visionmedia / jspec

Click here to lend your support to: jspec and make a donation at www.pledgie.com !

JavaScript BDD Framework. DOM independent, async support, 50+ matchers, non-polluting, tiny, highly readable, core jQuery support

This URL has Read+Write access

jspec /
README.rdoc

JSpec

JSpec is a minimalistic JavaScript behavior driven development framework, providing simple installation, extremely low learning curve, absolutely no pollution to core prototypes, async request support, and incredibly sexy syntax, tons of matchers and much more.

Features

  • Sexiest syntax of them all
  • Framework / DOM independent
  • Nested describes
  • Does not pollute core object prototypes
  • Async support
  • Extremely simple and intuitive matcher declaration
  • Over 45 core matchers
  • Allows parens to be optional when using matchers to increase readability
  • Several helpful formatters (dom, console, terminal, …)
  • Assertion graphs displaying how many, and which assertions pass or failed
  • Default / customizable evaluation contexts
  • DOM sandbox support
  • Great looking default DOM theme
  • `jspec` command-line utility for auto-running specs, and initializing project templates
  • Profiling
  • Tiny (15 kb compressed, 1000-ish LOC)

Example

  describe 'ShoppingCart'
    var cart

    before_each
      cart = new ShoppingCart
    end

    describe 'addProducts'
      it 'should add several products'
        cart.addProduct('cookie')
        cart.addProduct('icecream')
        cart.should.have 2, 'products'
      end
    end

    describe 'checkout'
      it 'throw an error when checking out with no products'
        -{ cart.clear().checkout() }.should.throw_error
      end
    end
  end

Installation

Simply download JSpec and include JSpec.css and JSpec.js in your markup. Head over to the downloads section on Github, clone this public repo, or add JSpec as a git submodule with in your project.

JSpec scripts should NOT be referenced via the <script> tag, they should be loaded using the exec method. Below is an example: 

  ...
  <script>
    function runSuites() {
      JSpec
      .exec('spec.core.js')
      .exec('spec.jquery.js')
      .run()
      .report()
    }
  </script>
  <body onLoad="runSuites()">
  ...

You may optionally want to use sources in the /pkg directory for your project, since it includes compressed alternatives generated each release.

Options

You may alter the way JSpec operates by assigning options via the JSpec.options hash, or by passing string-based option values via the query string. For example JSpec.options.failuresOnly = true, and ?failuresOnly=1 will both work.

  • profile {bool} when enabled, uses console.time() in order to display performance information in your console log as specs are completed.
  • failuresOnly {bool} displays only failing specs, making them quick to discover and fix
  • reportToId {string} an element id to report to when using the DOM formatter

Matchers

  * Core

  - equal            ===
  - be_a, be_an      have constructor of x
  - be_at_least      >=
  - be_at_most       <=
  - be_null          == null
  - be_empty         length of 0
  - be_true          == true
  - be_false         == false
  - be_type          be type of x
  - be_greater_than  >
  - be_less_than     <
  - throw_error      should throw an error, optionally supply the error string for comparison
  - have             object should have n of property (person.should.have(2, 'pets'))
  - have_at_least    object should have at least n of property
  - have_at_most     object should have a maximum n of property
  - have_within      object should have within n..n of property (person.should.have_within(1..3, 'pets')
  - have_length      length of n
  - have_prop        object should have property x, optionally supplying an expected value
  - have_property    strict version of have_prop
  - be_within        checks if n is within the range passed
  - include          include substring, array element, or hash key
  - match            string should match regexp x
  - respond_to       property x should be a function
  - eql, be          matches simple literals (strings, numbers) with == .
                     However composites like arrays or 'hashes' are recursively matched,
                     meaning that [1, 2, [3]].should_eql([1, 2, [3]]) will be true.

  * jQuery

  - have_tag, have_one    have exactly one tag
  - have_tags, have_many  have more than one tag
  - have_child            have exactly one child
  - have_children         have more than one child
  - have_text             have plain text
  - have_attr             have an attribute, with optional value
  - have_type
  - have_id
  - have_title
  - have_alt
  - have_href
  - have_rel
  - have_rev
  - have_name
  - have_target
  - have_value
  - have_class
  - be_visible
  - be_hidden
  - be_enabled
  - be_disabled
  - be_selected
  - be_checked

Helpers

  * Core

  - sandbox     used to generate new DOM sandbox

  * jQuery

  - sandbox     used to generate new DOM sandbox, using jQuery object
  - element     same as invoking jQuery, just reads better and no need to worry about $ collisions
  - elements    alias of element

Hooks

Currently the following hooks are supported, and may be utilized any number of times as they are simply pushed to a stack. So for instance you may have two before_each blocks within the same scope, they will both run, but this can help keep your specs readable. 

