Jest uses describe and it and expect without you having to require them. This is okay because if you have a test file called test.spec.js, you'll never execute it directly by issuing the command node test.spec.js.
I want to execute it using node as a standard js file, without having to use jest's cli or npm test. Is it possible to do that?
For instance, I'd convert the following file:
// taken from documentation
const user = require('./users.js')
it('works with promises', () => {
expect.assertions(1);
return user.getUserName(4).then(data => expect(data).toEqual('Mark'));
});
To something like
var {describe, it, expect} = require('jest-primitives')
const user = require('./users.js')
it('works with promises', () => {
expect.assertions(1);
return user.getUserName(4).then(data => expect(data).toEqual('Mark'));
});
So that it's a self-contained js file, which can be run using just node.
A complete list of globals that jest provides is given here.
Is it technically possible? Yes.
Should you? Probably not. (But there are better ways - tl;dr use tape)
Jest is a test harness.
Jest is not the only test harness to use describe() and it(). These are typical test keywords for behavior-driven development (BDD). You'll also find them used with Mocha and others.
describe() and it() are functions that interface with the test harness, telling it to add a test suite and a test case, respectively. The test harness then runs the test cases, collects the results, formats the results and outputs them.
Generally, you should use technology as idiomatically as possible. This makes it easier for others to read, understand, and work with your technology.
In particular, using Jest in this way will be self-implemented, hacky, buggy and generally incomprehensible to anyone not familiar with your code. That being said, it should be possible.
Jest defines runner packages in their Jest monorepo. One is Circus, the other is Jasmine2.
Circus exports describe(), it() and some other keywords, though these are not really useful to us, as these functions only internally create the test suites and test cases but do not expose them to us or give us a way to run them.
Jasmine2 exports an executable function which returns a Promise of a test result. The code for jasmineAsyncInstall creates most of the keywords in the env or globally, and you might be able to use these.
What you'd want to do here is define it() and describe() functiions, either globally, as exports (if you'd like to use them as in the code sample in the question), or hackily by defining them inside the scope of the main module. These functions should register test cases and test suites. You'll want to either keep track of the test cases and run them later, or run them right away and keep track of the test results.
The problem now lies in determining when the test module has finished running. That is, when all of the describe() and it() have executed (whether or not the test cases themselves have executed), as well as any other incident code (code that isn't in any block). There is no good way to handle this, and here's where it may get hacky again. The easiest way is probably to add a listener to process.on('exit'.
A test harness is generally just a test runner and a reporter. Jest, in particular, is just a collection of components, all of which are configurable.
If we're just pulling a function here and a variable there from Jest, can we really say that we're still using it? Why do we even want to? There's really no reason to use Jest here. If you don't like the way it runs tests, you should use a different test harness instead of trying to modify it. If you like the reporter, Jest exports a package containing only the reporter.
Use tap or tape. These are designed to be run the way you want, and are configurable.
Example:
const test = require('tape');
const MyClass = require('../src/my-class');
test('MyClass.doSometing should be true', (t) => {
const result = MyClass.doSomething();
if (result === true) {
t.pass('The test passed! Hooray! Our class MyClass is seemingly error-free!');
} else {
t.fail('Oh noes. Our test has failed. Why am I such a bad programmer....?');
}
t.end();
});