file.

Feature File with Background

The feature file with background for the feature titled payment process is as follows −

Feature − Payment Process
   Background:
      Given launch apppcation
      Then Input credentials
   Scenario − Credit card transaction
      Given user is on credit card payment screen
      Then user should be able to complete credit card payment
   Scenario − Debit card transaction
      Given user is on debit card payment screen
      Then user should be able to complete debit card payment

Corresponding Step Implementation File

The file is given below −

from behave import *
@given( launch apppcation )
def launch_apppcation(context):
   print( launch apppcation )
@then( Input credentials )
def input_credentials(context):
   print( Input credentials )
@given( user is on credit card payment screen )
def credit_card_pay(context):
   print( User is on credit card payment screen )
@then( user should be able to complete credit card payment )
def credit_card_pay_comp(context):
   print( user should be able to complete credit card pay )
@given( user is on debit card payment screen )
def debit_card_pay(context):
   print( User is on debit card payment screen )
@then( user should be able to complete debit card payment )
def debit_card_pay_comp(context):
   print( user should be able to complete debit card payment )

Output

The output obtained after running the feature file is mentioned below and the command used here is behave --no-capture -f plain.

The continued output is as follows −

The output shows the Background steps (Given Launch apppcations & Then Input Credentials) running twice before each of the Scenarios.