Cucumber feature file steps not requiring a step def

Question

This seems like an obvious question to me but I cant seem to find an answer on it anywhere which is making me think its a practice that I shouldn't be doing.

I have a feature file step which is there purely for business context on the scenario so no action is required against the system. The problem being that cucumber tries to find a step def method that matches the feature file Gherkin text and therefore the feature fails.

Is there a way to tell cucumber not to expect a step def for a certain line from a feature file?

Answer 1

You can simply add a commented line if it's better for understanding the scenario.

Otherwise you can alway add an empty step, even a generic one like "Business Context:...." to reuse that empty step for multiple purposes.

Answer 2

I'd just leave the definition for that step empty, although I would wonder why a step that doesn't affect the scenario should be included in the scenario itself. Maybe it could be moved in the description of the scenario.

Answer 3

Technical explanation:

There is no way of skipping a step - you would need to create an empty step definition.

Processual explanation:

Features files aim to describe how a feature will work, creating a unambiguous vocabulary. Having a step (description of something) that is not checked or acted upon (even if it is done manually with the ask function) would add unnecessary words on your description.