How to manage the step definition code that needs to be reused again & again - selenium

Question

My feature file contains a feature that needs to be reused by each and every step definition file again & again. How to manage the code
My feature is :-
"User is on home Page".
The above feature / scenario contains a code that needs to be reused again & again. In my code base , for every feature file i have written separate step definition.
My first step definition file :-
#Given ("^user is on HomePage$")
public void user_homePage()
{
configFileReader =new ConfigFileReader();
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver","D:\\chromedriver.exe");
driver=new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("https://parabank.parasoft.com/parabank/index.htm");
driver.manage().window().maximize();
}
Now the same feature needs to be used in another step definition file. i.e
here below
Before user clicks on 'Register' link , it should verify that user is on homePage. The description of 'User is on home page' is defined in first step definition file .
Now how to manage the code here :-
My Second Step definition file here below:-
import StepFiles.ParaBank_TC_01_Step; [ I have even imported first step definition file , so that feature "User is on home page" could be executed. ]
public class ParaBank_TC_02_Step {
public WebDriver driver;
ConfigFileReader configFileReader;
#When ("^user clicks on register link$")
public void click_register() throws InterruptedException
{
Thread.sleep(3000);
WebElement register_link= driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[contains(text(),'Register')]"));
register_link.click();
}
Actual Result :-
1. When i write all the step definition for 2 features files in one file , then it executes perfectly fine , because feature 'User is on home page' is defined in one same file.
As i write separate step definition for feature 2 in another java file. It shows me "Null pointer exception" error because on feature "User is on home page" > driver is initialised in 1 step def file . It isn't executing for second step definition file.
Please help me out in understanding the root cause of this issue & provide the best possible solution.

Answer 1

In order to share state between steps, you can use dependency injection (DI). Cucumber offers support for several DI frameworks. We recommend you use either the one your application already uses / you are familiar with (in my case, that is Spring). Otherwise, we recommend PicoContainer as the most lightweight option.
You can find a little more information about using DI in the Cucumber docs and the related code on GitHub.
For more information on using PicoContainer, see this blogpost.
To use Spring, please have a look at my blogpost.
To use Guice, have a look at this blogpost.
Sidenote:
Feature-coupled step definitions (defining the step definitions for each feature in a separate file, in a way so that they cannot be reused across features), is considered an anti-pattern, as "This may lead to an explosion of step definitions, code duplication, and high maintenance costs."
(from the Cucumber docs).
The solution is to decouple your step definitions:
"
* Organise your steps by domain concept.
Use domain-related names (rather than feature- or scenario-related names) for your step & step definition files."
(from the Cucumber docs).
In order to do so, you will need to use DI.

Answer 2

If you are interested to implement PicoContainer, please follow below steps for good understanding :
Step 1. OrderSelectionStepDef & OrderDetailsStepDef would look like below (please change name as per your implementation)
/**
* Step Definition implementation class for Cucumber Steps defined in Feature file
*/
public class HomePageSteps extends BaseSteps {
TestContext testContext;
public HomePageSteps(TestContext context) {
testContext = context;
}
#When("^User is on Brand Home Page (.+)$")
public void user_is_on_Brand_Home_Page(String siteName) throws InterruptedException {
homePage = new HomePage().launchBrandSite(siteName);
testContext.scenarioContext.setContext(Context.HOMEPAGE, homePage);
}
#Then("^Clicking on Sign In link shall take user to Sign In Page$")
public void clicking_on_Sign_In_link_shall_take_user_to_Sign_In_Page() {
homePage = (HomePage) testContext.scenarioContext.getContext(Context.HOMEPAGE);
signInPage = homePage.ecommSignInPageNavigation();
testContext.scenarioContext.setContext(Context.SIGNINPAGE, signInPage);
}
For your reference
public class BaseSteps {
protected HomePage homePage;
protected PLPPage plpPage;
protected PDPPage pdpPage;
protected ShoppingBagPage shoppingBagPage;
protected ShippingPage shippingPage;
More implementation goes here.....
}
Step 2. Please add below 2 Classes under your framework -
First, Java file name - ScenarioContext.java
public class ScenarioContext {
private Map<String, Object> scenarioContext;
public ScenarioContext(){
scenarioContext = new HashMap<String, Object>();
}
public void setContext(Context key, Object value) {
scenarioContext.put(key.toString(), value);
}
public Object getContext(Context key){
return scenarioContext.get(key.toString());
}
public Boolean isContains(Context key){
return scenarioContext.containsKey(key.toString());
}
}
Second, Java file name - TestContext.java
public class TestContext {
public ScenarioContext scenarioContext;
public TestContext(){
scenarioContext = new ScenarioContext();
}
public ScenarioContext getScenarioContext() {
return scenarioContext;
}
}
Step 3. POM Dependency - picocontainer shall be as per your cucumber version
<dependency>
<groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
<artifactId>cucumber-picocontainer</artifactId>
<version>${cucumber.version}</version>
</dependency>