Inherit one story from another

You can break most software down into a series of individual linear behavioral stories.

However, software stories naturally branch. In order to send an email or delete an email you must first always log in.

While it would be possible to write out each individual story for every possible branch, this would result in a story suite that is WET instead of DRY and that creates a maintenance headache.

Story inheritance allows you to base stories on other stories.

The base story given preconditions and parameters will be used while the child story given preconditions will override them.

The steps of the parent stories, if they have any steps, will be executed before the child story steps.

example.story:

Login:
  about: Simple log in.
  with:
    username: AzureDiamond
    password: hunter2
  given:
    url: /loginurl
  steps:
  - Fill form:
      username: (( username ))
      password: (( password ))
  - Click: login


Log in on another url:
  about: Alternate log in URL.
  based on: login
  given:
    url: /alternativeloginurl

Log in as president:
  about: For stories that involve Trump.
  based on: login
  with:
    username: DonaldTrump
    password: iamsosmrt

engine.py:

from hitchstory import BaseEngine, GivenDefinition, GivenProperty, about
from strictyaml import Map, Int, Str, Optional


class Engine(BaseEngine):
    given_definition = GivenDefinition(
        url=GivenProperty(schema=Str(), document="Load: {{ url }}"),
    )

    def set_up(self):
        print("visit {0}".format(self.given['url']))

    @about((
        "{% for name, value in textboxes.items() %}\n"
        "- Enter text '{{ value }}' in {{ name }}.\n"
        "{%- endfor %}\n"
    ))
    def fill_form(self, **textboxes):
        for name, text in sorted(textboxes.items()):
            print("with {0}".format(name))
            print("enter {0}".format(text))

    @about("* Click on {{ item }}")
    def click(self, item):
        print("clicked on {0}".format(item))

from engine import Engine
from hitchstory import StoryCollection
from pathquery import pathquery
from ensure import Ensure

collection = StoryCollection(pathquery(".").ext("story"), Engine())

Original story:

collection.named("Login").play()

Will output:

RUNNING Login in /path/to/example.story ... visit /loginurl
with password
enter hunter2
with username
enter AzureDiamond
clicked on login
SUCCESS in 0.1 seconds.

Override given:

collection.named("Log in on another url").play()

Will output:

RUNNING Log in on another url in /path/to/example.story ... visit /alternativeloginurl
with password
enter hunter2
with username
enter AzureDiamond
clicked on login
SUCCESS in 0.1 seconds.

Override parameters:

collection.named("Log in as president").play()

Will output:

RUNNING Log in as president in /path/to/example.story ... visit /loginurl
with password
enter iamsosmrt
with username
enter DonaldTrump
clicked on login
SUCCESS in 0.1 seconds.

Only children:

print('\n'.join([
    story.name for story in collection.only_uninherited().ordered_by_file()
]))

Will output:

Log in on another url
Log in as president

Executable specification

Documentation automatically generated from inheritance.story storytests.