Behavior-Driven Development and the Democratic Process #103
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This is amazing @domi41. I wasn't aware of Gherkin and cucumber, very interesting stuff. I will look into Chimp (fun fact, they're part of @piamancini's startup Open Collective so we can reach them at any point in the future). Something we have pending is that once we have a stable 0.1.0 release, we'll deploy an instance to |
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I'm glad you like the concept, and that it's already in your roadmap ! May I suggest Note that IDEs such as IntellijIDEA handle Gherkin quite well, with linking to step definition, highlighting the variables (this is much more valuable than it seems), warnings on missing steps and step skeletons, the works. I have some experience with regexes and the pitfalls, limitations, and best practices of Gherkin (I painfully know that the Gherkin above can be improved a lot). Do not hesitate to ping me for advice or review. By the way, did you ever try peer-programming sessions/hackathons through a screen-sharing service Jitsi Meet ? In my experience, features are best discussed by multiple brains and step definitions can oftentimes be written concurrently. You do the |
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Wrote some top-of-the-head opinionated thoughts about Gherkin. Feature: Proposing ideas
In order to share knowledge and initiate legal updates
As a citizen
I need to be able to propose ideas
Background:
Given I am the citizen named Richard S.
And there is a tag titled Transparency
Scenario: Propose a fully qualified idea successfully
# Sanity checks are optional but good design in early stages
Given there is no idea titled "Require libre software in all governmental endeavours."
# Testing other pages should be bug-hunt only and requires shaving the yak to stay dry gherkin-wise.
When I am on the homepage
# Now, interacting with the DOM can yield some pretty ugly gherkin, albeit powerful.
And I click on "#action"
# Consider this
And I trigger the action button to propose an idea
# Or this, maybe?
And I trigger the floating action button
# It's more work, so it's okay to use CSS selectors while coding (especially early on)
# It's also a good way to figure out DOM ids before you even create them.
# In the long run, features are like code, and should be refactored as well.
#
# Check that we're where we should be
Then I should be on the page to propose an idea
# Another way to put it
And I should see the form to propose an idea
# See how the id `form_propose_an_idea` emerges ?
#
# Filling inputs is fine, testing autocompletion is sometimes quirky
When I fill the title with "Require libre software in all governmental endeavours."
And I fill the description with "Otherwise, I will draw my katanas."
# An example of meta-steps that each queue multiple DOM actions
# Meta steps can be written in Gherkin too ! (not sure Chimp has those)
And I add the tag Transparency
And I sign the idea
And I trigger the button to open the vote
# Here too we can probably skip CSS selectors if we're clever
And I submit the idea
# This can share the same step def as the Given up top.
Then there should be an idea titled "Require libre software in all governmental endeavours."
And ...
Running multiple concurrent clients to test delegation and such is going to be a challenge ! |
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I like this idea, and I have also used Gherkin-style scenarios for testing. I find it a very nice way to explain the precise actions the system is performing, without needing to explain code to non-programmers. And since every line (as opposed to every scenario) generally corresponds to a single function or method, there is no need to understand an entire test in order to reason about the code. The large number of comments in that example makes sense here given it is intended to explain how it would be used, though I expect in real cases that the Gherkin would be self-explanatory with very few comments. |
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I have the first Step Below is the dirty step definition : this.Given(/^I am the citizen named (.+)$/, (name) => {
const slug = convertToSlug(name);
// Implicitly (but synchronously!) create a citizen
const user = server.execute((name, slug) => {
const userData = {
email: slug+'@test.democracy.earth',
password: name,
username: name,
};
return Meteor.users.findOne(Accounts.createUser(userData));
}, name, slug);
if ( ! user) { // todo: a proper assertion?
throw new Error("No user was returned after user creation.");
}
// Log in as that citizen
server.call('login', {
user: {email: slug+'@test.democracy.earth'},
password: name
});
});I also hooked the Chimp has ways to go to be as good as Behat :
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Dropping this here, this is an interesting read : https://github.com/xolvio/qualityfaster |
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We can grab the this.Then(/^there should be a tag titled (.+)$/, (title) => {
const tag = requireServer().execute((title) => {
Tags = require('/imports/api/tags/Tags').Tags;
return Tags.findOne({ text: title });
}, title);
if ( ! tag) {
throw new Error(`There is not tag titled '${title}'.`);
}
});If anyone is interested in talking about this, I will be on https://meet.jit.si/sovereign |
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Totally agree on using |
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@domi41 I'm using Chimp + Cucumber + Meteor in another project and I'm quite happy. Any problem or question? |
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@vjrj could you please provide us with an example repository/workflow, so that we can see how it would work? |
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It's a local project mainly in Spanish (sorry for that but it's a very specific development for a local political issue): This project uses last meteor/chimp versions, but I've started it with old versions of both meteor and chimp and following old documentations and chimp samples. So maybe it's more recommendable to follow the chimp current documentation and (http://webdriver.io/api.html). |
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@vjrj Thanks, // Log in as that citizen on the client
browser.execute((username, password, done) => {
console.log("I am printed in the browser's developer console.");
Meteor.loginWithPassword(username, password, done);
// note: async/wait does not work in here, no idea why
}, username, password);
// There has got to be a better way to wait for meteor login to complete.
