12. Server¶

Cross-browser-tests-runner uses a server written using express that manages testing state and processes.

12.1. Modes¶

12.1.1. Third Party Test Runners¶

$ ./node_modules/.bin/cbtr-server

The server would run and keep waiting. Hooks are provided that bind a third party test runner like Testem with the interfaces provided by the server to create and manage tests. See Using Testem for an example of how to use this mode.

12.1.2. Native Runner¶

Please see Native Runner for details on this home-grown tests runner.

$ ./node_modules/.bin/cbtr-server --native-runner [--config <path-to-settings-file>]

12.1.2.1. Debugging Mode¶

If the --config option is not provided, or there are no browsers/testing information specified in the settings file mentioned, the server would keep running. A user then can open test HTML files on a local browser. In this mode, you can debug your tests before running the tests on a cross-browser testing platform. For example, if the server is listening on port 7982, and tests.html exists in the root directory of your project, you can open http://127.0.0.1:7982/tests.html in a local browser.

12.1.2.2. CI Mode¶

The server runs all the tests and exits if the following are provided in the input settings file:

JS browsers and test_file (Parameters) parameter, or
Selenium browsers, test_file (Parameters), and test_script (See Parameters) parameters

12.2. Usage¶

$ ./node_modules/.bin/cbtr-server [--help|-h] [--config|-c <config-file>] [--native-runner|-n] [--errors-only|-e] [--omit-traces|-o] [--error-reports-only|-E] [--omit-report-traces|-O]

Defaults:
 config              cbtr.json in project root, or CBTR_SETTINGS env var
 native-runner       false
 errors-only         false
 omit-traces         false
 error-reports-only  false
 omit-report-traces  false

Options:
 help                print this help
 config              cross-browser-tests-runner settings file
 native-runner       if the server should work as native test runner
 errors-only         (native runner only) print only the specs that failed
 omit-traces         (native runner only) print only the error message and no stack traces
 error-reports-only  (native runner only) report only the error specs from browser
 omit-report-traces  (native runner only) do not include stack traces in reports sent by browser

12.2.1. Important Options¶

NOTE: Please note that all of the following apply to native runner mode only

errors-only: use this if you are interested in looking at only the failed test specs/suites
omit-traces: use this if you are interested in the failure messages only and not the stack trace
error-reports-only: use this if you want to send data of only the failed test specs/suites from the browser
omit-report-traces: use this if you want to not send stack traces of failures from the browser

First two are aimed at removing clutter in the output. Next two are aimed at reducing the size of test results data sent by browser.