Functional Test Refactoring: Move

Move test steps into the sections that execute before/after test cases

This is one of the 6 Functional Test Refactorings:

• Extract Function

• Move Function to Helper

• Move

• Extract Page Function

• Introduce Page Object

• Rename

The structure of this article is the same as “Extract Function”. The test project that helps you do refactoring exercises quickly:

> cd my-working-dir
> git clone https://github.com/testwisely/agiletravel-ui-tests

The test project is at my-working-dir/agiletravel-ui-tests/pre-refactoring .

Motivation

You have the same set of beginning or ending test steps in multiple test cases.

Long and similar test cases are harder to maintain. By grouping test cases and utilize shared sections, it is possible to make test cases concise and more distinguishable.

Sample Test (before)
The test script file in the sample project: spec/flight_spec.rb

before(:all) do
  # ...
endit "One-way trip" do
  login("agileway", "testwise")
  visit("/flights/start")
  driver.find_element(:xpath, "//input[@name='tripType' and @value='oneway']").click
  # ...
endit "Return trip" do
  login("agileway", "testwise")
  visit("/flights/start")
  driver.find_element(:xpath, "//input[@name='tripType' and @value='return']").click
  # ...
end

Issues with the test

• The login('agileway', 'testwise') step is in both test cases, which are unnecessary (or wrong). We only need to log in once (for this case).

• The visit('flights/start') is necessary for each test case, but it is better moved out of the main test flow. Imagine if you need to add more test scenarios in this test script file.

Action

Move common test steps into shared sections that run before or after each test case.

Prerequisite

• Multiple (grouped) test cases are allowed in a single test script file

• Shared sections (execution hooks) where the test steps are executed before or after each test case

Those shared sections (a.k.a. execution hooks) exist in most of test syntax frameworks:

RSpec: before(:all), before(:each), after(:each), after(:all)

Mocha: before, beforeEach, afterEach, after

PyTest: setUpClass, setUp, tearDown, tearDownClass

JUnit: setUp, tearDown or @BeforeClass, @Before, @After @AfterClass annotations

Because there are four shared sections, e.g. before(:all), before(:each), after(:each), after(:all) , some might name this ‘Move’ refactoring as four separate refactorings, such as “Move to Before Each Test” and “Move to After All Tests”, but they all work the same way.

Test Design conventions with shared sections

• Start a driver (Selenium WebDriver for web testing) in before(:all)

• Quit the driver in afer(:all)

• If one test user performs all test cases in one test script file, a login step shall be in before(:all)

• If every test case starts with a different user, a logout step shall be in after(:each)

• If every test case (in a test script file) needs to start with a certain page, use visit('/dashboard') (example) in before(:each) step.

Mechanics

• Identify the same test steps that are common to each test case

• Select the test steps in one test case

• Move them to corresponding sections that run before or after all/each test case

• Delete repeated test steps in remaining test cases

• Run all the test cases that have changed

Refactoring Steps in TestWise

1. Select the test steps that might be better before/after all or each test case

2. Invoke refactoring

3. Choose the target, e.g. before(:each) or after(:all)

4. Preview

5. Apply the refactoring

Expected Result

The test steps moved to the shared sections, test execution is not affected.

Scope

Within the same test script file.

Sample Test (after)

before(:all) do
  # ...
  login("agileway", "testwise")
end

before(:each) do
   visit("/flights/start")
endit "One-way trip" do
  driver.find_element(:xpath, "//input[@name='tripType' and @value='oneway']").click
  # ...
end

it "Return trip" do
  driver.find_element(:xpath, "//input[@name='tripType' and @value='return']").click
  # ...
end

Demonstration (animated GIF)

The refactoring applies the same way for each of the four before(:all), before(:each), after(:each), after(:all) shared sections. I will just show two examples here.

1. Move test steps before all test cases, via Refactoring Menu

2. Move test steps before each test case, via a keyboard shortcut

This time, the before(:each) did not exist in the test script, TestWise will insert it into the test script.

Demonstration (Video)

1. Move one test step before all test cases, via Refactoring Menu

2. Move test steps before each test case, via a keyboard shortcut

Benefits

• Concise

• Focused tests
  When maintaining a large test suite (>200 UI tests), it is quite useful that the first test step line reveals the test case’s purpose. Study the same test scripts (before and after) and then imagine you will be maintaining hundreds of them running in a CT Server many times of day, …

• Reduce Duplication, DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself)

Exercises

• Move one test step to before(:all), before(:each), after(:each), after(:all)

• Move multiple steps to the four shared sections

• Invoke refactoring using the keyboard shortcut

• Move one step to a shared section, e.g., before(:each), which is not defined in the test script file

• Move one step to a shared section that already exists in the test script file

• Move one step that repeats in other test cases (in the same test script file) to a shared section. Check the ‘Replace Occurences in other test cases’ checkbox.

Related Refactorings

• Extract Function