CPS4/Z3ECM sprint, day 4, Javascript unit testing automation

For the last day of sprint, I wanted to set up a Javascript unit test automation,
in order to be able to run all Js unitests like Python tests are through buildbot.

Scriptaculous unit testing framework provides a way to do it: the tests results are sent to a url through an Ajax call.

More infos on unit testing javascript here: Scriptaculous Unit testing

Therefore, I have coded:

• a small python script that launches html unit tests with mozilla-firefox, then close it
• a small python http server that retrieves results sent by the javascript

Some caveats to correct before its useable in a Zope project:

• Right now the results sent by the unit test is just a simple 'SUCESS' or 'ERROR' string, and I need to change it so I can get the full error log when they are errors, like the one displayed in the browser, and convert it to Python assertions.
• The ajax call to send results is done from the filesystem html to the localhost. So a trick is needed to make cross-domain ajax posts. The python http server could be used to serve the html tests file as well to avoid this problem, so I would have a complete js test server.
• It needs to work on IE as well, maybe through Wine
  

So to the question "Can I do TDD in JS as smoothly as in Python ?", I'd answer: "Yes, it's coming up :)"

You can check the work here: nuxeo.javascript cps tests

I might try to release the js test runner in a clean package sometimes, as it might be reused.

This entry contains a screencast, you should check it in a browser

(Post originally written by Tarek Ziadé on the old Nuxeo blogs.)