the Website of Timothy McCabe Follower of Christ; Student of Epistemology, Apologetics, and Theology
Home Good News Proofs Questions Presentations Software More

How I Implemented JavaScript Unit Tests in my Cordova App

I had a lot of trouble finding clear, documented recommendations for implementing unit tests against the custom JavaScript code I'd written in my Cordova application, which implements several Cordova plugins. As a result of the plugin usage, testing in a standard browser made no sense, as the plugins' JavaScript libraries would not be available. So, if I tested in a browser, either I could not test any functions that implemented those plugins, or else I would have to mock far more than I found reasonable.

I wound up modifying my Cordova application to run Jasmine standalone 5.1.1 unit tests right inside the app.

I also made a config setting that I have to change before a production build to make sure my users don't see my unit tests when they open the app, though I won't be explaining that part here. You could always make an Easter Egg instead if you wanted, like tapping the logo seven times (or something) takes you to the unit tests.

Anyway, here's what I did and how I did it. Hopefully someone will find it useful. Note that this isn't a Cordova tutorial. I'm assuming you already have a Cordova app up-and-running. It's also not a Jasmine tutorial. I'm assuming you can write unit tests already or that you will figure out how elsewhere.

A.I. agrees that human reason necessitates God
Artificial Intelligence chatbot Claude agrees that the existence of human reason can only be explained by the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, rational God.

First, for our purposes here, in your Cordova app's index.html file, wherever you have your other HTML (represented below by the "Hello world" paragraph), make a link or button that will load the unit tests. Generally, you'll want your scripts loading after your HTML.

<body>
    <div id="htmlWrapper">
        <p>Hello world!</p>
        <a href="#unittests" id="btnOpenUnitTests">
            Unit tests
        </a>
    </div>
 
    <script src="cordova.js"></script>
    <script src="js/index.js"></script>
</body>

Next, download Jasmine standalone 5.1.1 and unzip it.

I personally set up my www directory structure like this, and I'll tell you what the relevant files do.

www/
- css/
- img/
- js/
  - index.js
  - source-code.js
  - source-code2.js
- unit/
  - jasmine-5-1-1/
    - boot0.js
    - boot1.js
    - jasmine.css
    - jasmine.js
    - jasmine-html.js
  - spec/
    - spec-tests.js
    - spec-tests2.js
  - specrunner.js
- index.html

The js/index.js file launches everything. I'm not actually unit testing it at all. But, it's just launching things, generally by loading other scripts and/or calling functions in them.

The vast majority of the app's custom JS code would go into files like js/source-code.js.

The actual unit tests for js/source-code.js go into js/unit/spec/spec-tests.js.

The Jasmine testing framework (basically all the individual files in the unzipped lib/ folder that you downloaded) is in the unit/jasmine-5-1-1/ directory.

How can evil exist if God exists?
If God is good, he wouldn't want evil. If he is omnipotent, he would be able to stop it. If he is omniscient, he would know how to stop it. So how can there be a good God when evil exists?

Cordova recommends using just one HTML page and loading everything into it via JavaScript. So, linking to a different HTML file to run the specs didn't fit the paradigm. Instead, I wanted to load the unit testing framework into my existing HTML page. Therefore, the unit/specrunner.js is a custom file I created based on Jasmine's SpecRunner.html file (found in the root of the unzipped folder you downloaded). That's what makes this all work.

But first, let's tie our btnOpenUnitTests hyperlink to our unit tests. In index.js, add this code. Notice that I have some ancillary functions for loading CSS and JS files. That's how I like to do it. You can do it your way if you prefer something different.

function insertCssFile(path, onSuccess, onError)
{
    try
    {
        var css = document.createElement("link");
        css.rel = "stylesheet";
        css.type = "text/css";
        css.href = path;
        css.onload = function()
        {
            if (typeof onSuccess != 'undefined'
                && !!onSuccess)
            {
                onSuccess();
            }
        }
        css.onerror = function()
        {
            if (typeof onError != 'undefined'
                && !!onError)
            {
                onError(path, 'FAILURE loading CSS');
            }
        }
        document.body.prepend(css);
    }
    catch(e)
    {
        console.log(e);
    }
}

function insertJsFile(path, onSuccess, onError)
{
    try
    {
        var js = document.createElement("script");
        js.type = "text/javascript";
        js.src = path;
        js.onload = function()
        {
            if (typeof onSuccess != 'undefined'
                && !!onSuccess)
            {
                onSuccess();
            }
        }
        js.onerror = function()
        {
            if (typeof onError != 'undefined'
                && !!onError)
            {
                onError(path, 'FAILURE loading JS');
            }
        }
        document.body.append(js);
    }
    catch(e)
    {
        console.log(e);
    }
}

