ava-launch

Debug and run single AVA (https://github.com/avajs/ava) tests easily using multiple npm scripts. Supports both unit and integration tests.

Why

The combination of a test runner and a debugger is phenomenal. But with TS in particular it can be hard to get the VS Code debugger and AVA to cooperate. This solution has a zero learning curve--just click to launch from within your own code!

Getting Started

Launching Unit Tests

You should be able to debug or run from unit test files immediately. The only requirement is that you have the npm test script defined.

Of course, to get tests to run at all you may have to specify your AVA configuration within your project. One simple way is within your project.json e.g.:

  "ava": {
    "files": [
      "test/**/*.test.ts"
    ],
    "extensions": [
      "ts"
    ],
    "require": [
      "ts-node/register"
    ]
  }

Integration and/or "Temp" Tests

To set up integration tests, follow these steps:

1. Create an npm script for running integration tests. You will probably need to have it call a designated config file, e.g.

       "int-test": "ava --config int-tests.config.cjs",
   

2. Add the config file to your project root directory. You may need a generous timeout. For instance, int-tests.config.cjs could look like this:

   module.exports = {
   files: ['test/int/**/*.int.ts'],
   "extensions": [
       "ts"
   ],
   "require": [
       "ts-node/register"
   ],
   "timeout": "20m"
   };
   

3. In the Extension Settings, designate a unique file extension for integration tests and the name of the npm script:

   

After that, any time you click on DebugTest, ava-launch will run the correct script. No need for setting up a launch configuration!

The same can be done for temp tests.

Features

• CodeLens for DebugTest and RunTest.

• No learning curve. No need to create a launch configuration.

• Adds any .env file variables to a launch. That's important if you are using something like NPM_TOKEN to download a private file.

• Currently supports three types of tests:

  • unit (uses the npm test script)
  • integration
  • temp.

  A temp test is useful for a quick check on a portion of your code. [Note: the terms "integration" and "temp" do not inherently mean anything to ava-launch. You can use them for any type of test that you require.]

• For the integration and temp types, you can specify in the ava-launch configuration an npm script and a file extension. For instance, for integration tests you can specify int-test as an npm script and int.ts as a file extension. You can then run whatever you'd like there.

• Click on Codelenses DebugTest to launch a debugger, and RunTest to run it. The script to execute is determined from the extension of the active file. If the active file extension is neither the one for integration nor temp, then the test script gets executed.

Gotchas

If you get the AVA message Couldn’t find any matching tests, that can mean one of two things:

1. The name of the file is not matched by the glob for your testing configuration. For instance, if you configured AVA to expect test/**/*.test.ts and you file is not in the test directory or does not end with .test.ts, you will get this message.

2. It could also mean that your file has syntax errors. If your project has linting set up, it should be possible to check for that. One way is to click RunTest, which will run it in your VS code terminal, and then to run the last line with the -m flag removed.

   For instance, here's what shows up in the console after calling RunTest with a file that has a syntax error:

    $ cd /home/yisroel/packages/neo-forgery-all/neo-forgery && npm run test -- /home/yisroel/packages/neo-forgery-all/neo-forgery/test/custom/conversions/liveToData.test.ts -m="liveToData"
   
    > neo-forgery@1.10.0 test
    > ava "/home/yisroel/packages/neo-forgery-all/neo-forgery/test/custom/conversions/liveToData.test.ts" "-m=liveToData"
   
      ✖ Couldn’t find any matching tests
   

   Pushing the up arrow key and removing the -m="liveToData" lets you run it again and get a syntax error.

   $ cd /home/yisroel/packages/neo-forgery-all/neo-forgery && npm run test -- /home/yisroel/packages/neo-forgery-all/neo-forgery/test/custom/conversions/liveToData.test.ts
   
   > neo-forgery@1.10.0 test
   > ava "/home/yisroel/packages/neo-forgery-all/neo-forgery/test/custom/conversions/liveToData.test.ts"
   
   
     ✖ No tests found in test/custom/conversions/liveToData.test.ts
   
     ─
   
     Uncaught exception in test/custom/conversions/liveToData.test.ts
   
     test/custom/conversions/liveToData.test.ts(5,1): error TS2304: Cannot find name 'foo'.
   
     ─
   
     1 uncaught exception
   

Otherwise, the usage seems pretty simple.

Extension Settings

Integration Tests

• ava-launch.integrationTestFileExtension: extension for integration test files.
• ava-launch.integrationTestFileScript: npm script to run for integration tests. You can specify one that runs with a long timeout, and that only looks in certain paths.

Temp Tests

• ava-launch.tempTestFileExtension: extension for a temp test file.
• ava-launch.tempTestFileScript: npm script to run for temp tests. Works the same way as with the integration tests.

Credit

This is based on the VSC extension ava-test-runner created by jacekczapiewski. I fell in love with that extension, became it's first reviewer with 5 stars, and in fact promoted it in two webinars on unit testing.

But I needed to run multiple types of tests, with a designated npm test for each type. The problem is that your unit test script should not run your integration scripts, and vice versa. Also, I needed something with a pattern that matched more tests, and that incorporated env variables into runs.

But I still think that his extension is nice, and his actually has some features that ava-launch doesn't have. Both can be run at the same time if you like.

Known Issues

None so far, but the extension is new.

Release Notes

1.0.0

Initial release.