tstest/readme.hints.md

Architecture Overview

Project Structure

This project integrates tstest with tapbundle through a modular architecture:

1. tstest (/ts/) - The test runner that discovers and executes test files
2. tapbundle (/ts_tapbundle/) - The TAP testing framework for writing tests
3. tapbundle_node (/ts_tapbundle_node/) - Node.js-specific testing utilities

How Components Work Together

Test Execution Flow

1. CLI Entry Point (cli.js ’ cli.ts.js ’ cli.child.ts)

   • The CLI uses tsx to run TypeScript files directly
   • Accepts glob patterns to find test files
   • Supports options like --verbose, --quiet, --web

2. Test Discovery

   • tstest scans for test files matching the provided pattern
   • Defaults to test/**/*.ts when no pattern is specified
   • Supports both file and directory modes

3. Test Runner

   • Each test file imports tap and expect from tapbundle
   • Tests are written using tap.test() with async functions
   • Browser tests are compiled with esbuild and run in Chromium via Puppeteer

Key Integration Points

1. Import Structure

   • Test files import from local tapbundle: import { tap, expect } from '../../ts_tapbundle/index.js'
   • Node-specific tests also import from tapbundle_node: import { tapNodeTools } from '../../ts_tapbundle_node/index.js'

2. WebHelpers

   • Browser tests can use webhelpers for DOM manipulation
   • webhelpers.html - Template literal for creating HTML strings
   • webhelpers.fixture - Creates DOM elements from HTML strings
   • Automatically detects browser environment and only enables in browser context

3. Build System

   • Uses tsbuild tsfolders to compile TypeScript
   • Maintains separate output directories: /dist_ts/, /dist_ts_tapbundle/, /dist_ts_tapbundle_node/
   • Compilation order is resolved automatically based on dependencies

Test Scripts

The package.json defines several test scripts:

• test - Builds and runs all tests (tapbundle and tstest)
• test:tapbundle - Runs tapbundle framework tests
• test:tstest - Runs tstest's own tests
• Both support :verbose variants for detailed output

Environment Detection

The framework automatically detects the runtime environment:

• Node.js tests run directly via tsx
• Browser tests are compiled and served via a local server
• WebHelpers are only enabled in browser environment

This architecture allows for seamless testing across both Node.js and browser environments while maintaining a clean separation of concerns.