SpecSalad
Writing SpecFlow specifications without writing step definitions

A C# dot net 4.0 implementation for Spec Flow of the cucumber add on CukeSalad
by Antony Marcano and Riverglide.com

SpecSalad allows the developer write SpecFlow specifications without having to write step definitions avoiding the problems
of large step definition files which are hard to maintain and navigate through, instead the idea of tasks, something that 
can be done, and roles some who does tasks, splits the implementation into manageable chunks, making them easy to maintain and
navigate.

Installation
SpecSalad is available as a Nuget package which installs all the required dependencies (SpecFlow and NUnit) and 
inserts the assembly reference into the app config file of the test project.

It can be installed manually by compiling the production source, adding a reference to the SpecSalad, SpecFlow, NUnit and 
adding the following lines to the app config file created by SpecFlow

    <stepAssemblies>
      <stepAssembly assembly="SpecSalad" />
    </stepAssemblies>


Using SpecSalad
SpecSalad uses a subset of the Gurkin language to parse the feature text, items in <> are mandatory, items in [] are optional

	Given <I am | you are> a <role name>
		
		All SpecSalad scenarios start with a given that defines the role for that scenario for example			
			Given I am a SpecSalad developer
			Given you are a SpecSalad developer
	
	<And> <I | you> <attempt to | was able to | were able to | did> <task name>[: | ,] [single value][name value 'pairs']
		
		This allows for one or more tasks to be called in order to setup the environment for the scenario
			And I attempt to start the calculator
			And I attempt to add the number: 1
			And I attempt to add the number: first number '1'
			And I attempt to add the numbers: first number '1' second number '2' third number '3'
		
	<When | And> <I | you> <attempt to | was able to | were able to | did> <task name>[:] [single value][name value pairs [,]]

		As above this allows for one or more tasks to be called, the syntax is exactly the same as the above And step
			When I did add numbers together: first number '1' second number '2'
			And I attempt to subtract the numbers: first number '2' second number '1'

	<Then | And> <I | you> should <task name> '<expected answer>'
	
		Asserts that the task name returns the expected answer using the Assert.Equals comparison function
			Then I should see the result '5'

	<Then | And> <I | you> should <task name> that includes: <expected content>
	
		Asserts that the task returns a collection that contains the expected content item using the Assert.Contains
		comparison function
			Then I should see on the screen text that includes: Hello World

	<Then | And> <I | you> should <task name>:

		This doesn't carry out any assert, but expects the task to do some custom comparison
			Then I should compare text

for scenarios with multiple roles an additional syntax for each of the steps that allows the developer to specify the role that 
is to perform that step is available, these steps are identical to the above with the addition of a role name.
	
	<Given | And> there is a <role name>

	<When | And> the <role name> <attempts to | was able to | were able to | did> <task name>[:] [single value][name value pairs [,]]

	<Then | And> the <role name> should <task name> '<expected answer>'
	 
	<Than | And> the <role name> should <task name> that includes: <expected content>

	<Than | And> the <role name> should <task name>

If multiple roles are defined in the scenario, and a step without a defined role is called then the first role defined in the scenario
is used by default.

Task	
To define a task, the class must inherit from the ApplicationTask base class, this base class provides the following
additional functionality.

	Perform_Task:
		This method must be overridden, it is here that the role is called to carry out the specific task

	Role
		provides access to the current scenario role
	
	Details
		This object contains all the parameters provided in the scenario step, there are two methods for extracting the
		stored data
			Value()        - returns the first data items value
			Value_Of(key)  - returns the value of the given key
	
Role
	To define a role, the class must inherit from ApplicationRole, this base class provides the following additional 
	functionality.

		StoreValue(key, value) - stores for the duration of the scenario a value with a given key
		Retrieve(key)          - returns a previously stored value