How to launch supertest files in node? - node.js

Question

I have a node/typescript server. I wish to test the api routes with supertest. I've written my first test, but cannot start it because
TypeError [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION]: Unknown file extension ".ts" for /Users/myname/Desktop/Code/Reapr/server/src/tests/search.test.ts
The test.ts file is:
import request from "supertest";
import { server } from "../index";
describe("GET /user/:id", () => {
it("return user information", (done) => {
request(server)
.get("/user/123")
.set("Accept", "application/json")
.expect("Content-Type", /json/)
.expect(200, done);
});
});
The package.json is:
{
"name": "my-server",
"version": "1.0.0",
"main": "index.js",
"license": "",
"scripts": {
"build": "rimraf ./build && tsc",
"dev": "nodemon",
"lint": "eslint . --ext .js,.ts",
"start": "npm run build && node build/index.js",
"test": "node src/tests/search.test.ts"
},
"type": "module",
"dependencies": {
"bcrypt": "^5.0.1",
"body-parser": "^1.19.0",
"cloudinary": "^1.25.1",
"compression": "^1.7.4",
"cookie-parser": "^1.4.5",
"cors": "^2.8.5",
"express": "^4.17.1",
"express-rate-limit": "^5.2.6",
"jsonwebtoken": "^8.5.1",
"mongoose": "^5.12.3",
"multer": "^1.4.2",
"nodemailer": "^6.5.0",
"nodemailer-express-handlebars": "^4.0.0",
"socket.io": "^4.0.1",
"stripe": "^8.142.0"
},
"devDependencies": {
"#types/express": "^4.17.11",
"#types/jest": "^26.0.22",
"#types/mongoose": "^5.10.4",
"#types/node": "^14.14.37",
"#types/socket.io": "^2.1.13",
"#types/stripe": "^8.0.417",
"#typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^4.20.0",
"#typescript-eslint/parser": "^4.20.0",
"babel-plugin-module-resolver": "^4.1.0",
"dotenv": "^8.2.0",
"eslint": "^7.23.0",
"nodemon": "^2.0.7",
"rimraf": "^3.0.2",
"supertest": "^6.1.3",
"ts-node": "^9.1.1",
"typescript": "^4.2.3"
}
}
Also, this error is only here when I explicitly write the script "test": node src/tests/search.test.ts". If I write "test": "jest", I got this error:
jest: command not found
So, how to properly launch my supertests files, if possible all at once, instead of changing the script line for every file?

Answer 1

You can execute a ts file directly with ts-node.
"test": "ts-node src/tests/search.test.ts"
Or build it to js file and run it with node.
To execute jest command, you have to install it, and you are using Typescript (?) then you also need ts-jest:
npm install ts-jest jest -D
Create a configuration file for jest: jest.config.js
module.exports = {
roots: ['<rootDir>/src'],
testMatch: [
'**/__tests__/**/*.+(ts|tsx|js)',
'**/?(*.)+(spec|test).+(ts|tsx|js)',
],
transform: {
'^.+\\.(ts|tsx)$': 'ts-jest',
},
};
Now, try to execute jest: npx jest

Answer 2

in package.json:
"jest": {
"preset": "ts-jest",
"testEnvironment": "node",
"setupFilesAfterEnv": [
"./src/test/setup.ts"
]
},
jest does not understand what typescript is, "ts-jest" will add typescript support.
"setupFilesAfterEnv" is optional. if you have a setup file, it will run this to set up extra configuration like adding "beforeAll, beforeEach" etc.
here is the dependencies you need to install for testing environment:
"devDependencies": {
"#types/jest": "^26.0.15",
"#types/supertest": "^2.0.10",
"jest": "^26.6.1",
"supertest": "^6.0.0",
"ts-jest": "^26.4.3"
}
also add this script to package.json:
"test": "jest --watchAll --no-cache"
--no-cache flag is related to typescript setup. jest sometimes does not catch the changes in typescript files.
lastly you imported server but make sure you set up server.ts properly. here I explained: supertest not found error testing express endpoint
this should set your testing environment