Action groups

In the MFTF, you can re-use a group of actions, such as logging in as an administrator or a customer, declared in an XML file when you need to perform the same sequence of actions multiple times.

The following diagram shows the structure of an MFTF action group:

Principles

The following conventions apply to MFTF action groups:

• All action groups are declared in XML files and stored in the <module>/ActionGroup/ directory.
• Every file name ends with ActionGroup, such as LoginToAdminActionGroup.

The XML format for the actionGroups declaration is:

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<actionGroups xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:mftf:Test/etc/actionGroupSchema.xsd">
    <actionGroup name="">
        <arguments>
            <argument name=""/>
            <argument name="" defaultValue=""/>
            <argument name="" defaultValue="" type=""/>
        </arguments>
    </actionGroup>
</actionGroups>

Example

These examples build a declaration for a group of actions that grant authorization to the Admin area, and use the declaration in a test.

The Backend/ActionGroup/LoginToAdminActionGroup.xml <actionGroup> relates to the functionality of the Backend module. In test, the name and identifier of the <actionGroup> is used as a reference in the ref parameter, such as ref="LoginToAdminActionGroup".

Create an action group declaration

To create the <actionGroup> declaration:

1. Begin with a Backend/ActionGroup/LoginToAdminActionGroup.xml template for the <actionGroup>:

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    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   
    <actionGroups xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
            xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:mftf:Test/etc/actionGroupSchema.xsd">
        <actionGroup name="LoginToAdminActionGroup">
    ...
        </actionGroup>
    </actionGroups>
   

1. Add actions to the actionGroup arguments:

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    <actionGroup name="LoginToAdminActionGroup">
        <fillField stepKey="fillUsername" selector="#username" userInput="{{adminUser.username}}" />
        <fillField stepKey="fillPassword" selector="#password" userInput="{{adminUser.password}}" />
        <click stepKey="click" selector="#login" />
    </actionGroup>
   

2. The userInput variable must contain a data value for test. Add a default data value for the variable to use in the most common cases. For this example, the default value is _defaultAdmin.

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    <argument name="adminUser" defaultValue="_defaultAdmin"/>
   

3. The following example shows the complete declaration:

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    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   
    <actionGroups xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
            xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:mftf:Test/etc/actionGroupSchema.xsd">
        <actionGroup name="LoginToAdminActionGroup">
            <arguments>
                <argument name="adminUser" defaultValue="_defaultAdmin"/>
            </arguments>
            <fillField stepKey="fillUsername" selector="#username" userInput="{{adminUser.username}}" />
            <fillField stepKey="fillPassword" selector="#password" userInput="{{adminUser.password}}" />
            <click stepKey="click" selector="#login" />
        </actionGroup>
    </actionGroups>
   

Use the declaration in a test

In this test example, we want to add the following set of actions:

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<fillField stepKey="fillUsername" selector="#username" userInput="{{CustomAdminUser.username}}" />
<fillField stepKey="fillPassword" selector="#password" userInput="{{CustomAdminUser.password}}" />
<click stepKey="click" selector="#login" />

Instead of adding this set of actions, use the LoginToAdminActionGroup <actionGroup> declaration in tests:

1. Reference the LoginToAdminActionGroup action group:

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    <actionGroup stepKey="loginToAdminPanel" ref="LoginToAdminActionGroup"/>
   

2. Update the argument name/value pair to adminUser and CustomAdminUser:

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    <actionGroup stepKey="loginToAdminPanel" ref="LoginToAdminActionGroup">
        <argument name="adminUser" value="CustomAdminUser"/>
    </actionGroup>
   

Data type usage

By default, an argument expects an entire entity when the type value is not defined. There are cases when you use a string instead of a whole entity.

For example, the following defines the replacement argument relevantString using a primitive data type:

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<actionGroup name="fillExample">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="relevantString" defaultValue="defaultString" type="string"/>
    </arguments>
    <fillField stepKey="fillField1" selector="#input" userInput="{{relevantString}}"/>
    <click stepKey="clickSave" selector="#save"/>
    <see stepKey="seeItWorked" selector="#outputArea" userInput="{{relevantString}}"/>
    <click stepKey="clickParameterizedSelector" selector="{{SomeSection.parameterizedElement(relevantString)}}"/>
</actionGroup>

The string argument type provides a method to pass a single piece of data to the <actionGroup>during a test instead of passing an entire entity.

