Testing with Jasmine-Node

This week I have started testing my own code with Jasmine-Node. Testing seems beneficial only when we do it with a right approach. I have gone through various articles and find out Jasmine as one of the best frameworks for testing Javascript applications.

For specifically NodeJS, a better option will be to use Jasmine-Node.

How to start with Jasmine-Node ?

For a quick-start, you need to have Jasmine-Node installed with npm.

npm install jasmine-node -g

After the installation, make a folder say spec/ in the root directory of the project. This will contain all the tests for the node app.

We can include the command  to run the tests in package.json file of the project.

./node_modules/.bin/jasmine-node spec

 

script

Like here it is included with the key tester. Now, we are ready to write our first test file.

So, in the Open-event-webapp spec/ folder I have created a file serverSpec.js. The file will test a basic function written in fold.js which is the file that includes all the functions of Open-event-webapp.

//fold.js

'use strict';


var exports = module.exports = {};

const fs = require('fs-extra');
const moment = require('moment');
const handlebars = require('handlebars');
const async = require('async');
const archiver = require('archiver');

//function to test

function speakerNameWithOrg(speaker) {
 return speaker.organisation ?
 `${speaker.name} (${speaker.organisation})` :
 speaker.name;
}

To test the above function, I have written the test like this

//serverSpec.js

'use strict'

const request = require("request");
const fold = require(__dirname +'/../src/generator/backend/fold.js');
const port = process.env.PORT || 5000;
const base_url = "http://localhost:"+ port +"/"

describe("Open Event Server", function() {
  describe("GET /", function() {
    it("returns status code 200", function(done) {
      request.get(base_url, function(error, response, body) {
      expect(response.statusCode).toBe(200);
      done();
    });
   });
 }); 
}); 

describe("Testing Fold.js",function() {
  describe("Testing SpeakerWithOrg function",function(){
    it("it will test speakername", function(){
       let speaker= {
          name: "speakername",
        }
    expect(fold.speakerNameWithOrg(speaker)).toEqual("speakername");
   });

    it("it will test speakername and organisation", function(){
       let speakerWithOrg= {
          name:"speakername",
          organisation:"Organisation",
        }
       expect(fold.speakerNameWithOrg(speakerWithOrg)).toEqual("speakername (Organisation)");
    });
 });
 
 });

There are two describe blocks here one to test if the server is running properly and the second block includes two ‘it’ statements which are used to test the function behavior.

The describe blocks are nested which is a nice feature provided by Node-Jasmine.

To run the above test in Open-event-webapp , use the command:

1. npm run start
2. npm run tester

On success, The output will be something like this

test

Other Sources

  1. Jasmine Presentation
  2. HTML goodies

 

 

Continue ReadingTesting with Jasmine-Node

Working with Absolute Positioning

During the past week, I have done a lot of work for making the feature that allow the users to view the schedule of events according to track and time. The toughest part was to have a headstart to think of the mockup that fulfills this criterion.

After the mockup, I started coding it and realized that I have to add CSS by using Javascript. The frontend needs to calculate the top of each pop-up that appears when the track is hovered and to append the box just below it.

a

The interesting part was to calculate the top each time the element is hovered and to place the box at the right position by using jQuery.

Position Absolute 

The difficulty becomes maximum when we use “position : absolute “. As, it takes the element out of the layer. The element with absolute positioning is difficult to handle when it comes to responsiveness. Here also the pop-overs showing the speakers are to be made with absolute positioning.

The code snippet shows the calculation for exact position of the pop-up box.

$(document).ready(function(){

 $('.pop-box').hide();
 $('.item').hover(function (event) {

 event.preventDefault();
 event.stopPropagation();
 var track = $(event.target);
 var link = track.children(0);
 var offset =$(link).offset();

 var position= offset.top-link.height()-30;
 if( $(window).width()<600){
 var position= offset.top-link.height()-48; 
 }
 if(offset.top){
 
 $('.pop-box').hide();
 var p=$(this);
 $(p).next().show();
 var posY = event.pageY;
 nextOfpop=$(p).next();
 
 var toptrack = position ;

 $(nextOfpop).css({'top':toptrack
                 });

 $(document).mouseup(function (e)
 {
 var container = $(".pop-box");

  if (!container.is(e.target) 
  && container.has(e.target).length === 0 && (e.target)!=$('html').get(0)) 
   {
   container.hide();
   }
   });
  });
 })

This code sets the value of top of the pop-over in the variable position and copy it to toptrack that is passed to CSS to adjust the top dynamically.

Responsiveness for top

I was struggling a whole day to find out the best possible way for the responsiveness of track page. Obviously, the difficult part was the recalculation of top with the screen-size. Currently I have used $window.width() to check the width of screen and adjust the top on mobile. But, it will include more complexity when it is done for other screen sizes rather than mobile.

 if( $(window).width()<600){
 var position= offset.top-link.height()-48; 
 }

The tracks page is ready now with both light and dark theme.

10.png

That’s how the position absolute is handled with jQuery. To remove the complexity, all the CSS except the calculation of top is written with SASS.

Continue ReadingWorking with Absolute Positioning

SASS for the theme based concept

Until yesterday, I was exploring all around the internet, to find the best possible way for the theme concept in the web app. The theme concept allows an organizer to choose the theme for the web app from the set of provided themes.

After some time, I realised that this awesomeness to the web app can be added by using Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets.

How SASS supports the theme concept?

