The document discusses testing ColdFusion APIs, presenting various techniques and tools for effective testing including unit tests, integration tests, and functional tests. It outlines the advantages of using frameworks like TestBox for ColdFusion and offers comparisons between JavaScript testing frameworks such as Jasmine, Mocha, and QUnit. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of integrating testing into the development workflow and provides detailed examples for installation and configuration of testing tools.

1. 3 WAYS TO TEST YOUR
COLDFUSION API
Gavin Pickin
cf.Objective() 2017

2. Agenda
● Who Am I?
● State of the Room?
● CF API
● Ways to test your API?
● Overview of Testing Tools
● Using Testing in your Workflow
● Installing Jasmine
● Installing Testbox
● Live Demo

3. Who am I?
Gavin Pickin – developing Web Apps since late 90s
● Software Consultant for Ortus Solutions
● ContentBox Evangelist
What else do you need to know?
● Blog - http://www.gpickin.com
● Twitter – http://twitter.com/gpickin
● Github - https://github.com/gpickin
Let’s get on with the show.

4. State of the Room
● A few questions for you guys
● If you have arms, use them.

5. APIs in CFML
Most CF Apps are moving towards providing an API for multiple consumers
CF has many REST API Solutions and even more with CF 2016
● Built in CF
● Built in Railo/Lucee
● Coldbox API
● Taffy

6. Ways to Test your Code
● Click around in the browser yourself
● Setup Selenium / Web Driver to
click around for you
● Structured Programmatic Tests

7. Types of Testing
● Black/White Box
● Unit Testing
● Integration Testing
● Functional Tests
● System Tests
● End to End Tests
● Sanity Testing
● Regression Test
● Acceptance Tests
● Load Testing
● Stress Test
● Performance Tests
● Usability Tests
● + More

9. Integration Testing
● Integration Tests several of the pieces together
● Most of the types of tests are variations of an Integration
Test
● Can include mocks but can full end to end tests including
DB / APIs

10. Unit Testing
“unit testing is a software verification and validation method in
which a programmer tests if individual units of source code
are fit for use. A unit is the smallest testable part of an
application”
- wikipedia

11. Unit Testing can...
● Can improve code quality -> quick error discovery
● Code confidence via immediate verification
● Can expose high coupling
● Will encourage refactoring to produce > testable code
● Remember: Testing is all about behavior and expectations

12. Styles – TDD vs BDD
● TDD = Test Driven Development
○ Write Tests
○ Run them and they Fail
○ Write Functions to Fulfill the Tests
○ Tests should pass
○ Refactor in confidence
Test focus on Functionality

13. Styles - TDD vs BDD
● BDD = Behavior Driven Development
Actually similar to TDD except:
● Focuses on Behavior and Specifications
● Specs (tests) are fluent and readable
● Readability makes them great for all levels of testing in the
organization
Hard to find TDD examples in JS that are not using BDD describe and it
blocks

14. TDD Example
Test( ‘Email address must not be blank’, function(){
notEqual(email, “”, "failed");
});

15. BDD Example
Describe( ‘Email Address’, function(){
It(‘should not be blank’, function(){
expect(email).not.toBe(“”);
});
});

16. Matchers
expect(true).toBe(true);
expect(true).toBe(true);
expect(true).toBe(true);
expect(true).toBe(true);

17. Matchers
expect(true).not.toBe(true);
expect(true).not.toBe(true);
expect(true).not.toBe(true);
expect(true).not.toBe(true);
expect(true).not.toBe(true);

18. Matcher Samples
expect(true).toBe(true);
expect(a).not.toBe(null);
expect(a).toEqual(12);
expect(message).toMatch(/bar/);
expect(message).toMatch("bar");
expect(message).not.toMatch(/quux/);
expect(a.foo).toBeDefined();
expect(a.bar).not.toBeDefined();

19. Different Testing
Environments?
NodeJS - CLI In the Browser

20. CF Testing Tools
* MxUnit was the standard
* TestBox is the new standard
Other options

21. TestBox
TestBox is a next generation testing framework for ColdFusion
(CFML) that is based on BDD (Behavior Driven Development)
for providing a clean obvious syntax for writing tests.
It contains not only a testing framework, runner, assertions
and expectations library but also ships with MockBox, A
Mocking & Stubbing Framework,.
It also supports xUnit style of testing and MXUnit
compatibilities.

