Question

I am looking for some background information that shines light on the difference between a feature and a scenario.

Say, I have a file use_administration.feature

Feature: Use administration area

  So that I can administrate the application
  As an administrator
  I can visit the administration area

  Scenario: Get a login form
    Given I am not logged in
    When I visit the administration dashboard
    Then I should see a login-form

  Scenario: Access the Dashboard
    Given I am not logged in
    And there is a user "[e-mail]" with password "password"
    When I log in with username "[e-mail]" and password "password"
    Then I should see a dashboard

I would consider these Scenario’s pretty well-defined.

However, when looking at another Feature, the problem gets clearer

Feature: Manage campings

  So that a writer can manage her campings
  As a logged in writer
  I want to update and delete campings

  Scenario: Logged in writer can create a new camping
    Given I am administrator
    And no campings on the campings listing
    When I create a Camping named "Beautifull Green"
    And I visit the "Campings" administration page
    Then I should see a camping "Beautifull Green"

  Scenario: Logged in writer sees own campings dashboard
    Given I am administrator
    And I have a camping "Beautifull Green"
    When I visit the administration dashboard
    Then I should see a panel titled "My Campings"
    Then I should see camping "Beautifull Green"

  Scenario: Logged in writer can update campings
    Given I am administrator
    And I have a camping "Beautifull Green"
    When I visit the update page for "Beautifull Green"
    And I update the name to "updated!"
    And I visit the "Campings" administration page
    Then I should see a camping "updated!"

  Scenario: Logged in writer can update camping from dashboard
    Given I am administrator
    And I have a camping "Beautifull Green"
    When I visit the administration dashboard
    Then I should see the "edit"-link for "Beautifull Green"

A lot of these scenario’s overlap, and as such should probably have been Features’s on their own. Note that the overlap is covered with shared steps mostly. Yet still there is a lot of repetition.

My main question is: when is something a feature, when is it a scenario. Any rules of thumb?
Are there good practices as to how many Scenario’s a Feature should contain? Or am I completely misunderstanding this whole topic?

Answer 1

In my opinion this is all about organization skill in real life. If you can describe scenarios clearly in plain English, that’s enough.

Let’s check your second feature. There are many problems.

1. What is the user role? Writer or Administrator? You mentioned both of them in one feature. That’s unacceptable.

2. There is problem in description format. It’s not right English. It should be:

   In order to keep my campaigns up to date
   As a logged in writer
   I want to manage my campaigns
   

   or

   As a logged in writer
   I want to manage my campaigns
   So that I can keep my campaigns up to date
   

   Some notes here

   • You mentioned CRUD in Scenarios but the previous description is for update and delete only.
   • “manage campaign” is not business goal, it’s activity. So I use “keep my campaigns up to date” to replace that.

3. There is overlap of “Given I am administrator” and “And I have a camping ‘Beautifull Green'” in Scenarios. That’s unnecessary. You should use Background to describe that. For example:

   Background:
     Given I have logged in as an Administrator
     And I have a camping "Beautifull Green"
   

   These will save you all of the duplicate. If you want to test Create, just use another name instead, same “Nice Red”.

4. The Scenarios titles are too long. No need subject. You’ve already described the user and background before. The titles can be:

   Scenario: Create new campaign
     # description here
   Scenario: Update campaign
     # .....
   

Hope these help.