Blog

Brad Wood

November 04, 2013

Spread the word


Share your thoughts

If you haven't heard, the latest addition to the *Box family is TestBox and is currently out in Alpha. It allows for the standard xUnit style of testing that you may already be familiar with in tools like MXUnit. TestBox also allows for a newer style of testing known as Behavior-Driven Development or BDD. BDD helps focus on writing tests that confirm specific business needs are met by your software and typically use some sort of human-readable DSL that allows the test to be self-documenting and clear on what they are testing for in a way that translates nicely from your business specs.
TestBox's BDD runners are based on closures and only work on CF10 and Railo's latest. Here's an example:

function run(){

    describe("A suite", function(){
        it("contains a spec with awesome expectations", function(){
            expect( true ).toBeTrue();
            expect( [1,2,3] ).toBeArray();

            message = 'foo man choo'; 
            expect( message ).toMatch( '^foo' );
        });
    });

}

As you can see, the tests are very readable. In real world examples, you would focus your expect() and toXXX() methods on real business requirements that define the behavior of your models.

We also have complete backwards compatibility with MXUnit so you can switch immediately with zero test code changes!

Read up on TestBox here: http://wiki.coldbox.org/wiki/TestBox.cfm
Read our intro to BDD here: http://wiki.coldbox.org/wiki/TestBox-bdd-primer.cfm

P.S. In addition to allowing for complete extensibility in regards to assertions, test runners, and reporting, TestBox also has an asynchronous mode to speed up the time it takes to run your large test suites. http://wiki.coldbox.org/wiki/TestBox-BDD-Primer.cfm#Asynchronous_Testing

Add Your Comment

Recent Entries

A Year in Review - BoxLang 2024 Recap!

A Year in Review - BoxLang 2024 Recap!

BoxLang has come a long way since its beta release, and we're thrilled to share the incredible progress made so far. From its initial launch to the upcoming stable version, BoxLang has been evolving with new features, tools, and a growing ecosystem, all aimed at empowering modern developers.In this recap, we’ll highlight the milestones and advancements that have shaped BoxLang’s journey to this point. Let’s take a look at what we’ve achieved and what’s coming next!

Maria Jose Herrera
Maria Jose Herrera
January 03, 2025
Partner with BoxLang and Ortus at Into the Box 2025: Empowering the Future of Modern Software Development!

Partner with BoxLang and Ortus at Into the Box 2025: Empowering the Future of Modern Software Development!

At Ortus Solutions, we’ve always been at the forefront of innovation in the ColdFusion ecosystem. From pioneering modern ColdFusion practices to developing cutting-edge tools and frameworks, we’ve been passionate to help and sup[port the community into shaping the future of web development.That’s why we decided to build BoxLang, our new JVM programming language that not only builds on the strengths of ColdFusion but takes modern software development to the next level.

Maria Jose Herrera
Maria Jose Herrera
December 23, 2024