Sails.js testing setup

appHelper.js

/*
 * Location: /test/helpers/appHelper.js
 *
 * @description :: Provides 'lift' and 'lower' methods to set up
 *   and tear down a Sails instance (for use in tests)
 */

var Sails = require('sails/lib/app'),
  async = require('async'),
  lifted = false,
  sailsprocess;

var appHelper = {

  /* Starts the Sails server, or if already started, stops and then starts it
   *
   * @param {function} done Callback function
   */
  lift: function (done) {
    async.waterfall(
      [
        // Check whether the Sails server is already running, and stop it if so
        function (cb) {
          if (lifted) {
            return appHelper.lower(cb);
          }
          cb();
        },

        // Start the Sails server
        function (cb) {
          Sails().lift({
            log: {
              level: 'warn'
            },
            loadHooks: [
              'blueprints',
              'controllers',
              'http',
              'moduleloader',
              'orm',
              'policies',
              'request',
              'responses',
              'session',
              'userconfig',
              'views'
            ],
            models: {
              // Use in-memory database for tests
              connection: 'inMemoryDb',
              migrate: 'drop'
            },
            liftTimeout: 10000
          }, function (err, app) {
            if (err) {
              return cb(err);
            }
            lifted = true;
            sailsprocess = app;
            cb(null, app);
          });
        }
      ], done);
  },

  /* Stops the Sails server
   *
   * @param {function} done Callback function
   */
  lower: function (done) {
    sailsprocess.lower(function (err) {
      lifted = false;
      done(err);
    });
  },

module.exports = appHelper;

index.spec.js

/*
 * Location: /test/index.spec.js
 *
 * @description :: This file is run before all other tests.
 */

var appHelper = require('./helpers/appHelper');

before(function (done) {
  appHelper.lift(done);
});

// Maybe add another `before` here to load fixtures, or do it in individual tests

after(function (done) {
  appHelper.lower(done);
});

UserController.spec.js

/**
 * Location: /test/controllers/UserController.spec.js
 * 
 * @description :: Tests the UserController
 */

var request = require('supertest'),
  appHelper = require('../helpers/appHelper'),
  userFixtures = require('../fixtures/users');

describe('UserController', function () {
  
  before(function (done) {
    User.create(userFixtures[0], done);
  });
  
  after(function (done) {
    // Restart the server to get back to a clean state
    // (could just delete the user in this case, but sometimes this is easier)
    appHelper.lift(done);
  })

  describe('#findOneById', function (done) {
    it('should get the user', function (done) {
      request
        .get('/user/1')
        .expect(200, done);
    });
  });
});