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npm has a number of built in tasks. One example is test. In this video we'll take a look at how to set up npm to run our tests.
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There are a number of built-in
tasks that npm can run for you.
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The most common is test.
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You're often encouraged to
install test frameworks and
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build systems globally with the -g flag.
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But that can be a little overkill if
you're working on different projects with
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potentially different versions.
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Let's install our depth dependences
now by running npm install.
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The install command installs all npm
modules that are part of your project.
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In other words, third party modules
that your project depends on.
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But it also installs
development dependencies,
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that is,
modules that you use during development.
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Such modules that can compile Sass,
combine multiple JavaScript files,
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or to test your code
to make sure it works.
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In this example, I've installed
the JavaScript testing framework Mocha for
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testing my JavaScript.
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How do you run Mocha here?
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In your node_modules folder,
there's a hidden directory, .bin.
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And in there, there are command
line executables like Mocha.
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So you can type, node_modules/.bin/mocha.
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And it runs.
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However, you can run executables from
npm without typing in this long command.
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Let's update the test task in our
scripts object with the Mocha command.
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This will run any Mocha
test in the project.
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What we’ve done here is
created a test task.
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Now you can run it by typing npm run test.
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Npm can run any binary or
command line application.
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See how much easier this is?
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Now that we don’t need to remember or
type that full path in to Mocha.
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We can make it even
easier by ditching run.
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Because test is a built-in task,
you can leave out the run,
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and simply type npm test.
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