Getting Started With BDD

This article inaugurates a regular column for Drupal Watchdog on incorporating functional testing and Behavior Driven Development in the creation and maintenance of Drupal Sites..

If my Behat and Mink article in the previous DW piqued your interest in using Behat as a functional testing tool, you may be wondering where to begin. Dan North’s article outlining the origins of Behavior Driven Development (http://dannorth.net/introducing-bdd/) provides a more complete perspective, but the short answer is:

What parts of your site have the highest value to your organization?

If it’s not immediately apparent, turn that question on its ear:

Which parts of the site, if broken, will result in:

• Loss of revenue (e-commerce);
• Loss of productivity (a broken work order form);
• Law suits (privileged information being disclosed publically)?

Melissa Anderson

Melissa Anderson, has been working with Drupal since 2006. She was part of the team that brought Git to Drupal.org, spent three years as a Portland user group leader, and is a freelance consultant.