// I tried async/wait, and flavors of the `done` callback. Nothing stuck.
browser.pause(1000);Edit : We figured it out ! It was obvious, once we grokked how the whole thing worked : getBrowser().timeoutsAsyncScript(2000);
const returned = getBrowser().executeAsync((email, password, done) => {
Meteor.loginWithPassword(email, password, (err) => { done(err); });
}, email, password);
if (returned && returned.value) {
fail(`There was an error with the Meteor login : ${returned.value.message}.`);
}@vjrj Another question, related to your codebase : what's this.When(/^I enter my name and password$/, function (callback) {
this.AuthenticationHelper.loginUsername(username, email, passwd);
callback();
});We have the first six steps passing, and are now working on refactoring to make the step defs as concise and clear as we can. We're also trying to use helpers from the existing tests whenever we can, but we don't know the whole codebase so we might fail hard sometimes. |
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Chimp out-of-the-box provides the Chai assertion library. Which one do you prefer ? This is not a choice that should be done without careful consideration, I'm sure @brylie will agree. I'm okay with Chai, overall. |
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My bad ; the default is Jasmine Expect. After toying around for a while, Chai feels more powerful. It also has a great bunch of extensions. |
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An update ! We can work with|around the "contenteditable instead of forms" business in the features, which kind of had old habits in despair. Though, for clarity and re-usability we had to rename the ids of the divs that could be edited, from The first feature is almost entirely passing (if we don't test tags). If you're still interested by this I'll make a PR once the first feature is green. Not sure if Travis will handle it, though. |
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There you go, all green ! It's so satisfying to watch Firefox do this at Mach speed. Okay, it's a long test (5s), but it does not feel like it, and there's ways to run only a single Scenario. Note that the features branch is based upon the old Now it's time to write some more Gherkin ! Anyone want to try ? Maybe add a voting ballot to the above idea ? Then, how about : Scenario: Vote on someone's idea
Scenario: Vote on my own ideaAnd then different scenarios for different ballots kinds.... |
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The first scenario of the voting feature is up and about ! it's a simple one, but full of promises. 🌻 : Feature: Voting on ideas
In order to exercise my sovereignty
As a citizen
I need to be able to vote on ideas
Scenario: Receive a thousand votes upon account creation
Given I am the newly created citizen named N00B
Then I should have 1000 votes availableCommits will follow suit in PR #198 |
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Two more passing scenarios ! Scenario: Vote for someone else's idea
Given I am the citizen named Ali
And there is a citizen named Bob
And Bob has proposed a votable idea titled "Bob's Idea"
Then there should be an idea titled "Bob's Idea"
When I go to the homepage
Then I should see "Bob's Idea" in the feed
When I click on "Bob's Idea" in the feed
Then I should be on the page /vote/bobs-idea
#Then I should be on the detail page of the idea titled "Bob's Idea"
When I click on the Yes ballot option
And I commit all my votes to the idea
Then I should have 0 votes available
Scenario: Vote against someone else's idea
Given I am the citizen named Ali
And there is a citizen named Bob
And Bob has proposed a votable idea titled "Bob's Idea"
Then there should be an idea titled "Bob's Idea"
When I go to the homepage
Then I should see "Bob's Idea" in the feed
When I click on "Bob's Idea" in the feed
Then I should be on the page /vote/bobs-idea
#Then I should be on the detail page of the idea titled "Bob's Idea"
When I click on the No ballot option
And I commit all my votes to the idea
Then I should have 0 votes availableThe We failed (for hours) to implement the step Meanwhile, we're going to keep trying to hack support for this step, as more complex scenarios will require it. |
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Ok, the step Not sure how to describe the vote delegation, now. Is it even possible from the UI ? |
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How about we make this a reality. Moving this to next. We've started doing this for the UX enhancement #238 |
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Closing this with immense fondness for y'all and warmth hope in my heart for a better world. To be continued… |
An analphabet asks revolutionaries writing the first republican constitution :
-"How can I compare what you're writing in here to the monarchy I'm being abused by ?"
-"Errr... Learn to read ?"
-"I trust you ; can you read it to me, pretty please ?"
-"Bring forth the trained parrot, comrades."
We need a 🐦 too ! Something that all can listen to (read, in our N+1).
Gherkin is pretty good at bridging coders with the public at large, being somewhat plain English. Notwithstanding its other benefits.
This all raises a serious question : how do we democratically choose the features of the very tool we're using for democracy ?
There's a key point in the lifetime of a project that language creators and IDE designers know well :
When does your language have its own compiler written in it ?
At which point do you use your IDE to code your IDE ?
What's the name of that key point ? EYODF ?
My point is that it would be easier and make more sense to vote and debate on Steps, Scenarios and whole Features than commits.
Now, I audited rapidly the various prospects one can hope for when rooting for behaviour driven development on Meteor, and Chimp jumped right out of the jungle. There's a lot of poop-throwers using it, seems that it runs quite well with Cucumber (hence, we can Gherkin), and what's more they say we can have a backdoor access to the server database so most of the fixture steps can be taken care of quickly and efficiently. Action steps mostly run in an enslaved client browser, as we manipulate the DOM and simulate end-user keyboard, mouse or touch activity. Check steps can be both client or server, which is very empowering.
Is anyone here experienced with Chimp + Cucumber + Meteor ?
Any other runners to suggest ?
It's exciting !
A non-telepath asks telepathic revolutionaries working on the legal hivemind :
-"How can I compare what you're thinking in here to the mazylegalith I'm being abused by ?"
-"Errr... Join the hive ?"
-"I trust you. Can you tell me what the hive would answer to these questions ?"
-"ASK US ANYTHING."
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