Explicitly define the argument value

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<actionGroup stepKey="fillWithStringLiteral" ref="fillExample">
    <argument name="relevantString" value="overrideString"/>
</actionGroup>

Use persisted data references to define the argument value

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<actionGroup stepKey="fillWithStringLiteral" ref="fillExample">
    <argument name="relevantString" value="$persistedData.field1$"/>
</actionGroup>

The relevantString argument value points to the data created in the stepKey="persistedData" test step. field1 is a data key of the required data string. Even with the persistedData data entity, the MFTF interprets the $persistedData.field1$ value as a string.

Define the argument value based on data entity resolution

The argument value points to a piece of data defined in a data.xml file. The field1 data contains the required string. MFTF resolves {{myCustomEntity.field1}} the same as it would in a selector or userInput attribute.

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<actionGroup stepKey="fillWithXmlData" ref="fillExample">
    <argument name="relevantString" value="{{myCustomEntity.field1}}"/>
</actionGroup>

Optimizing action group structures

Structuring properly an action group increases code reusability and readability.

Starting with an action group such as:

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<actionGroup name="CreateCategory">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="categoryEntity" defaultValue="_defaultCategory"/>
    </arguments>
    <seeInCurrentUrl url="{{AdminCategoryPage.url}}" stepKey="seeOnCategoryPage"/>
    <click selector="{{AdminCategorySidebarActionSection.AddSubcategoryButton}}" stepKey="clickOnAddSubCategory"/>
    <see selector="{{AdminHeaderSection.pageTitle}}" userInput="New Category" stepKey="seeCategoryPageTitle"/>
    <fillField selector="{{AdminCategoryBasicFieldSection.CategoryNameInput}}" userInput="{{categoryEntity.name}}" stepKey="enterCategoryName"/>
    <click selector="{{AdminCategorySEOSection.SectionHeader}}" stepKey="openSEO"/>
    <fillField selector="{{AdminCategorySEOSection.UrlKeyInput}}" userInput="{{categoryEntity.name_lwr}}" stepKey="enterURLKey"/>
    <click selector="{{AdminCategoryMainActionsSection.SaveButton}}" stepKey="saveCategory"/>
    <seeElement selector="{{AdminCategoryMessagesSection.SuccessMessage}}" stepKey="assertSuccess"/>
    <seeInTitle userInput="{{categoryEntity.name}}" stepKey="seeNewCategoryPageTitle"/>
    <seeElement selector="{{AdminCategorySidebarTreeSection.categoryInTree(categoryEntity.name)}}" stepKey="seeCategoryInTree"/>
</actionGroup>

It can be reworked into more manageable pieces, as below. These smaller steps are easier to read, update, and reuse.

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<actionGroup name="GoToCategoryGridAndAddNewCategory">
    <seeInCurrentUrl url="{{AdminCategoryPage.url}}" stepKey="seeOnCategoryPage"/>
    <click selector="{{AdminCategorySidebarActionSection.AddSubcategoryButton}}" stepKey="clickOnAddSubCategory"/>
    <see selector="{{AdminHeaderSection.pageTitle}}" userInput="New Category" stepKey="seeCategoryPageTitle"/>
</actionGroup>

<actionGroup name="FillInBasicCategoryFields">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="categoryEntity" defaultValue="_defaultCategory"/>
    </arguments>
    <fillField selector="{{AdminCategoryBasicFieldSection.CategoryNameInput}}" userInput="{{categoryEntity.name}}" stepKey="enterCategoryName"/>
    <click selector="{{AdminCategorySEOSection.SectionHeader}}" stepKey="openSEO"/>
    <fillField selector="{{AdminCategorySEOSection.UrlKeyInput}}" userInput="{{categoryEntity.name_lwr}}" stepKey="enterURLKey"/>
</actionGroup>

<actionGroup name="SaveAndVerifyCategoryCreation">
    <click selector="{{AdminCategoryMainActionsSection.SaveButton}}" stepKey="saveCategory"/>
    <seeElement selector="{{AdminCategoryMessagesSection.SuccessMessage}}" stepKey="assertSuccess"/>
    <seeInTitle userInput="{{categoryEntity.name}}" stepKey="seeNewCategoryPageTitle"/>
    <seeElement selector="{{AdminCategorySidebarTreeSection.categoryInTree(categoryEntity.name)}}" stepKey="seeCategoryInTree"/>
</actionGroup>

Elements reference

actionGroups

The <actionGroups> element is a root element that contains XML configuration attributes.

It may contain one or more <actionGroup>.

actionGroup

It may contain <arguments>.

arguments

The <arguments> element is a wrapper for an array of <argument> elements.

argument