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SodaJS, functional web testing in NodeJS

65 points by admc 16y ago

Write your tests in NodeJS, run them with Selenium RC, or on Saucelabs OnDemand service in all your favorite OS/Browser combo's. Very, awesome.

endtime 16y ago
I know it's not exactly the intended use, but does this allow one to effectively run a headless browser with JS from a server with Node installed? (Right now I'm generating server-side snapshots of Raphael.JS drawings with wkhtmltoimage, but I'd much rather get the actual SVG and run it through Inkscape.)
- wccrawford 16y ago
  From the video, it appears to run a standard browser and pretend to be a person, and creates a video from it. Or something. Seems kind of odd.
  - hugs 16y ago
    When you run a browser test on a cloud service, how do you know if it looked good or not? We created the video recording part of Sauce's testing service so you can see how the browser test worked in our cloud.
- carson 16y ago
  I don't think that is what you would want to do with this. It is really made for automated testing with specific browsers.
carson 16y ago
While all the work to bring things to Javascript is nice I'm not sure that everything needs to be wrapped in Javascript. I guess someone could argue that people who do web design know Javascript so this would let them create tests easier but do most people write these tests by hand or use IDEs to record them?
- icey 16y ago
  What's the harm in having tools written in Javascript? Now that it's getting used on the server more often, it's nice to be able to use the same language everywhere.
- Vekz 16y ago
  Stating from experience. The IDEs tend to be inaccurate. They can provide a good skeleton for a test suite. But they have a hard time recording interatction with modals, animations, or facebook connect elements. Using an IDE you will find yourself returning to the generated code and hand coding other interactions.
cgbystrom 16y ago
I find Celerity with its completely headless browser much more interesting for doing acceptance/functional tests. Sports both CSS and JavaScript without requiring rendering.
- hugs 16y ago
  Headless browsers are faster, but they're not a real browser. Selenium was explicitly created to answer the question: "How does my app work in the actual browsers my users use?"
pluc 16y ago
What exactly is the video trying to show aside from a window opening?
- hugs 16y ago
  It shows the test (as seen on the left side of the screen at sodajs.com) running in a real browser.
- Rauchg_ 16y ago
  The test makes sure that provided invalid credentials (user and password), the message "please check your username and password" will show after making an ajax call to the server.
tjholowaychuk 16y ago
The video is an automated recording via Saucelabs. Selenium RC / Soda allow you to automate acceptance testing, paired up with Saucelabs allows you to do so across a matrix of operating systems, browsers, and browser versions completely automated using the Soda client (along with the selenium IDE if you choose) to write your tests.

65 points by admc 16y ago

Write your tests in NodeJS, run them with Selenium RC, or on Saucelabs OnDemand service in all your favorite OS/Browser combo's. Very, awesome.

endtime 16y ago

I know it's not exactly the intended use, but does this allow one to effectively run a headless browser with JS from a server with Node installed? (Right now I'm generating server-side snapshots of Raphael.JS drawings with wkhtmltoimage, but I'd much rather get the actual SVG and run it through Inkscape.)

wccrawford 16y ago
From the video, it appears to run a standard browser and pretend to be a person, and creates a video from it. Or something. Seems kind of odd.
- hugs 16y ago
  When you run a browser test on a cloud service, how do you know if it looked good or not? We created the video recording part of Sauce's testing service so you can see how the browser test worked in our cloud.
carson 16y ago
I don't think that is what you would want to do with this. It is really made for automated testing with specific browsers.

carson 16y ago

While all the work to bring things to Javascript is nice I'm not sure that everything needs to be wrapped in Javascript. I guess someone could argue that people who do web design know Javascript so this would let them create tests easier but do most people write these tests by hand or use IDEs to record them?

icey 16y ago
What's the harm in having tools written in Javascript? Now that it's getting used on the server more often, it's nice to be able to use the same language everywhere.
Vekz 16y ago
Stating from experience. The IDEs tend to be inaccurate. They can provide a good skeleton for a test suite. But they have a hard time recording interatction with modals, animations, or facebook connect elements. Using an IDE you will find yourself returning to the generated code and hand coding other interactions.

cgbystrom 16y ago

I find Celerity with its completely headless browser much more interesting for doing acceptance/functional tests. Sports both CSS and JavaScript without requiring rendering.

hugs 16y ago
Headless browsers are faster, but they're not a real browser. Selenium was explicitly created to answer the question: "How does my app work in the actual browsers my users use?"

pluc 16y ago

What exactly is the video trying to show aside from a window opening?

hugs 16y ago
It shows the test (as seen on the left side of the screen at sodajs.com) running in a real browser.
Rauchg_ 16y ago
The test makes sure that provided invalid credentials (user and password), the message "please check your username and password" will show after making an ajax call to the server.

tjholowaychuk 16y ago

The video is an automated recording via Saucelabs. Selenium RC / Soda allow you to automate acceptance testing, paired up with Saucelabs allows you to do so across a matrix of operating systems, browsers, and browser versions completely automated using the Soda client (along with the selenium IDE if you choose) to write your tests.