This example demonstrates one way to scaffold out a browser-based JavaScript project that supports test-driven/behavior-driven development (TDD/BDD) using the following:
- Mocha as the unit testing framework
- Chai as the assertion library
- Browserify for module definition and JavaScript concatenation
- Grunt to automate testing and builds
This example is intentionally simple so as to be clear. It by no means provides a complete front-end development workflow but should serve as a useful reference for folks wanting to incorporate these tools into their current workflows or a good starting point to use as the basis for a more complete workflow.
Installation & Setup
Assuming you've already installed Node, follow these steps to install the project:
- Clone this repository or download the ZIP.
- From a command prompt navigate to the root of the repository.
- Run
npm installto automatically install the project's dependencies.
How To Use
The build script includes a number of Grunt tasks you can try out.
Running grunt test will compile and run the unit tests in Chrome.
Running grunt test:live is similar to the test task but will continue watching for edits to the JavaScript or unit test files and automatically compile and run the tests when a change is detected. This is a great way to get constant, immediate feedback as you write your code. To see for yourself, run this task and then try making some breaking edits to either src/scripts/statistics-utils.js or test/specs/statistics-utils.spec.js while you keep the browser open.
Running grunt preview will compile and concatenate the JavaScript files for preview and immediately load the project's index.html page in Chrome.