dynamic_suites.md

Dynamic Suites

With TestBox's BDD syntax, it is possible to create suites dynamically; however, there are a few things to be aware of.

Setup for dynamic suites must be done in the pseudo-constructor (versus in beforeAll()). This is because variables-scoped variables set in beforeAll() are not available in the describe closure (even though they are available in it closures). This behavior can be explained by the execution sequence of a BDD bundle: When the bundle's run() method is called, it collects preliminary test data via describes. After preliminary test data are collected, the beforeAll() runs, followed by the describe closures.

Additionally, care must be taken to pass data into the it closures, otherwise strange behavior will result (the values from the last loop iteration will be repeated in the body of each looped it).

Example

The following bundle creates suites dynamically, by looping over test metadata.

component
	extends="testbox.system.BaseSpec"
	hint="This is an example of a TestBox BDD test bundle containing dynamically-defined suites."
{
	
	/*
	* Need to do config for *dynamic* test suites here, in the
	* pseudo-constructor, versus in `beforeAll()`.
	*/
	doDynamicSuiteConfig();
	
	/*
	* @hint This method is arbitrarily named, but it sets up 
	* metadata needed by the dynamic suites example. The setup
	* could have been done straight in the pseudo-constructor,
	* but it might be nice to organize it into such a method
	* as this.
	*/
	function doDynamicSuiteConfig(){
		variables.dynamicSuiteConfig = ["foo","bar","baz"];
	}
	
	function run( testResults, testBox ){

		/*
		* @hint Dynamic Test Suites Example
		*/
		// loop over test metadata
		for ( var thing in dynamicSuiteConfig ) {
			describe("Dynamic Suite #thing#", function(){
				// notice how data is passed into the it() closure:
				//  * data={ keyA=valueA, keyB=ValueB }
				//  * function( data )
				it( title=thing & "test", 
                    data={ thing=thing }, 
                    body=function( data ) {
                      var thing = data.thing;
                      expect( thing ).toBe( thing );
				});
			});
		}
	
	}

}