Alter binding source processing to no longer look for BindingAttribute

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 # [vNext]
 
 ## Improvements:
+* Make it so that the [Binding] attribute is no longer required on types declaring binding methods (#1044)
 
 ## Bug fixes:
 * Fix: Formatters incorrectly handle Unicode text file content of attachments.
 
-*Contributors of this release (in alphabetical order):* @clrudolphi
+*Contributors of this release (in alphabetical order):* @clrudolphi, @Code-Grump
 
 # v3.3.3 - 2026-01-27
 

Reqnroll/BindingSkeletons/DefaultSkeletonTemplates.sftemplate

@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ using Reqnroll;
 
 namespace {namespace}
 {
-    [Binding]
     public class {className}
     {
         private readonly IReqnrollOutputHelper _outputHelper;

Reqnroll/Bindings/Discovery/BindingSourceProcessor.cs

@@ -29,14 +29,9 @@ public bool CanProcessMethodAttribute(string attributeTypeName)
             return true;
         }
 
-        private static bool IsPotentialBindingClass(IEnumerable<string> attributeTypeNames)
-        {
-            return attributeTypeNames.Any(attr => attr.EndsWith($".{nameof(BindingAttribute)}", StringComparison.InvariantCulture));
-        }
-
         public bool PreFilterType(IEnumerable<string> attributeTypeNames)
         {
-            return IsPotentialBindingClass(attributeTypeNames);
+            return true;
         }
 
         public bool ProcessType(BindingSourceType bindingSourceType)
@@ -80,7 +75,7 @@ private IEnumerable<BindingScope> GetScopes(IEnumerable<BindingSourceAttribute>
 
         private bool IsBindingType(BindingSourceType bindingSourceType)
         {
-            return bindingSourceType.Attributes.Any(attr => typeof(BindingAttribute).IsAssignableFrom(attr.AttributeType));
+            return bindingSourceType.MethodAttributes != null && bindingSourceType.MethodAttributes.Any();
         }
 
         private bool IsStepDefinitionAttribute(BindingSourceAttribute attribute)

Reqnroll/Bindings/Discovery/BindingSourceType.cs

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ public class BindingSourceType
 
         public BindingSourceAttribute[] Attributes { get; set; }
 
+        public BindingSourceAttribute[] MethodAttributes { get; set; }
+
         public override string ToString() => BindingType?.ToString() ?? "<null>";
     }
 }

Reqnroll/Bindings/Discovery/RuntimeBindingRegistryBuilder.cs

@@ -90,12 +90,34 @@ internal bool BuildBindingsFromType(Type type)
             if (!_bindingSourceProcessor.PreFilterType(filteredAttributes.Select(attr => attr.GetType().FullName)))
                 return false;
 
-            var bindingSourceType = CreateBindingSourceType(type, filteredAttributes);
+            var candiateMethods = type.GetMethods(
+                BindingFlags.Static | 
+                BindingFlags.Instance | 
+                BindingFlags.Public | 
+                BindingFlags.NonPublic);
+
+            List<Attribute> methodAttributes;
+            try
+            {
+                methodAttributes = [.. 
+                    candiateMethods.SelectMany(method => method.GetCustomAttributes(true).Cast<Attribute>())];
+            }
+            catch (TypeLoadException ex)
+            {
+                _bindingSourceProcessor.RegisterTypeLoadError($"Could not load attributes for type '{type.FullName}': {ex}");
+                // When the type attributes cannot be loaded, the type cannot be processed anyway so we can return with false here to avoid reporting further errors.
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            var filteredMethodAttributes = methodAttributes
+                .Where(attr => _bindingSourceProcessor.CanProcessMethodAttribute(attr.GetType().FullName));
+
+            var bindingSourceType = CreateBindingSourceType(type, filteredAttributes, filteredMethodAttributes);
 
             if (!_bindingSourceProcessor.ProcessType(bindingSourceType))
                 return false;
 
-            foreach (var methodInfo in type.GetMethods(BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic))
+            foreach (var methodInfo in candiateMethods)
             {
                 _bindingSourceProcessor.ProcessMethod(CreateBindingSourceMethod(methodInfo));
             }
@@ -131,7 +153,10 @@ private IBindingType CreateBindingType(Type type)
             return new RuntimeBindingType(type);
         }
 
