Semi-Automated Behavior-Driven Testing for the Web Front-Ends

The required effort and time increase as web applications grow in size and complexity. Regression testing becomes time-consuming and repetitive, and there is a higher chance of human errors and omissions. Therefore, automating tests by recording test scripts and writing test case code (i.e., code for conducting specific test cases) can reduce effort, time, and human errors. However, technical personnel may not always understand and describe user requirements correctly, leading to issues of misaligned requirements. Therefore, integrating Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) into front-end automated testing can help facilitate communication and discussion with users. By collaboratively establishing user stories and scripts for testing, it should be possible to reduce issues of unclear or misaligned requirements. Currently, some project teams combine automated testing with BDD methods, which has been recognized for its effectiveness. However, the manual creation of test cases and the definition of BDD steps increase the workload. Moreover, there still needs to be a systematic workflow and supporting tools for effectively incorporating script recording tools into BDD testing. To address these issues, we propose a systematic process called “Recorder-based BDD Testing for Front-end“ (RBTF), which combines the script recording capabilities of automated testing tools with BDD practices. We also developed a tool called “JUnit to Cucumber Converter“ (JUCC) that facilitates the conversion between BDD specifications and test case codes.