node.js - Is it possible to call Express Router directly from code with a "fake" request?

Question

Tangential to this question, I would like to find out if there is a way of triggering the Express Router without actually going through HTTP?

Answer 1

The Router has a "private" method named handle that accepts a request, a response, and a callback. You can take a look at the tests that Express has for its Router. One example is:

it('should support .use of other routers', function(done){
    var router = new Router();
    var another = new Router();

    another.get('/bar', function(req, res){
      res.end();
    });
    router.use('/foo', another);

    router.handle({ url: '/foo/bar', method: 'GET' }, { end: done });
  });

The Express team uses SuperTest to perform integration tests on the Router. It is my understanding that SuperTest still uses the network but they handle all of this for you so it behaves as if the tests were all in memory. SuperTest does seem to be widely used and an acceptable way to test your routes.

As an aside, you didn't say what you were attempting to test but if your goal is to test some routes, an alternative to SuperTest could be to extract the logic in your routes into a separate module that can be tested independent of Express.

change:

routes
|
-- index.js

to:

routes
|
-- index.js
|
controllers
|
-- myCustomController.js

The tests could then simply target myCustomController.js and inject any necessary dependencies.