-        private BindingSourceType CreateBindingSourceType(Type type, IEnumerable<Attribute> filteredAttributes)
+        private BindingSourceType CreateBindingSourceType(
+            Type type,
+            IEnumerable<Attribute> filteredAttributes,
+            IEnumerable<Attribute> filteredMethodAttributes)
         {
             return new BindingSourceType
                        {
@@ -141,7 +166,8 @@ private BindingSourceType CreateBindingSourceType(Type type, IEnumerable<Attribu
                            IsPublic = type.IsPublic,
                            IsNested = TypeHelper.IsNested(type),
                            IsGenericTypeDefinition = type.IsGenericTypeDefinition,
-                           Attributes = GetAttributes(filteredAttributes)
+                           Attributes = GetAttributes(filteredAttributes),
+                           MethodAttributes = GetAttributes(filteredMethodAttributes)
                        };
         }
 

Reqnroll/ScenarioContext.cs

@@ -90,8 +90,8 @@ public static void StepIsPending()
     /// <param name="bindingType">The type of the binding class.</param>
     /// <returns>The binding class instance</returns>
     /// <remarks>
-    /// The binding classes are the classes with the [Binding] attribute, that might
-    /// contain step definitions, hooks or step argument transformations. The method
+    /// The binding classes are the classes with which contain one or more methods decorated with binding attributes.
+    /// This includes step definitions, hooks or step argument transformations. The method
     /// is called when any binding method needs to be called.
     /// </remarks>
     public object GetBindingInstance(Type bindingType)

Tests/Reqnroll.Formatters.Tests/CucumberMessagesBasicTests.cs

@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ When I eat 5 cukes
 
                         namespace CucumberMessages.CompatibilityTests.Smoke
                         {
-                            [Binding]
                             internal class Hooks
                             {
                                 public Hooks()

Tests/Reqnroll.RuntimeTests/Bindings/CucumberExpressions/CucumberExpressionIntegrationTests.cs

@@ -168,33 +168,25 @@ private async Task<SampleBindings> PerformStepExecution(string methodName, strin
         transformations?.ToList().ForEach(binding => bindingRegistry.RegisterStepArgumentTransformationBinding(binding));
         onBindingRegistryPreparation?.Invoke(bindingRegistry);
 
+        var givenAttribute = new BindingSourceAttribute
+        {
+            AttributeType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(GivenAttribute)),
+            AttributeValues = [ new BindingSourceAttributeValueProvider(expression) ]
+        };
+
         var bindingSourceMethod = new BindingSourceMethod
         {
             BindingMethod = new RuntimeBindingMethod(typeof(SampleBindings).GetMethod(methodName)),
             IsPublic = true,
-            Attributes = new[]
-            {
-                new BindingSourceAttribute
-                {
-                    AttributeType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(GivenAttribute)),
-                    AttributeValues = new IBindingSourceAttributeValueProvider[]
-                    {
-                        new BindingSourceAttributeValueProvider(expression)
-                    }
-                }
-            }
+            Attributes = [ givenAttribute ]
         };
+
         bindingSourceProcessor.ProcessType(
             new BindingSourceType
             {
                 BindingType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(SampleBindings)),
-                Attributes = new[]
-                {
-                    new BindingSourceAttribute
-                    {
-                        AttributeType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(BindingAttribute))
-                    }
-                },
+                Attributes = [],
+                MethodAttributes = [ givenAttribute ],
                 IsPublic = true,
                 IsClass = true
             });

Tests/Reqnroll.RuntimeTests/Bindings/CucumberExpressions/CucumberExpressionParameterTypeRegistryTests.cs

@@ -123,33 +123,26 @@ private static void SetupBoundMethod(string expression, IBindingRegistry binding
             {
                 bindingRegistry.RegisterStepArgumentTransformationBinding(transformation);
             }
+
+            var givenAttribute = new BindingSourceAttribute
+            {
+                AttributeType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(GivenAttribute)),
+                AttributeValues = [new BindingSourceAttributeValueProvider(expression)]
+            };
+
             var bindingSourceMethod = new BindingSourceMethod
             {
                 BindingMethod = new RuntimeBindingMethod(testType.GetMethod(methodName)),
                 IsPublic = true,
-                Attributes = new[]
-                {
-                new BindingSourceAttribute
-                {
-                    AttributeType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(GivenAttribute)),
-                    AttributeValues = new IBindingSourceAttributeValueProvider[]
-                    {
-                        new BindingSourceAttributeValueProvider(expression)
-                    }
-                }
-            }
+                Attributes = [givenAttribute]
             };
+
             bindingSourceProcessor.ProcessType(
                 new BindingSourceType
                 {
                     BindingType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(CucumberExpressionIntegrationTests.SampleBindings)),
-                    Attributes = new[]
-                    {
-                    new BindingSourceAttribute
-                    {
-                        AttributeType = new RuntimeBindingType(typeof(BindingAttribute))
-                    }
-                    },
+                    Attributes = [],
+                    MethodAttributes = [givenAttribute],
                     IsPublic = true,
                     IsClass = true
                 });

