Data Tables

Datatables are tables attached to a gherkin step

Given a step with a table
    | name | age |
    | John | 24  |

If one is defined, it will always be the second to last argument passed to a step definition callback function. If there are no cucumber expression arguments, it will be the first argument.

This library includes extended handling of data tables inspired by the Java Implementation

Tables can be defined with multiple different structual formats. By default, tables will be converted to HTable, for....

Horizontal Table

class: HTable

The horizontal table assumes that the first row of the table structure is a list of headings or titles that describe the purpose of the column below it.

Given a step with a table
    | name | age |
    | John | 24  |
    | Bill | 25  |

The HTable accesses data using this header.

Given("a table", (table: HTable) => {
  expect(table.get("name")).toEqual(["John", "Bill"]);
  expect(table.get("name", 0)).toEqual("John");
  expect(table.get("age")).toEqual([24, 25]);
  expect(table.get("age", 0)).toEqual(24);
});

Vertical Table

class: VTable

The vertical table assumes that the first column of the table structure is a list of headings or titles that describe the purpose of the row to the right of it.

Given a step with a table
    | name | John | Bill |
    | age  | 24   | 25   |

The VTable accesses data using this header.

Given("a table", (table: VTable) => {
  expect(table.get("name")).toEqual(["John", "Bill"]);
  expect(table.get("name", 0)).toEqual("John");
  expect(table.get("age")).toEqual([24, 25]);
  expect(table.get("age", 0)).toEqual(24);
});

tip

By default all tables will be converted to HTable. This can be overwritten in autometa.config.ts, or configured on a step by step bases. Taking the above step as an example, to tell Autometa that we want to use a VTable specifically for this step, we pass the VTable class prototype as the third step definition argument:

Given(
  "a table",
  (table: VTable) => {
    expect(table.get("name")).toEqual(["John", "Bill"]);
    expect(table.get("name", 0)).toEqual("John");
    expect(table.get("age")).toEqual([24, 25]);
    expect(table.get("age", 0)).toEqual(24);
  },
  VTable
);

This step will now be constructed with a VTable.

Matrix Table

class: MTable

The matrix table is similar to a HTable and a VTable at the same time. It assumes the first row is a list of titles for the columns below it, while the first colum is a list of titles for the row cells to the right of it. A cell is then an intersection of these two values.

The first cell (0,0) is discarded and ignored. You may use it to hold metatext about the table such as it's axis

Given a step with a table
    | size/color | large | small   |
    | blue       | ocean | gumball |
    | green      | hill  | grass   |

The HTable accesses data using this header.

Given("a table", (table: MTable) => {
  expect(table.get("blue", "large")).toEqual("ocean");
  expect(table.get("green", "small")).toEqual("grass");
});

List Table

class: ListTable

A list table assumes there are no special rows or columns which act as headers. Effectively a wrapper over a string[][].

Type Casting

Autometa will attempt to parse table values into javascript primitives if they are applicable. Currently supported are boolean and number.

That is to say, if a table cell contains the string 2, it will be cast to an number. Likewise true will be a bool. This does not apply if they are surrounded by quotation marks, i.e "2" will not parse to a number.