Is it possible to use CommonJS modules with karma/mocha - requirejs

Question

Is this possible with CommonJS?
Basically I'm trying to take the API testing from http://thewayofcode.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/how-to-build-and-test-rest-api-with-nodejs-express-mocha/
and use Karma to run the tests.
I'm attempted to use RequireJS with karma, based off http://karma-runner.github.io/0.10/plus/requirejs.html
My package.json is correctly setup and 'npm install' gets everything I need,
but when I do 'karma start test/karma.conf.js' , no tests run
DEBUG [karma]: All browsers are ready, executing
DEBUG [web-server]: serving: /home/npoklitar/project/node_modules/karma/static/context.html
DEBUG [web-server]: serving: /home/npoklitar/project/node_modules/karma-requirejs/lib/require.js
DEBUG [web-server]: serving: /home/npoklitar/project/node_modules/karma-requirejs/lib/adapter.js
DEBUG [web-server]: serving: /home/npoklitar/project/node_modules/mocha/mocha.js
DEBUG [web-server]: serving: /home/npoklitar/project/node_modules/karma-mocha/lib/adapter.js
DEBUG [web-server]: serving: /home/npoklitar/project/test/routerSpec.js
DEBUG [web-server]: serving: /home/npoklitar/project/test/test-main.js
ERROR: 'There is no timestamp for /base/supertest.js!'
Chrome 30.0.1599 (Linux): Executed 0 of 0 SUCCESS (0 secs / 0 secs)
ERROR: 'There is no timestamp for /base/should.js!'
Chrome 30.0.1599 (Linux): Executed 0 of 0 SUCCESS (0 secs / 0 secs)
ERROR: 'There is no timestamp for /base/assert.js!'
Chrome 30.0.1599 (Linux): Executed 0 of 0 SUCCESS (0 secs / 0 secs)
Chrome 30.0.1599 (Linux): Executed 0 of 0 ERROR (0.355 secs / 0 secs)
DEBUG [launcher]: Disconnecting all browsers
DEBUG [launcher]: Killing Chrome
test/rounterSpec.js
require(['supertest','should','assert'], function(supertest,should,assert){
describe('Routing:', function() {
var url = 'http://localhost:16000';
describe('API', function() {
it('should return the success string and request headers', function(done){
supertest(url)
.get('/api')
.expect(200)
.end(function(err, res) {
if (err) {
throw err;
}
var text = res.text;
var splitted = text.split('!');
splitted[0].should.include('request successfully proxied to API');
done();
});
});
});
});
});
test/karma.conf.js
module.exports = function (karma) {
karma.set({
// base path, that will be used to resolve files and exclude
basePath: '../',
frameworks: ['mocha','requirejs'],
// list of files / patterns to load in the browser
files: [
// {pattern: 'node_modules/chai/chai.js', include: true},
// {pattern: '*.js', include: false},
'test/*.js',
'test/test-main.js'
],
// list of files to exclude
exclude: [
'karma.conf.js'
],
// use dots reporter, as travis terminal does not support escaping sequences
// possible values: 'dots', 'progress', 'junit', 'teamcity'
// CLI --reporters progress
reporters: ['progress', 'junit', 'coverage'],
junitReporter: {
// will be resolved to basePath (in the same way as files/exclude patterns)
outputFile: 'junit-report/test-results.xml'
},
preprocessors: {
'src/*.js': 'coverage'
},
//Code Coverage options. report type available:
//- html (default)
//- lcov (lcov and html)
//- lcovonly
//- text (standard output)
//- text-summary (standard output)
//- cobertura (xml format supported by Jenkins)
coverageReporter: {
// cf. http://gotwarlost.github.com/istanbul/public/apidocs/
type: 'lcov',
dir: 'coverage/'
},
// web server port
port: 9876,
// cli runner port
runnerPort: 9100,
// enable / disable colors in the output (reporters and logs)
colors: true,
// level of logging
// possible values: LOG_DISABLE || LOG_ERROR || LOG_WARN || LOG_INFO || LOG_DEBUG
logLevel: LOG_DEBUG,
// enable / disable watching file and executing tests whenever any file changes
autoWatch: true,
// Start these browsers, currently available:
// - Chrome
// - ChromeCanary
// - Firefox
// - Opera
// - Safari (only Mac)
// - PhantomJS
// - IE (only Windows)
// CLI --browsers Chrome,Firefox,Safari
browsers: ['Chrome'],
// If browser does not capture in given timeout [ms], kill it
captureTimeout: 6000,
// Continuous Integration mode
// if true, it capture browsers, run tests and exit
singleRun: true,
plugins: [
'karma-mocha',
'karma-chrome-launcher',
'karma-firefox-launcher',
'karma-junit-reporter',
'karma-coverage',
'karma-requirejs'
]
});
}
test/test-main.js
var tests = [];
for (var file in window.__karma__.files) {
if (/Spec\.js$/.test(file)) {
tests.push(file);
}
}
requirejs.config({
// Karma serves files from '/base'
baseUrl: '/base',
/*
paths: {
'jquery': '../lib/jquery',
'underscore': '../lib/underscore',
},
shim: {
'underscore': {
exports: '_'
}
},
*/
// nodeRequire: require, //doesnt work with or without this commented
// ask Require.js to load these files (all our tests)
deps: tests,
// start test run, once Require.js is done
callback: window.__karma__.start
});

Answer 1

I've created a plugin for Karma here: https://www.npmjs.com/package/karma-common-js
It let's you write tests as if you're using Browserify, but the plugin doesn't use Browserify. Not using Browserify has a few advantages:
There's no bundle created, so it's very fast for watching file changes
Line numbers and file names are preserved in stack traces without needing source maps
Works with karma-coverage
Lets you pass a second argument to require to pass in mocks
All (I hope) of Browserifys core features work. Such as transforms, respecting the browser field in package.json, requiring builtin modules uses the same shims as Browserify, etc.

Answer 2

There is now a CommonJS plugin for Karma: https://github.com/karma-runner/karma-commonjs

Answer 3

After trying a bunch of different plugins, I ended up using the karma-browserifast plugin that actually works quite well - especially if you run it in debug mode.