22. TestBox TDD Example
function testHelloWorld(){
$assert.includes( helloWorld(), ”world" );
}

23. TestBox BDD Example
describe("Hello world function", function() {
it(”contains the word world", function() {
expect(helloWorld()).toContain("world");
});
});

24. TestBox New BDD Example
feature( "Box Size", function(){
describe( "In order to know what size box I need
As a distribution manager
I want to know the volume of the box", function(){
scenario( "Get box volume", function(){
given( "I have entered a width of 20
And a height of 30
And a depth of 40", function(){
when( "I run the calculation", function(){
then( "the result should be 24000", function(){

25. JS Testing Tools
*There are a few choices

26. Main JS Testing Players
Jasmine, Mocha and QUnit

27. Jasmine
*Jasmine comes ready to go out of the box
*Fluent Syntax – BDD Style
*Includes lots of matchers
*Has spies included
*Very popular, lots of support
*Angular uses Jasmine with Karma (CLI)
*Headless running and plays well with CI servers

28. Jasmine - Cons
Async testing in 1.3 can be a headache
*Async testing in 2.0 is hard to find
blog posts on (I need to write one)
*Expects *spec.js suffix for test files
*This can be modified depending on
how you are running the tests

29. Jasmine – Sample Test
describe("Hello world function", function() {
it(”contains the word world", function() {
expect(helloWorld()).toContain("world");
});
});

30. Mocha
*Simple Setup
*Simple Async testing
*Works great with other Assertion libraries like Chai ( not
included )
*Solid Support with CI Servers, with Plugins for others
*Opinion says Mocha blazing the trail for new features

31. Mocha - Cons
*Requires other Libraries for key features
*No Assertion Library included
*No Mocking / Spied included
*Need to create the runner manually
*Newer to the game so not as popular or supported as
others but gaining traction.

32. Mocha – BDD Sample Test
var expect = require('chai').expect;
describe(’Hello World Function', function(){
it('should contain the word world', function(){
expect(helloWorld()).to.contain(’world');
})
})

33. QUnit
*The oldest of the main testing frameworks
*Is popular due to use in jQuery and age
*Ember’s default Unit testing Framework

34. QUnit - Cons
*Development slowed down since
2013 (but still under development)
*Syntax – No BDD style
*Assertion libraries – limited matchers

35. QUnit – Sample Test
QUnit.test( "ok test", function( assert ) {
assert.ok( true, "true succeeds" );
assert.ok( "non-empty", "non-empty string succeeds"
);
assert.ok( false, "false fails" );
assert.ok( 0, "0 fails" );
assert.ok( NaN, "NaN fails" );
assert.ok( "", "empty string fails" );
assert.ok( null, "null fails" );
assert.ok( undefined, "undefined fails" );

36. Spaghetti Javascript
Photo Credit – Kombination
http://www.kombination.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/baby_w_spaghetti_mess_4987941.jpg

37. Spaghetti Javascript Example

38. Spaghetti Javascript Example

39. Refactoring Spaghetti
*Things to refactor to make your code testable
*Code should not be one big chunk of Javascript in
onReady()
*Deep nested callbacks & Anon functions cannot
easily be singled out and tested
*Remove Tight Coupling – DOM access for example

40. Refactoring Spaghetti
*Lets look at some code
*This isn’t BEST PRACTICE, its BETTER PRACTICE than
you were doing
*Its not really refactoring if you don’t have tests, its
“moving code and asking for trouble”
Kev McCabe

41. Object Literals
var personObjLit = {
ssn: ’xxxxxxxx',
age: '35',
name: 'Gavin Pickin',
getAge: function(){
return this.age;
},
getName: function() {
return this.name;
}
};

42. Module Pattern
var personObjLit2 = function() {
ssn = ’xxxxxxx';
age = '35';
name = 'Gavin Pickin’;
return {
getAge: function(){
return age;
},
getName: function() {
return name;
}
};
};

43. Using Testing in your Workflow
*Using HTML Test Runners
*Keep a Browser open
*F5 refresh tests

44. Command Line Tests
*Run Jasmine – manual
*Run tests at the end of each section of work
*Run Grunt-Watch – automatic
*Runs Jasmine on every file change
*Grunt can run other tasks as well,
minification etc

45. Testing in your IDE
*Browser Views
*Eclipse allows you to open files in web view
– uses HTML Runner
*Run Jasmine / Grunt / Karma in IDE Console
*Fairly Easy to setup
*See Demo– Sublime Text 2 (if we have time)

46. Live Demo and Examples
*Install / Run Jasmine Standalone for Browser
*Install / Run Jasmine with NodeJs
*Install / Run Jasmine with Grunt Watch
*Install / Run Testbox in Browser

47. Install / Run Jasmine for In-Browser Testing
Download standalone package from Github (I have 2.1.3)
https://github.com/jasmine/jasmine/tree/master/dist
Unzip into your /tests folder
Run /tests/SpecRunner.html to see example tests

