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Testing Node API with Mocha & Chai

Ekunola Ezekiel on August 22, 2019

What is Mocha? Mocha is a feature-rich JavaScript test framework running on Node.js and in the browser, making asynchronous testing simp...

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nivedithaMNJ • Jun 5 '20

How can i store value from one API call & use it in next ?

Ekunola Ezekiel • Jun 5 '20

You can nest API calls, an example below

chai.request(app).post('/api/v1/auth/login')
      .send({
        email: 'example@gmail.com', password: '123456',
      })
      .end((err, res) => {
        const { token } = res.body.data;
        storeownertoken = token;

        chai.request(app).post('/api/v1/auth/login')
          .send({
            email: 'example2@gmail.com', password: '123456',
          })
          .end((err2, res2) => {
            storeattendanttoken = res2.body.data.token;
            chai.request(app).post('/api/v1/auth/login')
              .send({
                email: 'example31@gmail.com', password: '123456',
              })
              .end((err3, res3) => {
                undefinedtypetoken = res3.body.data.token;
                done();
              });
          });
      });

I hope it makes sense?

nivedithaMNJ • Jun 6 '20 • Edited

Hi! Thank you For responding, but it is still not working for me, the variable I am storing from the first API call turns out to be null when accessed in 2nd API call.
My Scenario: 1st Post call - Get an access token which I am successfully able to capture , 2nd Post call - Use this access token to view authenticated data.

Ekunola Ezekiel • Jun 6 '20

Yeah, your process seems right, not quite sure why you're getting null. Can I see a screenshot of the code?

nivedithaMNJ • Jun 8 '20 • Edited

This is what i have.. i am not sure what I am doing wrong.
Here I do get the token from Authurl but when I access it for next call .. i don't get the token hence it fails
---- Code --

Ekunola Ezekiel • Jun 8 '20

Okay, have you tried logging the error you're getting on the second API call to see what the error is?

nivedithaMNJ • Jun 8 '20 • Edited

Yes ...when i log the err .. its null.
But the response shows a 401 , which is an authentication error. Also I print the auth token which turns out to be null. Hence I believe the token is not getting passed to the 2nd API .

Ekunola Ezekiel • Jun 8 '20 • Edited

That's wired, let's try making the first request in a before hook, and then use the token where needed.

You can search here and see an implementation for hooks: mochajs.org/

nivedithaMNJ • Jun 8 '20

Hi! I have the code working now but the before/before each didn't seem to work as expected. I realized I was making a mistake while parsing the JSON response.
Thanks a lot for helping.

John Dave Manuel • Aug 23 '19

Great tutorial! What icons are you using on the screenshot of the file structure?

Ekunola Ezekiel • Aug 23 '19

Thanks, John. I installed a vs code extension called Material Icon Theme.

John Dave Manuel • Aug 23 '19

Thanks! I will give it a try.

nivedithaMNJ • Jul 9 '20

Hi!
I have an issue that I face with my tests, when I run the tests it doesn't exit after execution hence I added --exit to my mocha command & it worked as expected.
But now due to a requirement, my code gets picked up by jest for the execution of unit tests + my API test hence run by the command "jest --coverage" and everything gets stuck because the mocha code that gets picked up for execution doesn't exit.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions on the same.