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Use any sane assertion library instead.

yaba

0.1.12 • Public • Published

DEPRECATED. Use any sane assertion library instead.

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Overview

Yet Another Better Assert. assert(expression). If truthy–yay! If falsy: Error with the expression! Cross-browser.

Example:

var assert = require("yaba")
describe("maths", function () {
    it("is hard", function () {
        assert(3 < 2)
    })
})
Error: assert(3 < 2)

More examples: (in CoffeeScript)

Installation

npm install yaba or component install lydell/yaba

CommonJS: var assert = require("yaba")

AMD and regular old browser globals: Use ./yaba.js

Tests

Node.js: npm test

Browser: Open ./test/browser/index.html

Usage

yaba(expression)

Pretty much already explained.

yaba.actual && yaba.expected && yaba.message

You can give extra information to yaba by assigning the above properties, which it will use during the next run—and only then. This way, you can let other tools make yaba show details about why an assertion failed. An example:

assert = require "yaba"
equals = require "equals" # https://github.com/jkroso/equals 
equal = (actual, expected)->
  assert.actual   = actual
  assert.expected = expected
  equals(actualexpected)
# require compiler, fs/read, etc. 
 
assert equal compiler.compile(read("input.file"))read("input.file.expected")

Now, each time you call equal it will set up .actual and .expected for the next yaba call. yaba then puts those properties on the error it throws. It also sets .showDiff to true.

If your testing frameworks supports error.actual and error.expected (like mocha) you will now get nice diffs if the compiler is buggy, etc.

Just make sure that you always call equal inside yaba, so you don't leak the information to the next yaba call.

yaba.message will be appended to the message of the thrown error. That is used by the throws module. An example:

assert = require "yaba"
throws = require "throws"
throws.messageHolder = assert
 
assert throws TypeError-> throw new Error
Error: Assertion 1 failed. Expected the error to be an instance of `TypeError`.
assert throws TypeError, -> throw new Error

throws sets .message for the next yaba call. Just like equal, only call it inside yaba.

You can of course set it manually, to display a custom message:

assert.message = "My custom extra message"
assert false
Error: Assertion 1 failed. My custom extra message
assert false

But it is probably a better idea to use a comment:

assert false # My custom extra message 
Error: Assertion 1 failed.
assert false # My custom extra message

That's why yaba only takes one parameter, as opposed to many other assert functions which take two (an expression and an optional message).

error.yaba && yaba.error

Initially I wanted to throw a custom AssertionError so you could error instanceof AssertionError check stuff. However, subclassing Error sucks in JavaScript, so I took a different approach. You may check if error.yaba is truthy or not, or, for the paranoid, if error.yaba === yaba.error.

How it works

Modern browsers put a stack property on error objects, containing a stack trace. yaba constructs a new error, and then uses parse-stack to get the file path to the file containing the yaba() call, as well as the line number and column number (if available) of the call. It then reads the source file (note about local testing), and cuts out the assert expression at the given position.

Better yet, if you're running CoffeeScript files via the coffee command, the stack trace will point to the original CoffeeScript source, giving you the expression in CoffeeScript. (Requires CoffeeScript 1.7.0 or later). That's currently not possible in any browser.

If the environment does not put a stack property on error objects, yaba still works. You just don't get the expression in the error message. You still get something like "Assertion 15 failed", though. The number of runs is actually stored in assert.runs. If you plan to use it a lot in some old browser, you perhaps would like to reset that before each test, like beforeEach -> assert.runs = 0, to ease the debugging.

Quirks

tl;dr: Format your code sanely and you'll be fine.

The expression will start at the given column number, or if none is available, the beginning of the line. So if you care about for example Firefox and iOS Safari, put all asserts at the beginning of the line (after any indentation). If not, do it anyway. It's readable.

The expression will end at the end of the line. So don't put other stuff on the same line as an assert, if you don't want it to show up in the error messages. It's not worth parsing the JavaScript to find the exact end of the expression. Moreover, compile-to-js languages should be supported too. Last but not least, it could be seen as a feature: Any useful comments after an assert will be included. Even if you don't care: Don't put anything after an assert anyway. Why would you?

I said that the expression ends at the end of the line. That's not really true. Multi-line asserts are supported—as long as you indent each subsequent line more than the first one. Do that anyway. It's readable.

Well, the last thing I said wasn't really true either. The last line of a multi-line expression can be on the same indentation level if it starts with common "ending" characters, such as ]})"'. And if such a line is immediately followed by a more indented line, the process starts over. So the following should work:

it("intentionally not indenting", function() {
assert({
  key: value
}, {
  key: value
}, {
 
  blank_above: "works"
});
});
// The above line should not be mistaken to belong to `assert`.

One caveat, for CoffeeScript users:

assert string is """
    The three ending quotes are going to be missing.
"""
assert string is """
    You could write it this way instead.
    """

While talking about indentation. Never mix spaces and tabs. That'll confuse yaba, you and everyone else. Don't.

Why "yaba"? What's the difference compared to other assertion libs?

It's an acronym for "Yet Another Better Assert" since it is inspired by visionmedia/better-assert, this fork of it for CoffeeScript support, rhoot/cassert and component/assert.

The difference is that it works not only in Node.js or V8-powered browsers, but a lot of other browsers as well. It has the potential to support compile-to-js languages, and currently does so for CoffeeScript in Node.js. And when it cannot get the expression, it is helpful by giving you the assertion count. Oh, and don't forget the .actual, .expected and .message.

As a Star Wars fan, I also like that "yaba" sounds a bit like "Jabba" [the Hutt].

License

LGPLv3.

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npm i yaba

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Version

0.1.12

License

LGPLv3

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  • lydell