Tests/Reqnroll.RuntimeTests/Bindings/Discovery/BindingSourceProcessorTests.cs

@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ public void ProcessTypeAndMethod_InVisualStudioExtension_ShouldFindBinding()
             //ARRANGE
             var sut = CreateBindingSourceProcessor();
 
-            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType();
             var bindingSourceMethod = CreateSyntheticStepDefBindingSourceMethod();
+            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType(bindingSourceMethod);
 
             //ACT
             sut.ProcessType(bindingSourceType).Should().BeTrue();
@@ -62,15 +62,13 @@ private BindingSourceMethod CreateSyntheticHookBindingSourceMethod(HookType hook
             };
         }
 
-        private BindingSourceType CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType()
+        private BindingSourceType CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType(BindingSourceMethod bindingSourceMethod)
         {
             var bindingSourceType = new BindingSourceType
             {
                 IsClass = true,
-                Attributes = new[]
-                {
-                    CreateBindingSourceAttribute("BindingAttribute", "Reqnroll.BindingAttribute")
-                },
+                Attributes = [],
+                MethodAttributes = bindingSourceMethod?.Attributes ?? []
             };
             return bindingSourceType;
         }
@@ -112,7 +110,7 @@ public async Task Async_void_binding_methods_are_not_supported()
             var bindingSourceMethod = CreateBindingSourceMethod(typeof(StepDefClassWithAsyncVoid), nameof(StepDefClassWithAsyncVoid.AsyncVoidStepDef),
                 CreateBindingSourceAttribute("GivenAttribute", "Reqnroll.GivenAttribute").WithValue("an authenticated user"));
 
-            sut.ProcessType(CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType()).Should().BeTrue();
+            sut.ProcessType(CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType(bindingSourceMethod)).Should().BeTrue();
             sut.ProcessMethod(bindingSourceMethod);
             sut.BuildingCompleted();
 
@@ -126,7 +124,9 @@ public void Binding_type_errors_should_be_captured(bool isClass, bool isGenericT
         {
             var sut = CreateBindingSourceProcessor();
 
-            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType();
+            var bindingSourceMethod = CreateSyntheticStepDefBindingSourceMethod();
+            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType(bindingSourceMethod);
+
             // make it invalid
             bindingSourceType.IsClass = isClass;
             bindingSourceType.IsGenericTypeDefinition = isGenericTypeDefinition;
@@ -143,11 +143,12 @@ public void Binding_method_errors_should_be_captured(bool isClassAbstract, bool
         {
             var sut = CreateBindingSourceProcessor();
 
-            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType();
-            bindingSourceType.IsAbstract = isClassAbstract;
             var bindingSourceMethod = CreateSyntheticStepDefBindingSourceMethod();
             bindingSourceMethod.IsStatic = isMethodStatic;
 
+            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType(bindingSourceMethod);
+            bindingSourceType.IsAbstract = isClassAbstract;
+
             sut.ProcessType(bindingSourceType).Should().BeTrue();
             sut.ProcessMethod(bindingSourceMethod);
             sut.BuildingCompleted();
@@ -164,10 +165,11 @@ public void Non_static_feature_and_test_run_hook_errors_should_be_captured(HookT
         {
             var sut = CreateBindingSourceProcessor();
 
-            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType();
             var bindingSourceMethod = CreateSyntheticHookBindingSourceMethod(hookType);
             bindingSourceMethod.IsStatic = false;
 
+            var bindingSourceType = CreateSyntheticBindingSourceType(bindingSourceMethod);
+
             sut.ProcessType(bindingSourceType).Should().BeTrue();
             sut.ProcessMethod(bindingSourceMethod);
             sut.BuildingCompleted();