48. Standalone Jasmine

49. Installing Jasmine for in Browser Testing
http://www.testableapi.local.com:8504/tests/SpecRunner.html

50. SpecRunner Setup Jasmine Browser Test
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Jasmine Spec Runner v2.1.3</title>
<link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="lib/jasmine-2.1.3/jasmine_favicon.png">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="lib/jasmine-2.1.3/jasmine.css”>
<script src="lib/jasmine-2.1.3/jasmine.js"></script>
<script src="lib/jasmine-2.1.3/jasmine-html.js"></script>
<script src="lib/jasmine-2.1.3/boot.js"></script>
<!-- include source files here... -->
<script src="../js/services/loginService.js"></script>
<!-- include spec files here... -->
<script src="spec/loginServiceSpec.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
</body>

51. Installing Jasmine with NodeJS
Assuming you have NodeJs Installed… install Jasmine
$ npm install jasmine
jasmine@2.2.1 node_modules/jasmine
├── exit@0.1.2
├── jasmine-core@2.2.0
└── glob@3.2.11 (inherits@2.0.1, minimatch@0.3.0)

52. Installing Jasmine with NodeJS
Once Jasmine is installed in your project
$ Jasmine init

53. Installing Jasmine with NodeJS
Edit Jasmine.json to update Locations for Spec Files and Helper Files
{
"spec_dir": "spec",
"spec_files": [
"**/*[sS]pec.js"
],
"helpers": [
"helpers/**/*.js"
]
}

54. Running Jasmine Tests with NodeJS
$ Jasmine
Started
F
Failures:
1) A suite contains spec with an expectation
Message:
Expected true to be false.
Stack:
Error: Expected true to be false.
at Object.<anonymous>
(/Users/gavinpickin/Dropbox/Apps/testApp/www/spec/test_spec.js:3:1
8)
1 spec, 1 failure

55. Running Jasmine Tests with NodeJS
*Jasmine-Node is great for Node
*Jasmine Node doesn’t have a headless browser
*Hard to test Browser code
*So what should I use?

56. Installing Jasmine with Grunt Watcher
*Install Grunt
npm install grunt
*Install Grunt – Jasmine
npm install grunt-contrib-jasmine
*Install Grunt – Watch
npm install grunt-contrib-watch

57. Configuring Jasmine with Grunt Watcher
// gruntfile.js - https://gist.github.com/gpickin/1e1e7902d1d3676d23c5
module.exports = function (grunt) {
grunt.initConfig({
pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('node_modules/grunt/package.json'),
jasmine: {
all: {
src: ['js/*.js' ],
options: {
//'vendor': ['path/to/vendor/libs/*.js'],
'specs': ['specs/*.js' ], '--web-security': false
}

58. Configuring Jasmine with Grunt Watcher
// gruntfile.js part 2
watch: {
js: {
files: [
'js/*.js',
'specs/*.js',
],
tasks: ['jasmine:all']
}
}

59. Configuring Jasmine with Grunt Watcher
// gruntfile.js part 3
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jasmine');
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
};

60. Example Jasmine Spec with Grunt Watcher
describe("Forgotten Password Form", function() {
it("should warn you if the email is invalid before making Ajax Call",
function() {
expect( isEmailInputInvalid('') ).toBe(true);
expect( isEmailInputInvalid('dddddddddd') ).toBe(true);
expect( isEmailInputInvalid('dddddd@') ).toBe(true);
expect( isEmailInputInvalid('dddddd@ddddd') ).toBe(true);
expect( isEmailInputInvalid('dddddd@ddddddd.') ).toBe(true);
expect( isEmailInputInvalid('dddddd@ddddddd.com') ).toBe(false);

61. Example Jasmine Spec with Grunt Watcher
describe("Login Form", function() {
it("should set status correct status message with successful Ajax
Response", function() {
spyOn( window, "setStatusMessage");
processLoginAjaxDone('{"RESULT":"200"}');
expect(setStatusMessage).toHaveBeenCalled();
expect(setStatusMessage).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
‘TARDIS Access Granted - Please wait for the Doctor to take you for
a spin');
});

62. Example Jasmine Spec with Grunt Watcher
describe("Login API", function() {
it("should return a failing Ajax Response", function() {
spyOn( window, "processLoginAjaxDone");
loginButtonEventHandlerProcess( 'gavin@gavin.co.nz', 'password');
expect(processLoginAjaxDone).toHaveBeenCalled();
expect(processLoginAjaxDone).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
‘{"RESULT":400}');
expect(processLoginAjaxFail).not.toHaveBeenCalled();

63. Whats wrong with that?
describe("Login API", function() {
it("should return a failing Ajax Response", function() {
spyOn( window, "processLoginAjaxDone");
loginButtonEventHandlerProcess( 'gavin@gavin.co.nz', 'password');
expect(processLoginAjaxDone).toHaveBeenCalled();
expect(processLoginAjaxDone).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
‘{"RESULT":400}');
expect(processLoginAjaxFail).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
});

64. Unit Tests and Async Calls
*You want Unit Tests to test the unit and not it’s
dependencies
*You want Unit Tests to run quick
*You should mock the API in the Ajax call
*But we want to test the API
*So essentially, we’re writing an integration test.

