Cucumber hooks are powerful features that allow you to execute blocks of code before or after scenarios (or even steps).
"Tagged hooks" take this a step further by letting you specify that a particular hook should only run for scenarios that have a specific tag (or combination of tags).
This is incredibly useful for managing setup and teardown logic that isn't universally applicable to all your tests.
In Cucumber, hooks like @Before and @After can be:
- Global Hooks – execute before/after every scenario
- Tagged Hooks – execute only for scenarios with a specific tag (e.g.,
@Before("@setcookies"))
- @Before: Runs before each scenario.
- @After: Runs after each scenario (even if the scenario fails).
- @BeforeStep: Runs before each individual step within a scenario.
- @AfterStep: Runs after each individual step within a scenario.
These hooks are typically used for:
Setup: Initializing web drivers, setting up database connections, preparing test data, navigating to a default page, setting browser cookies.
Teardown: Quitting web drivers, closing database connections, clearing test data/cookies, logging out of an application, taking screenshots for failed/passed scenarios, generating reports.
Why use Tagged Hooks?
By default, @Before and @After hooks run for every scenario. However, in many real-world test suites, different scenarios have different prerequisites or cleanup requirements. This is where tagged hooks become essential.
Imagine you have:
Scenarios that require a database connection (
@database_test).Scenarios that involve UI automation (
@ui_test).Scenarios that need specific user roles (
@admin_user,@guest_user).
Feature: Tagged Hooks Checking
@ui_test
Scenario: User logs in successfully
Given I am on the login page
When I enter valid credentials
Then I should be logged in
@api_test
Scenario: Create a new user via API
Given a user creation payload
When I send a POST request to the /users endpoint
Then the user should be created successfully
===================================================
package Steps;
import io.cucumber.java.After;
import io.cucumber.java.Before;
import io.cucumber.java.Scenario; // Useful for getting scenario information
public class Hooks {
// This hook runs before any scenario tagged with @ui_test
@Before("@ui_test")
public void setupBrowser() {
System.out.println("Setting up browser for UI test...");
// Initialize WebDriver (e.g., ChromeDriver, FirefoxDriver)
}
// This hook runs after any scenario tagged with @ui_test
@After("@ui_test")
public void tearDownBrowser(Scenario scenario) {
System.out.println("Tearing down browser after UI test...");
// Close WebDriver
if (scenario.isFailed()) {
// Take a screenshot if the UI test failed
System.out.println("Taking screenshot for failed UI test: " + scenario.getName());
}
}
// This hook runs before any scenario tagged with @api_test
@Before("@api_test")
public void setupApiEnvironment() {
System.out.println("Setting up API environment...");
// e.g., Set base URI, configure HTTP client
}
// This hook runs after any scenario tagged with @api_test
@After("@api_test")
public void cleanupApiData() {
System.out.println("Cleaning up API data...");
// e.g., Delete created resources
}
}
===================================================
package testRunner;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
import io.cucumber.junit.Cucumber;
import io.cucumber.junit.CucumberOptions;
@RunWith(Cucumber.class)
@CucumberOptions(
features = {"src/test/java/Features"},
glue = {"Steps"},
tags = "@ui_test or @api_test",
monochrome = true
)
public class ParameterRunner {
}
Setting up browser for UI test...
Tearing down browser after UI test...
Setting up API environment...
Cleaning up API data...
===================================================
