How to Setup the Node.js Testing Framework: Node.js Tutorial

How to Establish a testing framework in Node.js – A brief guide for beginners

Why is it Important?

Naturally, testing holds significance – without it, bugs infiltrate the wild where rectifying them becomes tougher and costlier. Automating testing can significantly augment test coverage while reducing long-term expenses.

In certain teams, this responsibility falls upon developers, but it can also be delegated to testers for creating automated tests. These automated tests can be unit tests (concise tests that concentrate on minute pieces of functionality) or larger, integration-level tests.

Regardless, the task of identifying and incorporating tools for automated testing in a Node.js environment can be overwhelming.

In this article, we will briefly examine several popular tools and provide an overview of how these tools can be integrated to construct a comprehensive test environment.

Which Frameworks Should I Utilize?

While numerous testing tools and frameworks are available (with new ones in the pipeline), we have experimented with many of them to compile this list of the finest testing tools.

#1) Mocha

Mocha is an exceptional testing framework that supports promises and asynchronous/await with TypeScript or Babel. Mocha handles the execution of the tests you create, captures any assertion errors, and provides clear console output.

#2) Chai

Chai is an assertion library that allows you to use natural language constructs while developing your tests. This proves immensely valuable as many assertion libraries can be cryptic.

The following is an example that demonstrates how assertions can be written naturally with Chai:

expect (myResult).to.equal(23)

#3) Mockery

Mockery is a small npm module that enables the swapping of test mocks without modifying your production code in any way. By simply creating a mock function or module and registering it with mockery, Node.js will substitute your mocks whenever a require statement is used in your code.

#4) Jenkins

Jenkins is a continuous integration system that can seamlessly integrate with your version control (e.g., git) and automatically execute Mocha every time a commit is made. This ensures that your product is tested every time a change is implemented.

How do I Establish a Testing Framework in Node.js?

Step #1: Add Mocha, Chai, and Mockery as dependencies to your project.

Step #2: Configure your package.json file to include a test script.

Step #3: Create some tests.

(Click on the image for an enlarged view)

Step #4: Execute your tests by typing ‘npm run test’ in the command line.

Where Can I Find Additional Resources?

As you can see, Mocha and Chai provide an exceptional testing experience with minimal barriers to entry.

In our subsequent article, we will demonstrate how to utilize Mockery, write asynchronous tests in Mocha, and discuss the configuration of all these elements in Jenkins.

To experiment with our example code, please visit GitHub. 

Recommended reading => How to configure Consumer Pact Test

Conclusion

In this Node.js tutorial, we briefly examined various popular JavaScript testing frameworks and provided an overview of how these frameworks can be integrated to establish a comprehensive test environment.

Although numerous testing tools and frameworks are available in the market, this article offers a concise blueprint for setting up the Node.js framework.

Further reading =>> Frequently asked Node.js Interview Questions and Answers

About the Author: Dave Beck holds an M.S. in Computer Science and invests an excessive amount of time in software development. When he is not coding, he enjoys weightlifting and wakeboarding. You can find him online at wakecoder.com or github.com/wakecoder.

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