Comprehensive Guide to Using Cucumber‑JVM for Android SDK Automated Testing

Preface

Recently our automation testing project for an advertising SDK required a new execution plan and framework optimization, so we recorded the problems encountered and their solutions.

Introduce Cucumber‑JVM framework

Multi‑port distribution with Anyproxy

Appium multi‑port device startup

Distributed execution and task dispatch in Cucumber

Maven configuration issues

Pipeline integration of Cucumber

About Cucumber‑JVM

Project Background

The automation solution targets an Android SDK; we chose a Java‑based BDD framework (Cucumber‑JVM) because the team is familiar with Java and the Gherkin natural‑language format helps describe complex SDK tracking fields.

Features of Cucumber‑JVM

Cucumber supports Behaviour‑Driven Development (BDD) and parses .feature and .txt files using the Gherkin language.

Implemented in Ruby, it can run scripts written in Java, .NET, Python, etc.

Supports more than 30 languages for textual descriptions.

Integrates easily with TestNG, Selenium, Spring, Ruby on Rails and other mainstream test frameworks.

Our SDK project uses the Java implementation: Cucumber‑JVM.

Cucumber‑JVM Keywords

The core syntax is provided by Gherkin; each non‑empty line must start with a reserved keyword.

Feature

Scenario

Given, When, Then, And, But

Background

Scenario Outline

Examples

Additional keywords include """ (doc strings), | (table separator), @ (tags) and # (comments).

Feature

A .feature file contains a collection of scenarios. It has three basic elements: the Feature: keyword, a name on the same line, and an optional multi‑line description.

Feature: this is a feature
# detailed description of the feature file
I am a description, blablabla...

Scenario: just a demo
  Given the cow weighs 450 kg
  When we calculate the feeding requirements

Scenario

A scenario is a concrete test case consisting of steps. Recommended 3‑5 steps per scenario to keep it readable.

Initialize context

Describe the process

Describe the expected outcome

Given

Describes preconditions such as data preparation or environment setup.

When

Describes an event or action.

Then

Describes the expected result or assertion.

Background

Executed before every scenario in the feature file; typically used for common initialization (e.g., clearing browser cache, uninstalling previous app).

Scenario Outline

Used when many scenarios share the same steps but differ in input/output values.

Scenario Outline: login example
  Given open
login page
  When input username
And input password
, click login
  Then successfully enter
page

Examples:
| page | username | password | result |
| 奇虎 | test1    | 123456   | 奇虎欢迎你 |
| 百度 | test2    | 123456   | 百度欢迎你 |

Step Implementation

Each scenario step must have a corresponding Java method annotated with the matching Gherkin pattern.

# Scenario description
Scenario: This is a testcase
  Given I have 10 dollor in my wallet

@Given("I have (\\d+) dollor in my wallet")
public void I_have_dollor_in_my_wallet(int money){
    System.out.println(String.format("money: %n", money));
}

Parameters can be captured as integers, strings, booleans, lists, or data tables using regular expressions.

@Given("I have \"([^\"]*)\" dollor in my wallet")
public void I_have_dollor_in_my_wallet(String money){
    // implementation
}

@Then("^返回检查结果为 (true|false)$")
public void verify(boolean expected){
    // implementation
}

Tag Usage

Tags allow selective execution of scenarios, e.g., by ad platform, device manufacturer, or ad type.

@360
Feature: this is a feature
  # detailed description
  @native
  Scenario: just a demo
    Given the cow weighs 450 kg
    When we calculate the feeding requirements

  @video
  Scenario: another demo
    Given the cow weighs 450 kg
    When we calculate the feeding requirements

Run only native ads:

java cucumber.api.cli.Main --tags @native your_features

Run everything except native ads:

java cucumber.api.cli.Main --tags ~@native your_features

Running Tests by Line Number or Scenario Name

Execute specific lines:

java cucumber.api.cli.Main E:/codes/cucumber/demo/src/test/features/first_example.feature:12:21

Execute by scenario name:

java cucumber.api.cli.Main --name "这是一个原生广告请求有table的例子" features

Installation and Examples

Method 1: Maven Project

Initialize environment (install Maven, create directory, run mvn archetype:generate ).

Add Cucumber‑JVM dependencies to pom.xml .

Execute feature files using command line:

# Simple command
java -cp "./jars/*;." cucumber.api.cli.Main -d path/features/test.feature
# Pretty output
java -cp "./jars/*;." cucumber.api.cli.Main -p pretty features -g step_definitions
# HTML report
java -cp "./jars/*;." cucumber.api.cli.Main -p html:output features -g step_definitions

Method 2: IDEA Project

Install IDEA, configure Java and Maven, install the Cucumber‑JVM plugin, create a .feature file (keywords are highlighted), add step definition classes, and run via IDEA configuration.

Reference: https://skyao.gitbooks.io/learning-cucumber/content/practice/pass_parameters.html https://docs.cucumber.io/