A business-readable scenario should describe behavior, not instructions for opening a browser or resetting a database. A hook is a callback method that runs at a defined point in the test life cycle, keeping that technical work out of the scenario. section 8.5.2 section 8.5.1
Choose the hook's timing to match the work:
- Before a scenario, prepare reference data or reset database state so the scenario can run independently of other scenarios. section 8.5.2
- After a scenario, clean up resources or use its name and status when logging the result. section 8.5.2
- Before or after the whole test run, start and stop resources that should be shared across scenarios. section 8.5.2
Run browser setup only where needed
Tag a browser-driven scenario @web. A matching Before hook creates its ChromeDriver, and a matching After hook closes it. Scenarios without that tag do not need the browser setup. section 8.5.2 section 7.4.7
Listing 8.21 Hook methods that only run for specific scenarios
WebDriver driver;
@Before("@web")
public void prepareDriver() { #1
driver = new ChromeDriver();
}
@After("@web") #2
public void closeBrowser() {
driver.quit();
}
The Java example pairs @Before("@web") and @After("@web") around browser use. section 8.5.2
Use a Background step instead when the setup is information business readers need, such as a flight-points schedule. Keep implementation-dependent housekeeping in hooks. Cucumber provides hook examples in Java and TypeScript; hook details vary across BDD tools. section 8.5.1 section 8.5.2