function insertJsFiles(pathsAry, onSuccess, onError)
{
    // Pass in an array of JS files and
    // they will be loaded in the
    // consecutive order specified in the array
    var tmpAry = [];
    var firstPth = pathsAry[0];
    for (var i=0, len=pathsAry.length; i<len; i++)
    {
        var pth = pathsAry[i];
        if (i != 0)
        {
            tmpAry.push(pth);
        }
    }
    if (tmpAry.length > 0)
    {
        insertJsFile(firstPth, function()
        {
            insertJsFiles(tmpAry, onSuccess, onError);
        });
    }
    else
    {
        insertJsFile(firstPth, function()
        {
            if (typeof onSuccess != 'undefined'
                && !!onSuccess)
            {
                onSuccess();
            }
        });
    }
}

$('#btnOpenUnitTests').unbind('click.test').bind(
'click.test',
function(e)
{
    e.preventDefault();
    // Set up test runner and run all unit tests
    insertJsFile('unit/specrunner.js');
});
What is God like?
Why should I care what anyone else thinks, including any kind of god? Even if god's bigger and stronger than me, that doesn't mean he's right...

Now let's look at the specrunner.js file. Notice that it calls the same CSS and JS loading functions that we put into the index.js file. Since that file was already loaded, and we have a one-page app, they should still be available.

function loadJasmine(onSuccess)
{
    // Add Jasmine (standalone) unit testing framework
    // https://jasmine.github.io/pages/getting_started.html
    // https://github.com/jasmine/jasmine/releases
    insertCssFile('unit/jasmine-5-1-1/jasmine.css');
    insertJsFiles(
    [
        'unit/jasmine-5-1-1/jasmine.js',
        'unit/jasmine-5-1-1/jasmine-html.js',
        'unit/jasmine-5-1-1/boot0.js'
    ],
    function()
    {
        // Jasmine is now set up.
        // Insert source and spec files here...
        if (typeof onSuccess != 'undefined'
            && !!onSuccess)
        {
            onSuccess(function()
            {
                // Lastly, run Jasmine
                insertJsFile('unit/jasmine-5-1-1/boot1.js');
            });
        }
    });
}

// Wipe old stuffs we don't need no more
$('#htmlWrapper').empty();

// Load our unit testing framework
// and all of our source and spec files
loadJasmine(function(onComplete)
{
    // Add source and spec files here...
    insertJsFiles(
    [
        'js/source-code.js',
        'js/source-code2.js'
    ], function()
    {
        insertJsFiles(
        [
            'unit/spec/spec-tests.js',
            'unit/spec/spec-tests2.js'
        ], function()
        {
            if (typeof onComplete != 'undefined'
                &&!!onComplete)
            {
                onComplete();
            }
        });
    });
});

That should be it. My actual code was a bit different, and the code that I've shared here per-se is not tested. If it doesn't seem to work right, please let me know.

Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons

Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons

Riveting, yet absurd; romantic, yet innocent; Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons is a little Roald Dahl, a little Harry Potter, and a little Chronicles of Narnia, all rolled into one. Timothy McCabe collaborates with the great Benedict Ballyhoot to bring you the novel of the century!

 

World Religions and Cults (volume 2)

In Printed Form

Along with numerous other authors including Don Landis, Bodie Hodge and Roger Patterson, Timothy McCabe contributes analyses of various world religions and cults in this volume from Master Books.

Other Writings

"Is it possible for God to be both all-loving and all-powerful if he allows Hell in the form of eternal suffering and torture?"

What is intended by the phrase "all-loving"? Does it mean that God loves everyone and everything? A God like this loves evil. He loves rape, murder, Satanism, the hatred of Himself, idolatry, etc. He loves the rejection of love. Such a God would love hell and would love sending people to it. Thus, if that is what it means for there to be a God who is all-loving, then the answer to the question is certainly, an all loving God could send people to hell for eternal suffering and torture.
Continue reading...

"It seems when we examine real objects close enough, they become illusory at the quantum level. Also, the self seems to be an illusion in the strictest sense. Yet it is also real since it exists. What is the difference between reality and illusion?"

Both "reality" and "illusion" are simply words. As words, they carry the definitions that their speakers intend for them to have, and that their listeners read into them. What this means is that "reality" and "illusion" both have multiple meanings, and their definitions in a particular circumstance must be determined by context. For example, I could say that my brother is real, a part of reality. I could say that Tom Sawyer is not real.
Continue reading...

"Given that some parts of the Bible are literally true and others are metaphors or parables, how do you decide which is which?"

It would be impossible to speak comprehensively to this, but there are certain factors that are fairly common that can be pointed to in answer to this question. First, it's important to note that this question not only applies to the Bible, but to absolutely any work of literature.
Continue reading...

All articles