65. How to wait for Async
describe("Login API", function() {
beforeEach(function( done ) {
spyOn( window, "processLoginAjaxDone").and.callFake(
function(){ done(); });
spyOn( window, "processLoginAjaxFail").and.callFake(
function(){ done(); });
loginButtonEventHandlerProcess('gavin@gavin.co.nz', 'password');
});
it("should return a failing Ajax Response", function() { });
});

66. How to wait for Async
describe("Login API", function() {
beforeEach(function( done ) {
…
});
it("should return a failing Ajax Response", function() {
expect(processLoginAjaxDone).toHaveBeenCalled();
expect(processLoginAjaxDone).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
'{"RESULT":400}');
expect(processLoginAjaxFail).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
});

67. Running Jasmine with Grunt Watcher

68. Running Jasmine with Grunt Watcher

69. Installing Testbox
*Install Testbox – Easy Thanks to Commandbox
*box install testbox
*Next, decide how you want to run Testbox

70. Create a runner.cfm
*<cfsetting showDebugOutput="false">
*<!--- Executes all tests in the 'specs' folder with simple reporter by
default --->
*<cfparam name="url.reporter" default="simple">
*<cfparam name="url.directory" default="tests.specs">
*<cfparam name="url.recurse" default="true"
type="boolean">
*<cfparam name="url.bundles" default="">
*<cfparam name="url.labels" default="">

71. Create a Test Suite
// tests/specs/CFCTest.cfc
component extends="testbox.system.BaseSpec" {
function run() {
it( "will error with incorrect login", function(){
var oTest = new cfcs.userServiceRemote();
expect( oTest.login( 'gavin@gavin.com',
'topsecret').result ).toBe('400');
});
}

72. Create a 2nd
Test Suite
// tests/specs/APITest.cfc
component extends="testbox.system.BaseSpec" {
function run() {
describe("userService API Login", function(){
it( "will error with incorrect login", function(){
var email = "gavin@gavin.com";
var password = "topsecret”;
var result = "";
http
url="http://www.testableapi.local.com:8504/cfcs/userServiceRemote.cfc?method=log
in&email=#email#&password=#password#" result="result”;
expect( DeserializeJSON(result.filecontent).result ).toBe('400');
});
});

73. Running Testbox with runner.cfm

74. Running Testbox with Grunt Watch
*Install Testbox Runner – Thanks Sean Coyne
*npm install testbox-runner
*Install Grunt Shell
*npm install grunt-shell
*Add Grunt Configuration

75. Adding TextBox Config 1
module.exports = function (grunt) {
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-shell');
grunt.initConfig({ … })
}

76. Adding TextBox Config 2
Watch: {
…
cfml: {
files: [ "cfcs/*.cfc"],
tasks: [ "testbox" ]
}
}

77. Adding TextBox Config 3
shell: {
testbox: {
command:
"./node_modules/testbox-runner/index.js
--colors --runner
http://www.testableapi.local.com:8504/tests/r
unner.cfm --directory /tests/specs --recurse
true”

78. Adding TextBox Config 4
grunt.registerTask("testbox", [ "shell:testbox" ]);
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jasmine');
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');

79. Adding TextBox Config 5
js: {
files: [
'js/*.js',
'specs/*.js',
"cfcs/*.cfc”
],
tasks: ['jasmine:all']
},

80. GruntFile.js Gists
Jasmine
https://gist.github.com/gpickin/1e1e7902d1d36
76d23c5
Jasmine + Testbox
https://gist.github.com/gpickin/9fc82df3667ee
b63c7e7

81. Testbox output with Grunt

82. Testbox Runner JSON
*Testbox has several runners, you have seen the HTML one, this
Runner uses the JSON runner and then formats it.
*http://www.testableapi.local.com:8504/tests/runner.cfm?rep
orter=JSON&directory=%2Ftests%2Fspecs&recurse=true

83. Running in Sublime Text 2
*Install PackageControl into Sublime Text
*Install Grunt from PackageControl
*https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Grunt
*Update Grunt Sublime Settings for paths
{
"exec_args": { "path": "/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin” }
}
*Then Command Shift P – grunt

84. Running in Sublime Text 2