 

In the web app, a folder name _scss is added which has the directory structure as shown

tree
_scss folder directory structure

There is a file _config.scss inside the _base folder that includes the SASS variables which are used in all the files after importing it.

Each of the SASS variables uses a flag !default at the end, which means it can be overwritten in any other file. This property of SASS leads to the theme concept.

//_.config.scss

@charset "UTF-8";
 
// Colors
$black: #000;
$white: #fff;
$red: #e2061c;
$gray-light: #c9c8c8;
$gray: #838282;
$gray-dark: #333333;
$blue: #253652;
 
// Corp-Colors
$corp-color: $white !default;
$corp-color-dark: darken($corp-color, 15%) !default;
$corp-color-second: $red !default;
$corp-color-second-dark: darken($corp-color-second, 15%) !default;
 
// Fontbasic
$base-font-size: 1.8 !default;
$base-font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif !default;
$base-font-color: $gray-dark !default;
 
// Border
$base-border-radius: 2px !default;
$rounded-border-radius: 50% !default;
$base-border-color: $gray !default;

The main file that includes all the required style is the application.scss. Here, $corp-color takes default value from  _config.scss. It can be overwritten by the themes.

//application.scss

@charset 'UTF-8';

// 1.Base
@import '_base/_config.scss';

/* Offsets for fixed navbar */
body {
 margin-top: 50px;
 background-color:$corp-color !important;
}

Making a light theme 

 

The light theme will overwrite the $corp-color value to $gray-light which is defined in _config.scss. This will change the background-color defined in application.scss to #c9c8c8. So, in this way a light theme is generated. The similar approach can be followed to generate the dark theme.

//_light.scss

@charset 'UTF-8';
@import '../../_base/config';
// 1.Overwrite stuff
$corp-color: $gray-light;

@import '../../application';

Making a dark theme 

 

//_dark.scss

@charset 'UTF-8';
@import '../../_base/config';
// 1.Overwrite stuff
$corp-color: $gray;

@import '../../application';

How to compile the CSS from SASS files ?

 

  1. We can easily compile these SASS files by using command
    sass /path/application.scss /path/schedule.css

    For generating light theme and dark theme:

    sass /path/_light.scss  /path/schedule.css
    sass /path/_dark.scss  /path/schedule.css

Optimization of Code

 

SASS is very powerful for optimizing the code. It allows the concepts such as nesting, mixins which reduce the line of code. I have rewritten schedule.css into application.scss to make it more optimized.

/* Adjustments for smaller screens */

@media (min-width: 450px) {
 body {
 font-size: 14px
 }
 .session {
   &-list{
     .label{
         font-size: 90%;
         padding: .2em .6em .3em;
           }
         }
    &-title {
         float:left;
         width: 75%;
         }
    &-location {
         float: right;
         width: 25%;
         text-align: right;
        }
  }
}

Further Exploration

 

This is one of the ways to deal with the SASS structure, but there are other resources that can be helpful in dealing with SASS projects.

Also, check out, Jeremy Hexon article here.

Continue ReadingSASS for the theme based concept

Self-Contained Folder For Webapp

The first version of Open-event-webapp will be a generator that will create the web app.

This week I have worked on various OTS issues that will become the basis for the web app. The OpenTechSummit web app works along with Open-event-scraper.

The web app can be generated in any empty repository and can be hosted with gh-pages by just running build.sh  file from the Open-event-scraper. This is the build.sh file I have written for doing this.

build file
build.sh

 

How can you create the webapp from scraper in your repository ?

 

1 . Replace the URL of the repository in git clone command.

git clone – – depth=1 < destination repo url > ots-repo

2 . Run the file build.sh from  Open-event-scraper.

./build.sh

 

Utility for transferring content using build.sh

 

The build.sh file is written to make a folder that is self-sufficient. It means it can be taken anywhere and it should work on its own.

The build.sh file first creates a clone of the destination repository in the local Open-event-scraper. It itself make the required folders inside the cloned repository and runs generator.js which provides index.html file according to the template schedule.tpl. The resync command that is known as remote sync is used to transfer the files remotely. A programm folder is created automatically that includes all the CSS, JS,  JSON and other important files used to run the web app.

Finally, the programm folder along with all necessary files is pushed to gh-pages branch of the destination repository.

Working Example

 

To create the web app I have replaced the destination URL as shown in the image.

4

After running the build.sh we will get the output as shown :

1 .

8
Programm folder ( self-sufficient)

2.

9
Sub folders inside Programm folder

That’s how a folder is generated which contains all the necessary files needed to run the web app.

Continue ReadingSelf-Contained Folder For Webapp

Open Source Event App Development

Some background about myself, I am a 3rd year Information Technology student from JSS Academy of Technical Education, Noida, India. I love Front-end development and is currently working on an awesome project Open-Event .

The project will make it easier for the events, tech summits to create a web app and mobile app quickly by providing necessary information such as speakers for the event, sessions, tracks, location etc. The project itself consists of three core components :
1. Open-Event Organiser Server
2. Open-Event Android App
3. Open-Event Web app
It’s the end of community bonding period before the past week, which was the best time to get ourselves familiar with the practices of the community, understanding of the codebase, making new friends and setting up goals. I have already set up my goals and is working on Open-event-web app.

The first version of the web app is to make the web app functional by just uploading a JSON file, the second part is to make it sync with the REST API provided by the Orga-server. I with Arnav have created the User-Story for the web app. Also, I have created the data-flow for the work, we will be carrying forward.

I am having a good time, and will work hard to complete the goals of the project.

Thanks

Continue ReadingOpen Source Event App Development