Should all fields that are visible on a screen be validated in Gherkin? - cucumber

Question

We are creating Gherkin feature files for our application to create executable specifications. Currently we have files that look like this:
Given product <type> is found
When the product is clicked
Then detailed information on the product appears
And the field text has a value
And the field price has a value
And the field buy is available
We are wondering if this whole list of and keywords that validate if fields are visible on the screen is the way to go, or if we should shorten that to something like 'validate input'.

Answer 1

We have a similar case in that our service can return a lot of 10's of elements for each case that we could validate. We do not validate every element for each interaction, we only test the elements that are relevant to the test case.
To make it easier to maintain and switch which elements we are using, we use scenario outlines and tables of examples.
Scenario Outline: PO Boxes correctly located
When we search in the USA for "<Input>"
Then the address contains
| Label | Text |
| PO Box | <PoBox> |
| City name | <CityName> |
| State code | <StateCode> |
| ZIP Code | <ZipCode> |
| +4 code | <ZipPlus4> |
Examples:
| ID | Input | PoBox | CityName | StateCode | ZipCode |
| 01 | PO Box 123, 12345 | PO Box 123 | Boston | MA | 12345 |
| 02 | PO Box 321, Whitefish | PO Box 123 | Whitefish | MN | 54321 |
By doing it this way, we have a generic step "the address contains" that uses the 'Label' and 'Text' to test the individual elements. It is a neat and tidy way to test a lot of potential combinations - but it probably depends on your individual use case - how important all of the fields are.

Answer 2

You only need to validate the ones that provide business value, which is probably all of them. I would avoid using tech terms like "field" because it isn't related to a behavior. Al Mills is right on for using the tables.
I'd word it like this:
Scenario Outline: Review product details
Given I find the product <Type>
When I select the product
Then detailed information on the product appears including
| Description | <Description> |
| Price | <Price> |
And I can buy the product
Examples:
| Type | Description | Price |
| Hose | Rubber Hose | 31.99 |
| Sprinkler | Rotating Sprinker | 12.99 |
The words I chose are behaviors or whats, not technical implementations or hows.