Data Module¶

The data module provides generic, cross-module variable management and environment variable handling. It fills a real gap: each technology module (api, web, db, kafka) has its own store/variables namespace, but without generic steps there is no way to share data across modules or manage environment variables in a scenario-safe way.

The data module stores variables in context.steplib.data.variables and tracks environment variable modifications so they are automatically restored after each scenario — 32 steps in total, all with es and pt translations.

Installation¶

The data module has no mandatory third-party dependencies. It uses only the Python standard library (json, os, pathlib). YAML file loading requires PyYAML to be installed separately:

pip install pyyaml

No extra is needed — the data module is always available when steplib is installed.

Context¶

The DataContext lives at context.steplib.data. It holds:

variables — a dict[str, Any] for user-defined variables.
_env_backup — internal snapshot of environment variables modified during the scenario, so they are restored on reset() / cleanup().

def before_all(context):
    context.steplib = autoload(context)

def before_scenario(context, scenario):
    context.steplib.reset()  # clears variables, restores env vars

def after_scenario(context, scenario):
    context.steplib.cleanup()  # restores any modified env vars

Steps¶

Variable management¶

Pattern	Description
`I set the variable {name} to {value}`	Set a generic variable in the data context.
`the variable {name} equals {value}`	Assert that a variable equals an expected value.
`the variable {name} does not equal {value}`	Assert that a variable does not equal a value.
`the variable {name} exists`	Assert that a variable exists.
`the variable {name} does not exist`	Assert that a variable does not exist.
`the variable {name} contains {text}`	Assert that a variable’s string value contains a substring.
`the variable {name} is empty`	Assert that a variable is empty (empty string, list, dict, or None).
`the variable {name} is not empty`	Assert that a variable is not empty.
`the variable {name} has length {count:d}`	Assert that a variable has a specific length.
`I delete the variable {name}`	Delete a variable from the data context.
`I copy the variable {source} to {target}`	Copy a variable to a new name.
`I clear all variables`	Remove all variables from the data context.
`I set the variable {name} to the JSON {json}`	Set a variable to a parsed JSON value.
`the variable {name} matches the pattern {pattern}`	Assert that a variable’s value matches a regex pattern.
`the variable {name} starts with {text}`	Assert that a variable’s value starts with the given text.
`the variable {name} ends with {text}`	Assert that a variable’s value ends with the given text.
`I increment the variable {name} by {amount:d}`	Increment a numeric variable by a given amount.
`the variable {name} is greater than {value}`	Assert that a variable’s numeric value is greater than a threshold.
`the variable {name} is less than {value}`	Assert that a variable’s numeric value is less than a threshold.

File loading¶

Pattern	Description
`I load the YAML file {path} into the variable {name}`	Load a YAML file and store the parsed content as a variable.
`I load the JSON file {path} into the variable {name}`	Load a JSON file and store the parsed content as a variable.
`I extract the key path {key_path} from the variable {name} as {target}`	Extract a value from a variable using dot-path navigation (e.g. `user.address.city`). List indices are supported via integer keys (e.g. `items.0.name`).

Environment variables¶

Pattern	Description
`I set the environment variable {key} to {value}`	Set an environment variable (restored after the scenario).
`I delete the environment variable {key}`	Delete an environment variable (restored after the scenario).
`the environment variable {key} equals {value}`	Assert that an environment variable equals an expected value.
`the environment variable {key} does not equal {value}`	Assert that an environment variable does not equal a value.
`the environment variable {key} exists`	Assert that an environment variable exists.
`the environment variable {key} does not exist`	Assert that an environment variable does not exist.
`I store the environment variable {key} as {variable}`	Store an environment variable’s value into a data variable.
`I set the environment variable {key} from the variable {variable}`	Set an environment variable from a data variable’s value.
`I load environment variables from file {path}`	Load environment variables from a `.env`-style file.

Utility¶

Pattern	Description
`I wait for {seconds:f} seconds`	Sleep for a given number of seconds.

Example¶

Feature: Data management

  Scenario: Set and assert variables
    Given I set the variable "user_id" to "42"
    Then the variable "user_id" equals "42"
    And the variable "user_id" exists
    And the variable "user_id" has length 2
    When I delete the variable "user_id"
    Then the variable "user_id" does not exist

  Scenario: Regex and string assertions
    Given I set the variable "email" to "user@example.com"
    Then the variable "email" matches the pattern ".*@.*\..*"
    And the variable "email" starts with "user"
    And the variable "email" ends with ".com"

  Scenario: Numeric operations
    Given I set the variable "counter" to "5"
    When I increment the variable "counter" by 3
    Then the variable "counter" is greater than 7
    And the variable "counter" is less than 100

  Scenario: Wait
    When I wait for 0.5 seconds

  Scenario: Load and extract from JSON
    Given I load the JSON file "data/user.json" into the variable "user"
    When I extract the key path "address.city" from the variable "user" as "city"
    Then the variable "city" equals "Berlin"

  Scenario: Environment variables
    Given I set the environment variable "API_KEY" to "secret123"
    Then the environment variable "API_KEY" equals "secret123"
    And the environment variable "API_KEY" exists
    When I store the environment variable "API_KEY" as "api_key"
    Then the variable "api_key" equals "secret123"

Environment variable safety¶

All environment variable modifications (set, delete, load from file) are tracked in an internal backup. When reset() or cleanup() is called (typically from before_scenario / after_scenario), the original values are restored. This prevents test pollution between scenarios.

API reference¶

See Modules API Reference for the full autodoc reference of the data module.