[Feature Request] BDD / Gherkin Reporting Improvements — Real-World Pain Points from Parallel Reqnroll + NUnit Project

[Moshex]

Hi 👋 — we're actively using ExtentReports v5.0.4 for BDD test reporting in a .NET 9 MAUI project with Reqnroll (SpecFlow successor) + NUnit, running parallel Android/iOS tests. We've built a ~667-line ExtentReportManager.cs wrapper to get the reporting we need, and along the way hit several issues that required significant workarounds. Sharing this feedback in case it's useful for future development.

🐛 Critical Bug: Silent crash when BDD node lacks Gherkin model type
Using CreateNode("title") instead of CreateNode("title") produces no error at creation time, but causes a RuntimeBinderException: Cannot perform runtime binding on a null reference at Flush() when the Spark Razor template tries to dynamically access the node's Gherkin model. This was extremely hard to diagnose.

Ask: Throw an ArgumentException at CreateNode() time if a node is added to a BDD tree without a Gherkin type, or default to a sensible

3-level tree depth limit — Spark template is hardcoded for Feature → Scenario → Steps. We need Feature → Platform Group → Scenario → Steps for parallel cross-platform runs. Flattened to 3 levels and prefix scenario titles with [Android/Appium] / [iOS/Xamarin.UITest]

No native tag rendering — Tags like @smoketest should display above the scenario/feature title, styled distinctly.
Inject into node titles + Config.JS DOM manipulation to reposition spans before the auto-prepended keyword

Gherkin keyword auto-prepending can't be controlled — CreateNode("TC001") always renders as Scenario: TC001. When injecting HTML into titles, the keyword gets prepended before the HTML. JS injection via Config.JS to move DOM nodes after render

Thread-safety gaps — No documented concurrency model. We use ConcurrentDictionary for feature/scenario tracking and lock around node creation. Manual thread-safety wrapper with concurrent collections

No .Description() for scenario nodes — Only features support descriptions. Append description as an Info log entry (loses semantic meaning)

No data table / DocString rendering — Gherkin tables and DocStrings from step definitions have no API support.
Format as HTML <table> / <pre> and pass via .Info()

No structured failure details — .Fail() accepts a string or exception but no collapsible sections for stack trace, screenshot, environment info.
HTML string with <details><summary> blocks in .Fail() message

Default BDD theme needs modernization — Step nodes all look the same visually regardless of pass/fail until you read the status icon.
Custom CSS via Config.CSS for status-colored backgrounds

Tag rendering workaround (JS injection)

_sparkReporter.Config.JS = @"
    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
        document.querySelectorAll('.tag-line').forEach(function(tag) {
            var parent = tag.parentNode;
            if (!parent) return;
            var firstChild = parent.firstChild;
            if (firstChild && firstChild !== tag) {
                var br = tag.nextSibling;
                if (br && br.nodeName === 'BR') {
                    parent.removeChild(br);
                }
                var newBr = document.createElement('br');
                parent.insertBefore(tag, firstChild);
                tag.after(newBr);
            }
        });
    });
";

Tag-line CSS injection

_sparkReporter.Config.CSS = @"
    .tag-line {
        display: inline;
        font-size: 12px;
        color: #1565c0;
        font-weight: 600;
        letter-spacing: 0.3px;
    }
";

Scenario title construction with tags + platform label

``` if (scenarioTags != null && scenarioTags.Length > 0) { var tagLine = string.Join(" ", scenarioTags.Select(t => t.StartsWith("@") ? t : $"@{t}")); scenarioDisplayTitle = $"{tagLine}
{platformLabel} {scenarioTitle}"; } else { scenarioDisplayTitle = $"{platformLabel} {scenarioTitle}"; } _currentTest = featureNode.CreateNode(scenarioDisplayTitle); ```

Thread-safe feature node tracking

``` private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary _featureNodes = new();

var featureNode = _featureNodes.GetOrAdd(featureTitle, title =>
{
lock (_reportLock)
{
return _extent.CreateTest(featureDisplayTitle);
}
});

</details>

📎 Full write-up
We've documented all 10 issues with full context, workaround code, and specific asks in a detailed markdown file:

[BDD_FEEDBACK.md](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/28480279/BDD_FEEDBACK.md)

[ExtentReport.html](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/28480305/ExtentReport.html)

[Moshex]

We've documented all 10 issues with full context, workaround code, and specific asks in a detailed markdown file:

BDD_FEEDBACK.md

Example report:
ExtentReport.html