Support and/or documentation for JavaScript tests

[jwhitley]

We should lay out a dead-easy path to get Jasmine tests or Buster.js tests up and running.

[jmaicher]

+1
Do you have any ideas so far?

[jwhitley]

@jmaicher After I get #13 nailed down (almost done), I'll be working on a Rails demo app (see #8). I plan on getting some simple Jasmine tests in there by way of example, and to explore what, if any, additional support is needed by this gem. Current ETA is early next week.

Thanks!

[andrewdeandrade]

@jwhitley Got any ideas that I can explore in the meantime? I'm trying to get my tests working again. Here's a pull request in the jasmine-gem that seems like it might address this issue, but it was closed back in August and it doesn't look like it was ever pulled in.

jasmine/jasmine-gem#34

Here are some other relevant links I'm working through to try and figure this out that you may find useful:

http://japhr.blogspot.com/2011/12/jasmine-server-and-backbonejs-requirejs.html
http://japhr.blogspot.com/2011/12/jasmine-testing-of-requirejs-powered.html
http://groups.google.com/group/jasmine-js/browse_thread/thread/d10f59cba4d97792

[andrewdeandrade]

Upon further investigation, the most generic solution that would not require explicit require.js support in jasmine would be to allow something more an array of hashes instead of an array of strings in :src_files in jasmine.yml. However I doubt this would ever be pulled in since it would break backward compatibility.

The only other approach I can think of would be similar to the approach suggested by brendanjerwin, which is to add a require_js: helper method to the jasmine gem.

[jwhitley]

No ideas right norm sorry. I've not been tracking Jasmine stuff too closely; been busy with the gem and other work. I should have more next week as I put the demo app together.

[andrewdeandrade]

FYI: http://groups.google.com/group/jasmine-js/browse_thread/thread/6ba740ff058d35ea

[jwhitley]

Thanks for the heads-up. So monkey-patching it is...

[jwhitley]

Chris Strom did a nice writeup of integration between require.js and the jasmine gem for a Backbone app. See also Chris' demo repo that uses this approach.

This is all a bit unbaked right now, so I'm going to get some experience working with it in an app before implementing/recommending any particular approach just yet.

[andrewdeandrade]

I'm actually thinking of abandoning Jasmine for Buster.JS, which isn't 1.0 yet, but really really nice. It's also being designed for proper AMD testing. It's from the same guy responsible for Sinon.js

features:
-- client side testing
----- headless via PhantomJS
----- browser or command line via a JsTestDriver approach that can be integrated with a CI server like Jenkins or Hudson)
-- server-side testing in node

Check it out: http://busterjs.org/

[jwhitley]

Thanks for the tip. The buzz on Buster seems very positive. I'll dive in shortly and see what's what. Hopefully this issue can be resolved with some quick docs on Buster.js setup.

[andrewdeandrade]

BTW, I hacked together a quick gem that permits buster.js in a rails project:

https://github.com/malandrew/busterjs_on_rails

My gem is still really raw, but it has the minimum functionality needed to be able to run rake busterjs

I have yet to submit it to rubygems.org, so for the time being you'll have to point your Gemfile at my Github repo. This weekend, I'm going to try to get all the tests working and set up on travis and then I'll submit to rubygems.org

I'm working on a Guard gem for it as well, but I haven't gotten it to work just yet.

[jwhitley]

@malandrew Thanks. I'll have a look over the gem in the next day or two. For now, I'm tinkering around with adding Buster.js tests to an existing project to get a feel for it. The buzz on the requirejs list has been very positive.

[jmaicher]

Rajan Agaskar posted a simple guide in the jasmine-js google group [1] about how to set up jasmine-gem (edge) with the asset pipeline. In another post [2] Scott Burch introduced his jasmine-require helpers [3]. In combination this is pretty straightforward and works for me.

Buster.js sounds really promising but is currently under heavy development (internals rewrite).
From what the devs told me it's better to wait a few weeks until the "real" beta starts.

[1] http://groups.google.com/group/jasmine-js/browse_thread/thread/1919f00753d7b8df
[2] http://groups.google.com/group/jasmine-js/browse_thread/thread/6ba740ff058d35ea
[3] https://github.com/scottburch/jasmine-require

[jwhitley]

For the record, I'm unhappy with every existing solution for JS testing with RequireJS. I've got a working prototype that I'm going to publish shortly that addresses these concerns. Initially, it will be in the form of a demo Rails app that uses requirejs-rails, for early adopters and to back up a forthcoming issue on jasmine-gem. My goal will be to negotiate how changes can either be adapted into a pull request that Pivotal will be happy with, or else spun out as a separate plugin gem with appropriate config/API support integrated into jasmine-gem (I have to monkey patch jasmine-gem right now :-P )

[jwhitley]

I've published my take on this as documentation plus a new-Rails 3.2 app at requirejs-rails-jasmine-template. This really is about the integration of jasmine-gem and requirejs-rails, as opposed to the specific testing methodology. Various Jasmine helpers, tools like testr.js, etc. should all work fine in this environment.