Node Test Helper

This test-helper module makes the node unit test framework from the Node-RED core available for node contributors.

Using the test-helper, your tests can start the Node-RED runtime, load a test flow, and receive messages to ensure your node code is correct.

Adding to your node project dependencies

To add unit tests your node project test dependencies, add this test helper as follows:

npm install node-red-node-test-helper --save-dev

This will add the helper module to your package.json file as a development dependency:

...
  "devDependencies": {
    "node-red-node-test-helper": "^0.1.6"
  }
...

The test-helper requires the node-red runtime to run its tests, but Node-RED is not installed as a dependency. The reason for this is that test-helper is (or will be) used in Node-RED core tests, and Node-RED itself has a large number of dependencies that you may not want to download if you already have it installed.

You can install the Node-RED runtime available for your unit tests one of two ways:

1. as a dev dependency in your project:

npm install node-red --save-dev

2. or link to Node-RED installed globally (recommended) using:

npm install -g node-red
npm link node-red

Both Mocha and Should will be pulled in with the test helper. Mocha is a unit test framework for Javascript; Should is an assertion library. For more information on these frameworks, see their associated documentation.

Linking to additional test dependencies

To reduce disk use further, you can install the test-helper and additional dev dependencies globally and then link them to your node project. This may be a better option especially if you are developing more than one node.

See the package.json file for the additional dependencies used by test-helper.

For example to install express globally:

npm install -g express

Then link to it in your project:

npm link express

Depending on the nodes in your test flow, you may also want to link to other global packages. If a test indicates that a package cannot be found, and you expect to need it for testing other nodes, consider installing the package globally and then linking it to your node project the same way.

Adding test script to package.json

To run your tests you can add a test script to your package.json file in the scripts section. To run all of the files with the _spec.js prefix in the test directory for example:

  ...
  "scripts": {
    "test": "mocha \"test/**/*_spec.js\""
  },
  ...

This will allow you to use npm test on the command line.

Creating unit tests

We recommend putting unit test scripts in the test/ folder of your project and using the *_spec.js (for specification) suffix naming convention.

Example unit test

Here is an example test for testing the lower-case node in the Node-RED documentation. Here we name our test script test/lower-case_spec.js.

test/lower-case_spec.js:

var should = require("should");
var helper = require("node-red-node-test-helper");
var lowerNode = require("../lower-case.js");

describe('lower-case Node', function () {

  afterEach(function () {
    helper.unload();
  });

  it('should be loaded', function (done) {
    var flow = [{ id: "n1", type: "lower-case", name: "lower-case" }];
    helper.load(lowerNode, flow, function () {
      var n1 = helper.getNode("n1");
      n1.should.have.property('name', 'lower-case');
      done();
    });
  });

  it('should make payload lower case', function (done) {
    var flow = [
      { id: "n1", type: "lower-case", name: "lower-case",wires:[["n2"]] },
      { id: "n2", type: "helper" }
    ];
    helper.load(lowerNode, flow, function () {
      var n2 = helper.getNode("n2");
      var n1 = helper.getNode("n1");
      n2.on("input", function (msg) {
        msg.should.have.property('payload', 'uppercase');
        done();
      });
      n1.receive({ payload: "UpperCase" });
    });
  });
});

In this example, we require should for assertions, this helper module, as well as the lower-case node we want to test, located in the parent directory.

We then have a set of mocha unit tests. These tests check that the node loads correctly, and ensures it makes the payload string lower case as expected.

Getting nodes in the runtime

The asynchronous helper.load() method calls the supplied callback function once the Node-RED server and runtime is ready. We can then call the helper.getNode(id) method to get a reference to nodes in the runtime. For more information on these methods see the API section below.

Receiving messages from nodes

The second test uses a helper node in the runtime connected to the output of our lower-case node under test. The helper node is a mock node with no functionality. By adding "input" event handlers as in the example, we can check the messages received by the helper.

To send a message into the lower-case node n1 under test we call n1.receive({ payload: "UpperCase" }) on that node. We can then check that the payload is indeed lower case in the helper node input event handler.

Running your tests

To run your tests:

npm test

Producing the following output (for this example):

> red-contrib-lower-case@0.1.0 test /dev/work/node-red-contrib-lower-case
> mocha "test/**/*_spec.js"

lower-case Node
  ✓ should be loaded
  ✓ should make payload lower case

2 passing (50ms)

Creating test flows with the editor

To create a test flow with the Node-RED editor, export the test flow to the clipboard, and then paste the flow into your unit test code. One helpful technique to include helper nodes in this way is to use a debug node as a placeholder for a helper node, and then search and replace "type":"debug" with "type":"helper" where needed.

Using catch and status nodes in test flows

To use catch and status or other nodes that depend on special handling in the runtime in your test flows, you will often need to add a tab to identify the flow, and associated z properties to your nodes to associate the nodes with the flow. For example:

var flow = [{id:"f1", type:"tab", label:"Test flow"},
  { id: "n1", z:"f1", type: "lower-case", name: "test name",wires:[["n2"]] },
  { id: "n2", z:"f1", type: "helper" }

Additional examples

For additional test examples taken from the Node-RED core, see the .js files supplied in the test/examples folder and the associated test code at test/nodes in the Node-RED repository.

API

Work in progress.

load(testNode, testFlows, testCredentials, cb)

Loads a flow then starts the flow. This function has the following arguments:

• testNode: (object|array of objects) Module object of a node to be tested returned by require function. This node will be registered, and can be used in testFlows.
• testFlow: (array of objects) Flow data to test a node. If you want to use flow data exported from Node-RED editor, export the flow to the clipboard and paste the content into your test scripts.
• testCredentials: (object) Optional node credentials.
• cb: (function) Function to call back when testFlows has been started.

unload()

Return promise to stop all flows, clean up test runtime.

getNode(id)

Returns a node instance by id in the testFlow. Any node that is defined in testFlows can be retrieved, including any helper node added to the flow.

clearFlows()

Stop all flows.

request()

Create http (supertest) request to the editor/admin url.

Example:

helper.request().post('/inject/invalid').expect(404).end(done);

startServer(done)

Starts a Node-RED server for testing nodes that depend on http or web sockets endpoints like the debug node. To start a Node-RED server before all test cases:

before(function(done) {
    helper.startServer(done);
});

stopServer(done)

Stop server. Generally called after unload() complete. For example, to unload a flow then stop a server after each test:

afterEach(function(done) {
    helper.unload().then(function() {
        helper.stopServer(done);
    });
});

url()

Return the URL of the helper server including the ephemeral port used when starting the server.

log()

Return a spy on the logs to look for events from the node under test. For example:

var logEvents = helper.log().args.filter(function(evt {
    return evt[0].type == "batch";
});

Running helper examples

npm run examples

This runs tests on an included lower-case node (as above) as well as snaphots of some of the core nodes' Javascript files to ensure the helper is working as expected.