docs: Add mock_template documentation to docs.

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Tim Abbott 2024-06-27 11:29:37 -07:00
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@ -153,6 +153,68 @@ The test runner (`index.js`) automatically runs all .js files in the
`web/tests` directory, so you can simply start editing a file `web/tests` directory, so you can simply start editing a file
in that directory to create a new test. in that directory to create a new test.
## Verifying HTML templates with `mock_template`
As a project, we prefer [end-to-end
testing][testing-philosophy-end-to-end] where possible, since those
tests are usually both more effective at catching bugs and cheaper to
maintain than tests that make heavy use of mocks.
One place where mocks can often be useful is when testing logic for
rendering an HTML template in Zulip. The interesting logic that one
wants to verify can be split between two places:
- Computing the **context data** object passed into the HTML template.
- Conditional logic in the HTML template itself.
It can work well to write tests that verify properties of the computed
HTML template, for example, is a given CSS class present in the
result.
But often, one can write a more readable test by instead verifying
the values of parameters in the context passed into the template
rendering. The `mock_template` function in Zulip's testing library
is designed to support this this.
We use `mock_template` in our unit tests to verify that the JS code is
calling the template with the expected context data. And then we use
the results of mock_template to supply the JS code with either the
actual HTML from the template or some kind of zjquery stub.
The `mock_template` function accepts 3 parameters:
- The path within `web/templates` to the [Handlebars
template](../subsystems/html-css.md) that you'd like to mock.
- Whether to call the actual template rendering function so that you
can verify the HTML generated by this specific template. Since
Handlebars rendering in tests takes time and rarely catches bugs, we
recommend using `false` if you're only planning to check the context
data.
- A callback function that you can use to include assertions about
what parameters were passed into the template. This function
receives a `data` parameter, with the context data, and an `html`
parameter if the real template was rendered.
The following illustrates the two common patterns for using this method.
```js
run_test("test something calling template", ({mock_template}) => {
mock_template("path/to/template.hbs", false, (data) => {
assert.deepEqual(data, {...};
// or assert.deepEqual(data.foo, {...});
return "stub-for-zjquery";
});
mock_template("path/to/template.hbs", true, (data, html) => {
assert.deepEqual(data, {...};
assert.ok(html.startWith(...));
return html;
});
});
```
[testing-philosophy-end-to-end]: https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/testing/philosophy.html#integration-testing-or-unit-testing
## Coverage reports ## Coverage reports
You can automatically generate coverage reports for the JavaScript unit You can automatically generate coverage reports for the JavaScript unit