SpecFlow is Dead

Anushree Chatterjee

2024 ended with a bang for SpecFlow users – Tricentis has put an end to their support for SpecFlow. They decided to stop complete support for this tool from 31st December 2024.

This bombshell might be detrimental to you if you are one of those who relied on SpecFlow to automate BDD (Behavior-Driven Development) testing. While it may seem bleak at the moment, having to run around to find a solution to this problem, let’s take a pause and figure out a solution together.

But before we get to the good part, there are some harsh truths you need to know about your SpecFlow BDD implementation.

SpecFlow Restricts BDD

If you’ve correlated BDD with Gherkin (Given-When-Then syntax), then you’ve not understood BDD properly. The aim of BDD is to make development and testing revolve around the needs of the user, that is, focus on the behavior of the application. But with tools like SpecFlow, this is what ends up happening:

• You end up building the behavior (test case) around the tool or syntax, but it should be the other way around. The tool should provide you with ways to incorporate behavior testing.
• The Gherkin syntax becomes restrictive when crafting test cases for complex behaviors.
• There’s a middleman involved—the one who writes the code to implement the Gherkin statements. This means that the stakeholders who actually know the application’s behavior, the non-technical folks, cannot freely participate in the QA process.
• You end up jumping through hoops to make simple operations happen. You have to set up the tool, create the feature file, and prepare step definitions before getting to test execution.

But that’s not all. The SpecFlow tool itself has other limitations.

Shortcomings of the SpecFlow Tool

SpecFlow served as an open-source tool for automating BDD testing for years. Though it is used by many, it came with its own shortcomings.

• Limited to .NET Frameworks: Since SpecFlow is built specifically for .NET, it is not suitable for projects using other programming languages or frameworks. This makes it less versatile compared to some other BDD tools that support multiple languages.
• Complexity for Beginners: For those new to BDD or test automation, setting up and using SpecFlow can be a bit overwhelming. It requires understanding Gherkin syntax (used to write tests) and how to map those steps to code in the underlying framework, which can be tough for non-developers.
• Slow Test Execution: SpecFlow tests can sometimes run slower compared to other testing frameworks, especially when there are many tests or large test suites. This is because BDD tests tend to be more verbose and involve several layers (such as translating Gherkin steps into executable code), which can impact performance.
• Verbose Syntax: Since Gherkin syntax is meant to be human-readable, it can sometimes become too verbose or hard to maintain, especially for large projects. Writing and updating feature files can take up a lot of time when the scenarios grow in size.
• Integration Issues: SpecFlow works well within the .NET ecosystem, but integrating it with other tools or platforms (like third-party CI/CD pipelines or external test management systems) may require additional setup or workarounds, which makes the integration process a bit clunky.
• Test Fragility: SpecFlow test cases are quite prone to failing due to the slightest changes in the application under test. This causes a lot of test maintenance and prevents testers from working on newer avenues.

Better BDD Testing with testRigor

To make BDD testing effective, you need a tool that is

• Not held back by Gherkin, or any programming language for that matter.
• Does not require you to integrate with too many libraries or tools to write test cases
• Offers an easy-to-use interface and bare minimal setup steps

You can check all these boxes and get a lot more with testRigor. This is a powerful, generative AI-based test automation tool that will let you take QA to the next level.

The simplest way to create test cases

While SpecFlow tied you to Gherkin, testRigor breaks free from those shackles and lets you write test cases using simple English statements. This means that your non-technical team members and manual testers are free to participate in any capacity in QA. Here are the ways in which testRigor lets you create test cases:

• Use plain English statements to write test cases
• Let the generative AI feature create test cases for you
• Record a test execution and save it as simple English statements
• Use the Live mode to create test cases in real-time

Read more about this over here – All-Inclusive Guide to Test Case Creation in testRigor

Do BDD and much more

Since test creation is so easy, you can capture system behavior easily. However, testRigor lets you take BDD a step further – BDD 2.0 or SDD (Specification-Driven Development). In fact, you can use this tool to speed up testing for any other methodology like Agile or ATDD.

