karma-fixture

A plugin for the Karma test runner that loads .html and .json fixtures.

It provides the same API as the teaspoon fixture package.

Installation

Install the plugin from npm:

$ npm install karma-fixture --save-dev

Add fixture to the frameworks array in your Karma configuration:

module.exports = function(config){
  config.set({
    // ... 
    frameworks: ['mocha', 'fixture'],
    // ...

You also have to register any/all fixtures inside your Karma configuration file. If all your fixtures exist under a fixtures/base/path/ folder, then you should include all files of interest under this base path.

module.exports = function(config){
  config.set({
    // ... 
    files: [
      {
        pattern: 'fixtures/base/path/**/*',
      },
      // ... 
    ],
    // ... 
],

Finally you have to add the html2js and karma-json-fixtures-preprocessor karma preprocessors:

$ npm install karma-html2js-preprocessor --save-dev
$ npm install karma-json-fixtures-preprocessor --save-dev

, configure Karma to load all html and JSON fixture files via those preprocessors:

module.exports = function(config){
  config.set({
    // ... 
    preprocessors: {
      '**/*.html'   : ['html2js'],
      '**/*.json'   : ['json_fixtures']
    },
    // ...

and then setup the karma-json-fixtures-preprocessor plugin:

module.exports = function(config){
  config.set({
    // ... 
    jsonFixturesPreprocessor: {
      variableName: '__json__'
    },
    // ...

(optional) If the plugins won't get loaded by karma, you might have to declare them inside the plugins array in your Karma configuration (and maybe load karma-html2js-preprocessor as well):

module.exports = function(config){
  config.set({
    // ... 
    plugins: [
      'karma-fixture',
      'karma-html2js-preprocessor',
      'karma-json-fixtures-preprocessor',
      // ... 
    ],
    // ...

Implementation details

All html fixture files are pre-loaded as strings and placed inside the Karma-created window.__html__ object and all json fixtures are loaded inside window.__json__.

The fixture plugin is exposed in the window.fixture object on every test run. It loads fixture files from these objects and appends the created html inside the window.fixture.el element that gets created on start-up. It appends loaded JSONs inside the fixture.json array.

Usage

Lets say you have the following fixture files:

fixtures/base/path/test1.html

<p>p</p>
<a href='#'>
    <span>link</span>
</a>

fixtures/base/path/json/test1.json
```
"{"test":true}"
```

You can use fixture inside your tests to handle the fixtures:

describe('some test that needs a fixture', function(){
  // If base path is different from the default `spec/fixtures` 
  before(function(){
    fixture.setBase('fixtures/base/path')
  });
 
  beforeEach(function(){
    this.result = fixture.load('test1.html', 'test1.json');
  });
 
  afterEach(function(){
    fixture.cleanup()
  });
 
  it('plays with the html fixture', function(){
    expect(fixture.el.firstChild).to.equal(this.result[0][0]);
  });
 
  // ... 
});

API

fixture.el

Reference to the container element. Every html fixture loaded gets appended inside this container.
fixture.json

An array of all json objects imported from fixture templates.
fixture.load(files..., append = false)

It takes multiple filenames as arguments. All filenames are loaded from within the base path.

It loads and appends them inside the fixtures container element. It returns an array with references to the newly created first level html elements. When more than one are loaded, it returns an array of the above described format, for each loaded fixture.

It takes an optional boolean argument which defaults to false. If false, it empties the window.fixture.el container element and clears the window.fixture.json array. If true, it just appends the requested fixture to the container.

If your fixtures exist in a base path other than the default spec/fixtures, you should call fixture.setBase('fixtures/base/path') in your specs, or load them with their full, base included, filenames prefixed with a '/'.

For example: fixture.load('/my/other/base/path/fixture1.html')

Scenarios:

html fixture

It returns an array of all the first-level nodes created by the fixture file:
```
html_fixture = fixture.load('test1.html');
// then 
expect(html_fixture[0].innerHTML).to.equal('<p>p</p>')
// and 
expect(html_fixture[1].innerHTML).to.equal('<a href="#"><span>link</span></a>')
```
JSON fixture

It returns a valid object by JSON.parsing the passed json fixture file. Also all JSON files loaded get appended to the window.fixture.json array:
```
json_fixture = fixture.load('json/test1.json')
// then 
expect(json_fixture).to.eql({"test":true})
// and 
expect(fixture.json[0]).to.eql({"test":true})
```
Multiple files

The result will be an array containing results of each loaded template:
```
loaded_fixtures = fixture.load('test1.html', 'json/test1.json')
// then 
expect(loaded_fixtures[0][0].innerHTML).to.equal('<p>p</p>')
// and 
expect(loaded_fixtures[0][1].innerHTML).to.equal('<a href="#"><span>link</span></a>')
// and 
expect(loaded_fixtures[1]).to.eql({"test":true})
// and 
expect(fixture.json[0]).to.eql({"test":true})
```
fixture.set(html_strings, append=false)

It takes multiple html_strings as arguments and load them. It returns the loaded result, or an array of more than one loaded results

It takes a boolean argument with default value false. If false, it empties the window.fixture.el container element and clears the window.fixture.json array.
```
result = fixture.set('<h1>test</h1>')
// then 
expect(result[0].innerHTML).to.equal('<h1>test</h1>')
```
fixture.cleanup()

It empties the window.fixture.el container element and clears the window.fixture.json array.
fixture.setBase(fixtureBasePath)

It set the base path under which all forthcoming fixtures will be loaded. This can be bypassed by loading a fixture with its full, base included, filename prefixed with a '/'.