Feature level @Before

[wazzeps]

As far as I know, there are currently no hooks that work at the feature file level.
What would be the optimal workaround you can suggest for executing code before a specific feature file?

[mpkorstanje]

Depends on the problem you're trying to solve.

If scenarios in your features depend on each other and need some common setup, then you can make your scenarios independent and your setup idempotent. You should do that anyway, that makes it possible to run your scenarios in parallel.

If it is for reporting purposes, then you can use the plugin system and group scenarios by their feature after the fact.

[wazzeps]

Depends on the problem you're trying to solve.

If scenarios in your features depend on each other and need some common setup, then you can make your scenarios independent and your setup idempotent. You should do that anyway, that makes it possible to run your scenarios in parallel.

If it is for reporting purposes, then you can use the plugin system and group scenarios by their feature after the fact.

In my case, all scenarios within a single feature file require the same precondition, but this step is too resource-intensive to execute before each scenario.

Parallel execution is also planned only at the feature file level, not at the scenario level.

[mpkorstanje]

Controlling resources implicitly is usually a pretty bad idea. There is no natural connection between features and the resources their scenarios use. So using features to control resources will come back to bite you the moment you create a scenario in a different feature that also needs that resource, or a scenario that uses resources from two different feature files, ect, ect, ect.

It is also relatively simple to create a resource lazily and exactly once. So there is no need to even try to have Cucumber solve this problem for you. For example:

static Resource getResource(){
  // Check before blocking
  if(resource == null){ 
    synchronized {
      if(resource == null){ 
        // Create resource here
        resource = ...
      }
    }
  }
  return resource;
}

And if you have to manage multiple interchangeable resources like Webdrivers, you can use an Object Pool.

[wazzeps]

I might have phrased it poorly. The precondition step is time-consuming, so I want to execute it only once before all scenarios in a feature file.

[mpkorstanje]

You would do that the same way. Lazily and in such a way that the operation is idempotent.