how to execute external function in dalekjs .execute( )?

Question

i want to execute an external function inside .execute() function of dalekjs. Is it possible to do that?

Answer 1

Depends on what you mean with external.

If you want to execute a function that already exists in your client side JavaScript it must be accessible via the global window object. For example:

In one of my client side scripts I have something like this:

function myAwesomeFn (message) {
  $('body').append('<p>' + message + '</p>');
}

If that function is defined in the global scope (not within some IIFE f.e.), you can trigger it in your execute function like so:

test.execute(function () {
  window.myAwesomeFn('Some message');
});

If you mean "a function that is defined within a Dalek Testsuite" with external, I might must disappoint you, because Daleks testfiles and the contents of the execute function are invoked in different contexts (different JavaScript engines even).

So this does not work:

'My test': function (test) {
   var myFn = function () { // does something };

   test.execute(function () {
     myFn(); // Does not work, 'myFn' is defined in the Node env, this functions runs in the browser env

   })
 }

What does work:

'My test': function (test) {


   test.execute(function () {
     var myFn = function () { // does something };
     myFn(); // Does work, myFn is defined in the correct scope

   })
 }

Hope that answers your question, if not, please provide some more details.

EDIT:

Load the file(s) using node own require

var helper = require('./helper');
module.exports = {
  'My test': function (test) { 
     test.execute(helper.magicFn)
   }
 };

In your helper.js, you can do whatever you want, this would make sense (more or less):

module.exports = {
  magicFn: function () { 
     alert('I am a magic function, defined in node, executed in the browser!');
   }
 };

For further strategies on how to keep your testing code DRY ;), check this repo/file: Dalek DRY Example