fn-tester

fn-tester is a tiny utility to record function calls and define test doubles for JavaScript/Node.js. It has no dependencies and can be used with virtually all testing frameworks.

Installation

Node.js

npm install --save-dev fn-tester

Browsers

Install as above and use the fn-tester.js file found in the node_modules directory:

<script src="./node_modules/fn-tester/fn-tester.js"></script>

Usage

fn-tester is a simple as it gets. It has only three options and one method to use. fn-tester requires running functions indirectly by using a variation of the Command design pattern, which is necessary to intercept all function calls and preserve the value of "this".

var fn = require('fn-tester');

// Instead of parentObj.methodName(argument1, argument2, ...), use:
fn.run(parentObj, 'methodName', argument1, argument2, ...);

// For simple functions, use:
fn.run(myFunction, null, argument1, argument2, ...);

It may be argued that changing all function calls isn’t simple at all, but there is no need to change every single function call. In a typical Model-View-Controller (MVC) application, modifying controller-level functions that deal with running multiple services should mostly be sufficient. Services that deal with databases and remote APIs need to have test doubles in any case.

fn-tester can be configured by simply changing the test property, and the defaults are:

fn.test = { enabled: false, calls: [], doubles: [] };

When enabled is true, fn-tester starts to record function calls in calls. It also runs the test double functions stored in doubles (if any) instead of the originals.

Here is how to define test doubles for a simple user account creation controller:

// (...)

var userService = {
    hashPassword: function (password) {
        return bcrypt.hash(password, 8);
    },

    getUserByEmail: function (email) {
        return db('user').where('email', email).then(_.head);
    },

    insertUser: function (email, name, password) {
        return db('user').insert({ email, name, password }).returning('id');
    },
};

function createUser(email, name, password) {
    return fn.run(userService, 'getUserByEmail', email).then((existingUser) => {
        if (existingUser) {
            return Promise.reject('error.duplicateEmail');
        }
        return fn
            .run(userService, 'hashPassword', password)
            .then((passwordHash) => fn.run(userService, 'insertUser', email, name, passwordHash));
    });
}

fn.test = {
    enabled: true,
    calls: [],
    doubles: [
        function getUserByEmail() {
            return Promise.resolve();
        },
        function hashPassword() {
            return Promise.resolve('hash');
        },
        function insertUser() {
            return Promise.resolve(1);
        },
    ],
};

fn.run(createUser, null, 'some@email', 'name', 'pass').then(() => console.log(fn.test.calls));

When fn-tester finds a function in test.doubles with the same name as the function called, runs the test double instead of the original. test.calls contains the function calls complete with the arguments passed.

[
    ['createUser', 'some@email', 'name', 'pass'],
    ['getUserByEmail', 'some@email'],
    ['hashPassword', 'pass'],
    ['insertUser', 'some@email', 'name', 'hash'],
];

test.calls is useful to determine if a function is called and has received the correct arguments.

Finally, here is an example how fn-tester can be used with Chai and Mocha:

var fn = require('fn-tester');
var chai = require('chai');
var chaiAsPromised = require('chai-as-promised');
var should = chai.should();
chai.use(chaiAsPromised).should();

// (...)

describe('createUser', function () {
    it('should go through with account creation', async function () {
        fn.test = {
            enabled: true,
            calls: [],
            doubles: [
                function getUserByEmail() {
                    return Promise.resolve();
                },
                function hashPassword() {
                    return Promise.resolve('hash');
                },
                function insertUser() {
                    return Promise.resolve(1);
                },
            ],
        };
        await fn
            .run(createUser, null, 'some@email', 'name', 'pass')
            .then(() =>
                fn.test.calls.should.be
                    .an('array')
                    .that.deep.includes(['getUserByEmail', 'some@email'])
                    .and.that.deep.includes(['hashPassword', 'pass'])
                    .and.that.deep.includes(['insertUser', 'some@email', 'name', 'hash'])
            );
    });
});