https://github.com/davidanson/tape-player

A simple, terse, in-process reporter for the tape test runner for Node.js.
https://github.com/davidanson/tape-player

Last synced: 8 months ago
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A simple, terse, in-process reporter for the tape test runner for Node.js.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/davidanson/tape-player
• Owner: DavidAnson
• License: mit
• Created: 2020-02-10T02:29:45.000Z (over 6 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2020-06-16T02:10:45.000Z (almost 6 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-10-04T15:22:38.500Z (8 months ago)
• Language: JavaScript
• Size: 25.4 KB
• Stars: 2
• Watchers: 1
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

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README

          
# tape-player

> A simple, terse, in-process reporter for the `tape` test harness for Node.js.

## But why tho?

The [Test Anything Protocol (TAP)](https://testanything.org/) used by many test

harnesses is versatile, but it's not much to look at - or rather, it's _too

much_ to look at. There are

[many custom formatters](https://www.npmjs.com/package/tape#pretty-reporters)

that work with the [`tape` test harness](https://github.com/substack/tape), but

most work by

[piping process output](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(Unix)). This is

a useful technique, but interferes with the

[exit status](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_status) of the test harness

which is a problem in scripts that are meant to fail when tests fail (like

[`npm test`](https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/scripts)). (Though there are

[workarounds](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/14270/get-exit-status-of-process-thats-piped-to-another)

for this, they are shell- and platform-specific.)

Fortunately, `tape` offers an alternative logging mechanism via its

[`createStream` API](https://www.npmjs.com/package/tape#var-stream--testcreatestreamopts).

This technique is easy to use and runs in-process so it doesn't interfere with

the exit status of the test harness. `tape-player` takes advantage of this to

produce a concise test log that's easy to enable.

## Hook me up!

Install `tape-player` via:

    npm install tape-player --save-dev

And add it to one or more `tape`-based test files via:

    require("tape-player")

    // Ignore return value

That's it - run those tests and you'll see nicely formatted output on the

[standard output device](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_streams)!

`tape-player` works with the `tape` CLI or directly in `tape`-based files (as

with `node test-file.js`).

## Show me what you got...

Example output:

    passing test

    failing test

      /home/user/project/test/example.js:15:8

      Message:  oops

      Operator: fail

    passing test

    Tests:    3

    Asserts:  5

    Failures: 1