New browser opens for every feature being executed - WATIR

Question

We are using the Selenium Cucumber framework with Watir.

We have split one scenario into different features and all these features needs to run on one browser to complete the scenario.

Currently 1 feature completes and then the browser is closed and then a new instance of Firefox is opened; not preserving the state of the previous instance.

For our tests to run effectively, we need these features to be completed on the same browser instance.

How do we prevent a new browser instance open after each feature has been executed?

Here is our test structure:

W2.1.1-Set_Project_Information.feature
W2.1.2-Select_Shotlist.feature
W2.1.3-Flag_shotlist_requiring_physical_inspection.feature
W2.1.4-Select_applicable_shotlist_task.feature
W2.1.5-Record_Primary_Applicant.feature

My env.rb:

require 'rubygems'
require 'watir'
require 'selenium-webdriver'
require 'rspec'

browser = Watir::Browser.new :firefox

Before do
#browser = Watir::Browser.new :chrome
@browser = browser
@browser.goto "https://test.branzartisan.com"
@browser.window.maximize
sleep(5)
puts "###Browser Invoke###"
end

After do |scenario|
@browser.cookies.clear
  @browser.refresh
end

Answer 1

The solution to this issue was removing the before do block from the env.rb file.

This prevented the invoking of a new Firefox instance before each scenario.