ReferenceError: describe is not defined NodeJs

N34 picture N34 · Feb 9, 2015 · Viewed 170.8k times · Source

I am trying to define some endpoints and do a test using nodejs. In server.js I have:

var express = require('express');
var func1 = require('./func1.js');
var port = 8080;
var server = express();

server.configure(function(){
  server.use(express.bodyParser());
});

server.post('/testend/', func1.testend);

and in func1.js:

    var testend = function(req, res) {
           serialPort.write("1", function(err, results) {
           serialPort.write("2" + "\n", function(err, results) {
           });
      });
   });
    exports.testend = testend;

Now in test.js I am trying to use this endpoint:

var should = require('should');
var assert = require('assert');
var request = require('supertest');
var http = require('http');
var app = require('./../server.js');
var port = 8080;

describe('Account', function() {
        var url = "http://localhost:" + port.toString();
        it('test starts', function(done) {
                request(url).post('/testend/')
                // end handles the response
                .end(function(err, res) {
                        if (err) {
                                throw err;
                        }
                        res.body.error.should.type('string');
                        done();
                });
        });
});

But when I run node test.js I am getting this error:

describe('Account', function() {
^

ReferenceError: describe is not defined
    at Object. (/test/test.js:9:1)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
    at startup (node.js:119:16)
    at node.js:906:3

How can I fix the issue?

Answer

mscdex picture mscdex · Feb 9, 2015

Assuming you are testing via mocha, you have to run your tests using the mocha command instead of the node executable.

So if you haven't already, make sure you do npm install mocha -g. Then just run mocha in your project's root directory.