NAME

       Test::BDD::Cucumber::Manual::Architecture - Structural Overview

VERSION

       version 0.53

INTRODUCTION

       This short document exists to give you an idea how the different components of this distribution fit
       together.

MODELS

       The core of a Cucumber-based test suite are the feature files and the step definitions files. By
       convention, these are saved under "/features/" and "/features/step_definitions/" respectively.

       The feature files are encapsulated by the classes in "Test::BDD::Cucumber::Model".

                         one to one
        TBCM::Feature<----------------->TBCM::Document
             |                               |
             +-------------------+           |
             | has many          | has a     | has many
             V                   |           V
        TBCM::Scenario           +----->TBCM::Line
             |                            ^  ^
             +----------------------------+  |
             | has many                      |
             V                               |
        TBCM::Step---------------------------+

EXECUTOR

       We build up a Test::BDD::Cucumber::Executor object, in to which we load the step definitions. We then
       pass this in a Test::BDD::Cucumber::Model::Feature object, along with a
       Test::BDD::Cucumber::Model::Harness object, which controls interaction with the outside world.

EXTENSION

       Extensions allow hooking into the execution of the steps, with pre- and post hooks for steps, scenarios,
       features and the entire execution. Extensions can provide additional step directories from which steps
       will be made available. The feature and scenario stashes are passed to the extension hooks allowing for a
       means of communication between the hooks and the steps.

       Extensions - when loaded by the pherkin test executor - receive their configuration from the pherkin.yaml
       configuration file, which works similar to the configuration of extensions in Behat
       <http://docs.behat.org/en/v2.5/guides/7.config.html#extensions>.

       Note: when using extensions in combination with the "TAP::Parser::SourceHandler::Feature" plugin for
       "prove", there is no guarantee that the "pre_execute" and "post_execute" hooks execute exactly once or
       even execute at all.  This is a current limitation to be lifted in a future release.

AUTHOR

       Peter Sergeant "pete@clueball.com"

LICENSE

       Copyright 2011-2016, Peter Sergeant; Licensed under the same terms as Perl