How to implement unit testing within the strapi framework - node.js

Question

I'm experimenting with Strapi and would like to create a controller verified by unit tests.
How do I setup Unit tests within Strapi?
I have written the following test
test('checks entity inside boundary',async ()=> {
ctx={};
var result = await controller.findnearby(ctx);
result = {};
expect(result).anyting();
});
however, inside my Controller I have code that accesses a global strapi object, which causes this error ReferenceError: strapi is not defined
strapi.log.info('findNearby');
strapi.log.info(ctx.request.query.lat);
strapi.log.info(ctx.request.query.long);
What is the best practice with Strapi and testing?

Answer 1

I've managed to achieve testing in Strapi by creating a helper
const Strapi = require("strapi");
// above require creates a global named `strapi` that is an instance of Strapi
let instance; // singleton
async function setupStrapi() {
if (!instance) {
await Strapi().load();
instance = strapi;
instance.app
.use(instance.router.routes()) // this code in copied from app/node_modules/strapi/lib/Strapi.js
.use(instance.router.allowedMethods());
}
return instance;
}
module.exports = { setupStrapi };
You can get all of the controllers from app.controllers now and test them one by one.
My example test (in Jest) for API endpoint would look like
const request = require("supertest");
const { setupStrapi } = require("./helpers/strapi");
// We're setting timeout because sometimes bootstrap can take 5-7 seconds (big apps)
jest.setTimeout(10000);
let app; // this is instance of the the strapi
beforeAll(async () => {
app = await setupStrapi(); // return singleton so it can be called many times
});
it("should respond with 200 on /heartbeat", (done) => {
request(app.server) // app server is and instance of Class: http.Server
.get("/heartbeat")
.expect(200) // expecting response header code to by 200 success
.expect("Hello World!") // expecting reponse text to be "Hello World!"
.end(done); // let jest know that test is finished
});
I've tried to cover this topic on my blog https://medium.com/qunabu-interactive/strapi-jest-testing-with-gitlab-ci-82ffe4c5715a

Answer 2

There were some changes, regarding the version upgrade.
I recommend to switch to stable 3.0.0 and use the following snippet
const Strapi = require("strapi");
const http = require("http");
let instance;
async function setupStrapi() {
if (!instance) {
/** the follwing code in copied from `./node_modules/strapi/lib/Strapi.js` */
await Strapi().load();
instance = strapi; // strapi is global now
await instance.app
.use(instance.router.routes()) // populate KOA routes
.use(instance.router.allowedMethods()); // populate KOA methods
instance.server = http.createServer(instance.app.callback());
}
return instance;
}
module.exports = { setupStrapi };
Here is my example project.
Guide for this is hopefully coming to Strapi documentation sooner then later.