One tool for testing it all

A tool as powerful as testRigor lets you write a variety of test cases. You can perform

• Functional testing
• End-to-end testing
• UI testing
• API testing
• Regression testing
• Basic database testing

You can test across multiple platforms and browsers like:

• Websites
• Native and hybrid mobile apps
• Native desktop apps

Cover a variety of use cases using advanced features like:

• Reusable Rules (Subroutines): You can easily create functions for the test steps that you use repeatedly. You can use the Reusable Rules to create such functions and call them in test cases by simply writing their names. See the example of Reusable Rules.
• Global Variables and Data Sets: You can import data from external files or create your own global variables and data sets in testRigor to use them in data-driven testing.
• 2FA, QR Code, and Captcha Resolution: testRigor easily manages the 2FA, QR Code, and Captcha resolution through its simple English commands.
• Email, Phone Call, and SMS Testing: Use simple English commands to test the email, phone calls, and SMS. These commands are useful for validating 2FA scenarios, with OTPs and authentication codes being sent to email, phone calls, or via phone text.
• File Upload/ Download Testing: Execute the test steps involving file download or file upload without the requirement of any third-party software. You can also validate the contents of the files using testRigor’s simple English commands.
• Adapts to UI and Requirement Changes: If there is any change in the functionality, testRigor can perform AI-based self-healing so that the test scripts will also be automatically updated.

Integrate easily with other tools

While testRigor is a wholesome solution, you can still integrate this tool with other solutions to build a testing ecosystem. Integrate testRigor with CI/CD tools for continuous testing or test case management tools. Here are all the integrations testRigor supports – testRigor integrations

Negligible test maintenance

testRigor’s AI usage isn’t limited to just easy test creation. This tool guarantees the bare minimum of test maintenance efforts. This is because testRigor does not rely on the implementation details of UI elements to interact with them. This sets it apart from SpecFlow and the rest. So, small UI changes, or XPath or CSS changes, do not derail test execution in testRigor. Read more about it over here – Decrease Test Maintenance Time by 99.5% with testRigor

This is just the tip of the iceberg. You can do a lot more with this intelligent, AI-powered tool. Read the full feature list over here – testRigor’s offerings.

What About Existing SpecFlow Test Cases?

This should be the least of your worries!

Let testRigor do everything for you!

First of all, if you loved testRigor but still feel overwhelmed by the thought of migrating to a new tool, don’t worry. We offer free-of-charge test case migration from SpecFlow to testRigor. Can it get easier and more cost-effective than this?

But if you wish to do it yourself then testRigor has many smart features that will let you take care of this. Here’s how:

Import from test management tools

testRigor supports importing test cases from popular test management tools like TestRail and Azure DevOps. You can simply follow the instructions and, with a few clicks, get your entire test repository within testRigor. How do we make them work? The next two points will explain that.

AI-based reusable rules

Writing test cases in testRigor is like writing manual test cases because of the plain English language format. However, there may be instances where the statement might be a bit more complex, like “Go to Dashboard” or “Fill the signup form”. In such cases, testRigor offers some helpful solutions – reusable rules. These are equivalent to SpecFlow’s step definitions that can be reused across test cases. For example, you can create a reusable rule for the statement “Go to Dashboard” that tells testRigor how to navigate to this dashboard. These statements are also written in plain English. This rule can now be used across your test suite. Here’s a demo of using reusable rules – How to use reusable rules or subroutines in testRigor?

testRigor further simplifies the process of creating reusable rules by letting you use AI for it. All you need to do is write a descriptive name for the rule, and then testRigor auto-generates the steps in plain English for you. You can always edit these steps to your liking.

Thus, if you’ve migrated a whole lot of manual test cases into testRigor, use AI-based rules to create corresponding test cases for them. This significantly speeds up the process as you now have a head start and just need to fine-tune the rules. Here’s a demo of using AI-based reusable rules – How to create AI-based reusable rules using testRigor?

Generative AI test cases

Reusable rules are great for automating statements within your test case. But what if you need testRigor to create an entire test case for you? There’s provision for that as well – use testRigor’s generative AI test creation feature. All you need to do is provide a comprehensive test case description. This acts as the prompt that testRigor will use to generate the test case for you. You can then fine-tune the test case as per your requirements.

Conclusion

With Tricentis pulling the plug on SpecFlow, teams relying on it for BDD testing are left at a crossroad. While the transition might seem overwhelming, it’s actually an opportunity to break free from the limitations of SpecFlow and embrace a more efficient, AI-powered approach to test automation.

testRigor offers a future-proof alternative that not only simplifies test creation but also enhances collaboration between technical and non-technical teams. The best part? Migrating from SpecFlow to testRigor is seamless, fully supported, and free. If you’re looking for a smarter, more scalable approach to BDD and beyond, now is the time to make the switch.

“We spent so much time on maintenance when using Selenium, and we spend nearly zero time with maintenance using testRigor.”

Keith Powe VP Of Engineering - IDT