Tagged Hooks in Cucumber

  

What are Tagged Hooks in Cucumber?

Tagged Hooks in Cucumber are special types of hooks (@Before, @After) that run only for scenarios with specific tags. This allows for fine-grained control over the setup and teardown of tests based on the tags assigned to scenarios or features.

Instead of running a hook before/after every scenario (as general hooks do), tagged hooks run only when the tag matches.

Why Use Tagged Hooks?

• Run different setup/teardown for different scenario groups (like @Smoke, @Regression, etc.)

• Optimize test execution time

• Avoid unnecessary setup for unrelated tests

Syntax of Tagged Hooks

@Before("@Smoke")
public void beforeSmokeTests() {
    // Code to run before scenarios tagged with @Smoke
}

@After("@Regression")
public void afterRegressionTests() {
    // Code to run after scenarios tagged with @Regression
}

Example Code

Feature File – login.feature

@Smoke
Feature: Login Feature

  @Smoke
  Scenario: Valid Login
    Given User is on login page
    When User enters valid credentials
    Then User should be navigated to the homepage

  @Regression
  Scenario: Invalid Login
    Given User is on login page
    When User enters invalid credentials
    Then User should see an error message

Step Definition Class – LoginSteps.java




package stepDefinitions;

import io.cucumber.java.en.*;

public class LoginSteps {

    @Given("User is on login page")
    public void user_is_on_login_page() {
        System.out.println("User navigates to login page");
    }

    @When("User enters valid credentials")
    public void user_enters_valid_credentials() {
        System.out.println("User enters correct username and password");
    }

    @When("User enters invalid credentials")
    public void user_enters_invalid_credentials() {
        System.out.println("User enters wrong username and password");
    }

    @Then("User should be navigated to the homepage")
    public void user_should_be_navigated_to_the_homepage() {
        System.out.println("User is redirected to the homepage");
    }

    @Then("User should see an error message")
    public void user_should_see_an_error_message() {
        System.out.println("Error message is displayed");
    }
}

Hooks Class – Hooks.java




package stepDefinitions;

import io.cucumber.java.Before;
import io.cucumber.java.After;

public class Hooks {

    @Before("@Smoke")
    public void setupForSmoke() {
        System.out.println("Setting up SMOKE environment...");
    }

    @After("@Smoke")
    public void tearDownForSmoke() {
        System.out.println("Tearing down SMOKE environment...");
    }

    @Before("@Regression")
    public void setupForRegression() {
        System.out.println("Setting up REGRESSION environment...");
    }

    @After("@Regression")
    public void tearDownForRegression() {
        System.out.println("Tearing down REGRESSION environment...");
    }
}

Output When Running Scenarios

If you run the @Smoke scenario, output will be:

Setting up SMOKE environment...
User navigates to login page
User enters correct username and password
User is redirected to the homepage
Tearing down SMOKE environment...

If you run the @Regression scenario, output will be:

Setting up REGRESSION environment...
User navigates to login page
User enters wrong username and password
Error message is displayed
Tearing down REGRESSION environment...