I've been working on improving my skill at writing tests for Node.js APIs, particularly in relation to a recent project where I interact with an endpoint /api/v1/restaurants that provides data in the form of an array of objects. Below is the functional call within the controller:
restaurantRouter.get("/api/v1/restaurants", async (req, res) => {
try {
// const results = await db.query("SELECT * FROM restaurants");
const results = await select("restaurants");
res.status(200).json({
status: "success",
results: results.rows.length,
data: {
restaurants: results.rows
}
})
} catch (err) {
console.log(err)
}
})
- In an effort to streamline DB queries, I've separated them into a distinct utility page while still passing the table name "restaurants" as a parameter.
- On my local drive, both tables
restaurantsandtest_restaurantsare operational and exist within the same Database.
An issue arises when attempting to make API calls in my tests using the following method:
test("restaurants are returned as JSON", async () => {
await api
.get("/api/v1/restaurants")
.expect(200)
.expect('Content-Type', /application\/json/)
})
test("all restaurants are returned", async () => {
const response = await api.get("/api/v1/restaurants")
expect(response.body.data).not.toBeEmpty()
expect(response.body.data.restaurants).toBeArrayOfSize(2)
})
By default, the tests pull from the Dev database table restaurants. Initially, I considered creating a duplicate route specifically for testing purposes like this:
restaurantRouter.get("/api/v1/test-restaurants", async (req, res) => {
try {
const results = await select("test_restaurants");
res.status(200).json({
status: "success",
results: results.rows.length,
data: {
restaurants: results.rows
}
})
} catch (err) {
console.log(err)
}
})
I am exploring the possibility of utilizing middleware to facilitate passing an optional variable, which defaults to either the Dev or Prod database if no specific parameter is provided. This approach could bring about a more efficient and elegant solution for testing these functionalities.
While researching, I have noticed that many tutorials focus on MongoDB, which appears to offer simpler setups for testing databases. If additional information is required, please let me know. Thank you!