Breadboard is an opinionated inversion of control container for Node.js applications.
- Working with
requireis less than ideal.- The same module will have a different key depending on the path of the requiring module.
- Testing a module in isolation, ie. mocking its dependencies, requires hacky solutions that hijack
requirecalls. This approach is indeterministic, depending on various seemingly unrelated conditions around how the the module you want to mock was defined.
- Discouraging managing state of the app through side effects when
requireing. - Single function call to auto-mock a module's dependencies in your tests.
Breadboard will lazily require all your application's dependencies defined in package.json, all Node native modules and all of your application's modules and store them in a dependencies object. The object is exposed to your application's modules by calling the modules as functions, passing the dependencies as an argument. As such, your modules are expected to be wrapped in an extra function returning the desired export value, which Breadboard then calls on application start.
npm install breadboard
Consider this CommonJS module:
//startServer.js
const d = require('debug')('myApp');
const createServer = require('./lib/createServer');
module.exports = () => {
const server = createServer();
server.listen(80, () => {
d('Server listening on port 80');
});
return server;
};The Breadboard equivalent would be:
//startServer.js
// wrap module in factory function
module.exports = ({ // destructure dependencies to get the modules needed
debug,
'/lib/createServer': createServer
}) => {
// return the core functionality of the module as a function
return () => {
const server = createServer();
const d = debug('myApp');
server.listen(80, () => {
d('Server listening on port 80');
});
return server;
};
};To start your application:
const breadboard = require('breadboard');
breadboard({
entry: '/index',
containerRoot: 'app',
initialState: {
arbitrary: 'state data'
},
blacklist: ['newrelic']
}).then(({deps, entryResolveValue}) => {
console.log('Application started', deps, entryResolveValue);
});Take a look at examples/kitchen. To run, npm install then npm start.
Module keys in a Breadboard app are static, ie. are always relative to the container's root folder, starting with /, and always using / as path separators, no matter the platform. Consider these example module keys:
/lib/getUser
/middleware/getUser
/logger
Keys for native Node.js modules and 3rd party modules remain the same as if you were using require.
Breadboard also loads all JSON files. To access them, append .json to the end of the key, eg. /data/userPasswords.json.
breadboard(options)
Returns a promise chained to the return value of your application's entry point, which might be another promise or a concrete value.
Module key for the entry point of the application.
Will be called as the entry point module, with resolved dependencies as the argument.
Path relative to the current working directory, from which all module keys will be resolved
The argument the entry function will be called with.
List of modules from your package.json which you wish Breadboard not to load. If you want to defer a require call to a 3rd party module, put it in the blacklist and require manually in your code.
A Breadboard module-key to module mapping to indicate which modules you want to substitute across the whole application with your custom implementation. Useful when testing integration of multiple modules. You could substitute eg. a database connector with a stub to remove a running database as a dependency of your tests.
In tests require your Breadboard modules as if they were CommonJS modules. You can then supply your own stubs and spies as test doubles. Consider the following example:
module.exports = (deps) => {
return () => {
const {
'/widgets/createDough': createDough,
'/pasta/createPapardelle': createPapardelle,
'debug': debug
} = deps;
const d = debug('pasta');
d(createPapardelle(createDough()));
};
};import { expect } from 'chai';
import mainFactory from '../../app/index';
import sinon from 'sinon';
describe('Main', () => {
const sandbox = sinon.sandbox.create();
const debugSpy = sandbox.spy();
const mockDough = 'dough';
const mockDependencies = {
debug: sandbox.stub().returns(debugSpy),
'/widgets/createDough': sandbox.stub().returns(mockDough),
'/pasta/createPapardelle': sandbox.spy()
};
let main;
beforeEach(() => {
main = mainFactory(mockDependencies);
});
afterEach(() => {
sandbox.reset();
});
it('calls debug', () => {
main();
expect(mockDependencies.debug.calledOnce).to.be.true;
});
it('calls createDough', () => {
main();
expect(mockDependencies['/widgets/createDough'].calledOnce).to.be.true;
});
it('calls createPapardelle with createDough return value', () => {
main();
expect(mockDependencies['/pasta/createPapardelle'].calledWith(mockDough)).to.be.true;
});
});autoMock automatically replaces every dependency of a given Breadboard module with a Sinon.JS stub.
autoMock(factory, options)
The Breadboard factory function to build the subject to test.
A Breadboard module-key to module mapping to indicate which modules you want to mock manually.
The module returned by factory.
The mock dependencies injected into subject.
Instance of a Sinon.JS sandbox.
module.exports = (deps) => {
return function main() {
const {
'/widgets/createDough': createDough,
'/pasta/createPapardelle': createPapardelle,
'debug': debug
} = deps;
const d = debug('pasta');
d(createPapardelle(createDough()));
};
};import { expect } from 'chai';
import mainFactory from '../../app/index';
import autoMock from 'breadboard/lib/autoMock';
const mockDough = 'dough';
const {subject: main, sandbox, deps} = autoMock(mainFactory);
const debugSpy = sandbox.spy();
deps.debug.returns(debugSpy);
deps['/widgets/createDough'].returns(mockDough);
describe('Main', () => {
afterEach(() => {
sandbox.reset();
});
it('calls debug', () => {
main();
expect(deps.debug.calledOnce).to.be.true;
});
it('calls createDough', () => {
main();
expect(deps['/widgets/createDough'].calledOnce).to.be.true;
});
it('calls createPapardelle with createDough return value', () => {
main();
expect(deps['/pasta/createPapardelle'].calledWith(mockDough)).to.be.true;
});
});