Creating common test data for multiple feature files - karate

Question

My requirement is as follows:
I have a couple of .feature files. I want to create test data that would be common to all of these feature files. Once the test data is created the scenarios will be run from the feature files.
I also want some info back after the test data is created. eg., ids of the data that i have created. So i can use this info to call the api's, add in payloads in my scenarios.
I think we could do this by:
1. Creating a junit java file. I define a static method with #BeforeClass in there and use Karate's runner() to run my create-test-data.feature file (I can use Karate to hit application api to create some data). I define a property in my java class of type Object and set it with the result of Runner.runFeature().
Then I create a separate feature file test-data-details.feature. I define my Java Interop code here. eg.,
def test_data =
"""
var JavaOutput = Java.type('com.mycompany.JavaFile');
var testData = JavaOutput.propertyName;
"""
Now that I have my test data object in my test-data-details.feature file. I call this .feature file (callonce) in the Background section of my feature files that have test scenarios in. So I can retries the test data details like id, name. etc that I can then use in the api request paths and payloads.
I am not sure if the above design is the correct way to go ahead. I tried but getting some issues in my Java file where getClass() below complains that it cannot be used in static method.
#RunWith(Karate.class)
public class AccountRunner {
public static Object job = null;
#BeforeClass
public static void create_job(){
Map<String, Object> result = Runner.runFeature(getClass(), "test-data.feature", null, true);
job = result.get("job");
}
}
Now all of the above can be totally wrong. Need help on how to tackle this scenario in Karate.
Thanks

Answer 1

From your question I understand you have a common test data feature file, which you want to run before all the test and hold that response in a variable that can be used in all of the test features.
You can also achieve this in karate-config.js using karate.callSingle()
In your karate-config.js
config["testdata"] = karate.callSingle("test-data.feature")
Your test-data.feature will be executed once before all the tests and store the response in testdata you can use this variable directly in your feature.

Answer 2

So i have implemented the following design:
I have created two methods one with BeforeClass and other with AfterClass annotation in my TestRunner.java file. In these methods I am able to call the specific data creation and clean-up feature files and pass args as Json object.
#RunWith(Karate.class)
#KarateOptions(tags = {"~#ignore"})
public class AccountRunner {
public static Map<String, Object> result = null;
#BeforeClass
public static void create_job() throws IOException, ParseException {
Class clazz = AccountRunner.class;
URL file_loc = clazz.getResource("create-test-data-1.json");
File file = new File(file_loc.getFile());
JSONParser parser = new JSONParser();
Object obj = parser.parse(new FileReader(file));
JSONObject jsonObject = (JSONObject) obj;
Map<String, Object> args = new HashMap();
args.put("payload", jsonObject);
result = Runner.runFeature(CommonFeatures.class, "create-data.feature", args, true);
}
#AfterClass
public static void delete_investigation() {
Map<String, Object> args = new HashMap();
args.put("payload", result);
Runner.runFeature(CommonFeatures.class, "delete-job.feature", args, true);
}
}
To run these tests via command line using "mvn test" command, i have done following changes in pom.xml.
`<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.0.0-M3</version>
<configuration>
<includes>
<include>**/*Runner.java</include>
</includes>
</configuration>
</plugin>`
With this solution I able to run my tests in IDE by executing the runner directly or by command line. However, I have not found a way to run all of my tests by following the karate suggested approach where I have a *Test.java file at test suite level and I use default maven configuration with "mvn test". The features fails to run as the .feature file is called before the Runner file is executed which has method to create test data for tests.
Maybe someone can suggest what else, I could do to use Karate approach of running *Test.java file instead of each *Runner.java file.