  * before       run once before the suite is executed
  * after        run once after the suite is executed
  * before_each  run before each specification
  * after_each   run after each specification

Custom Contexts

Custom contexts can be applied to supply helper methods or properties to all subsequent bodies (other hooks, or specs).

In most cases the default context will suffice, in combination with the ‘this’ keyword. Keep in mind that when replacing the default context you will loose functionality provided by it, unless you manually merge it into your custom context.

To reset the context simply assign null to obtain the original context. 

  ...
  before
    JSpec.context = { foo : 'bar' }
  end

  after
    JSpec.context = null
  end

  it 'will work ;)'
    this.foo.should_equal 'bar'
  end
  ...

Async Support

Currently only jspec.jquery.js supports async requests. JSpec uses jQuery.ajaxSetup and sets all requests to sync, which preserves execution order, and reports correctly. 

  it 'should load mah cookies (textfile)'
    $.post('async', function(text){
      text.should_eql 'cookies!'
    })
  end

Pre-processor

The pre-processing capability of JSpec is extremely powerful. Your JavaScript code is not necessarily what it seems. For example when you seemingly invoke a object’s prototype like below: 

  'foobar'.should.include 'bar'

First parens are added: 

  'foobar'.should.include('bar')

Secondly the matcher invocation is converted to a non-polluting match() call: 

  JSpec.match('foobar', 'should', 'include', 'bar')

This also means instead of: 

  var object = { foo : 'bar' }
  object.should.include 'foo'

We can do: 

  { foo : 'bar' }.should.include 'foo'

Closure Literal

These are equivalent: 

  -{ throw 'test' }.should.throw_error
  function() { throw 'test' }.should.throw_error

Inclusive Range Literal

The following expands to the array of [1,2,3,4,5] 

  n.should.be_within 1..5

This Literal

Commonly throughout using JSpec you will often need to do things like the following, while referencing ‘this.cart’ throughout your specs: 

  before
    this.cart = new ShoppingCart
  end

Thanks to the pre-processor we can simply use the terse alternative below: 

  ...
  before
    .cart = new ShoppingCart
  end

  it '...'
    .cart.should.have 4, 'products'
  end
  ...

Alternatively you may utilize literal javascript outside of the closures: 

  ...
  cart = new ShoppingCart

  it '...'
    cart.should.have 4, 'products'
  end
  ...

Another option is to declare a variable outside of the spec closures: 

  var cart

  before
    cart = new ShoppingCart
  end

  it '...'
    cart.should.have 4, 'products'
  end
  ...

Formatters

To change a formatter simply alter the options hash like below, assigning a new constructor: 

  JSpec.options.formatter = JSpec.formatters.Console

DOM

Clean attractive HTML reporting

Console

Reporting utilizing the console object (tested using Firebug and Safari 4)

Terminal

Coming soon

Custom Matchers

First lets create a simple equality matcher. In the case below JSpec is smart enough to realize this is simply a binary operator, and simply transforms this into ‘actual === expected’ 

  JSpec.addMatchers({
    equal : '==='
  })

To alias a method to keep your specs readable you may alias them like below: 

  JSpec.addMatchers({
    be : 'alias equal'
  })

  'foo'.should.equal 'foo'
  true.should.be true

Matchers with string bodies implicitly return the expression value. The expanded version of the equal matcher would then be: 

  JSpec.addMatchers({
    equal : 'actual === expected'
  })

Large matchers or those which require several parameters may wish to utilize the hash method: 

  JSpec.addMatchers({
    equal : { match : function(actual, expected){
      return actual === expected
    }}
  })

To keep JSpec tiny, JSpec will default to generating failure messages for you, how ever this can be explicitly defined: 

  JSpec.addMatchers({
    equal : {
      match : function(actual, expected){
        return actual === expected
      },
      message : function(actual, expected, negate) {
        return 'a message here'
      }
    }
  })

JSpec Command-line Utility

When installed as a Ruby Gem, the `jspec` executable will become available, allowing you to initialize project templates quickly, as well as auto-testing specifications when a file is altered.

Initialize JSpec-driven project template in directory ‘myproject’: 

  $ jspec init myproject

Once within ‘myproject’ start testing by executing: 

  $ jspec

For additional usage execute: 

  $ jspec help

Or for specific usage: 

  $ jspec help run

More Information

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright © 2008 - 2009 TJ Holowaychuk <tj@vision-media.ca>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the ‘Software’), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.