What is GoConvey?

There are two main parts to GoConvey:

  • A comprehensive BDD framework
  • A server & web UI
    Both parts are optional and can be used independently according to your workflow.

Can I use GoConvey with go test?

Yes, that's the point!

Why do my nested Convey blocks execute in a strange order?

Please read the isolated execution tests. They are the best form of documentation for the execution model of GoConvey, which is very powerful but not apparent at first.

What is the web UI?

It's test results in your browser. It updates automatically as files in the watched directories are saved or changed. See the wiki page for more information.

How can I get tests to run automatically?

If you're using the web UI with (the server) to watch tests in your browser, then tests already run automatically when .go files are changed.

For running tests in your terminal, check out how to use . (It's really easy!)

Does the web UI work with traditional Go tests?

How can I get debug output to appear next to my assertions, rather than up at the function level?

Use convey.Print or convey.Printf or convey.Println just as you would from the package. This will cause the output to show up by your assertions rather than up at a higher level.

How can I force tests to continue executing even after a failure?

By default, a test failure or panic causes future tests in that scope to halt. To have tests continue running, you can pass in a FailureMode in a Convey() call:

All nested Conveys will inherit that setting. You can also set the default FailureMode in an init() function with SetDefaultFailureMode(), like so:

  1. func init() {
  2. }

Why can't I open a coverage report (404 Not Found) of a tested file?

You have to make sure that the package you are testing lives inside your $GOPATH.

Is GoConvey supported?

Not in the commercial sense of the word, no. Even though it is "sponsored" by SmartyStreets (in that a couple of devs were given company time to work on it), it comes as-is, so "use-at-your-own-risk" — though honestly you'll probably quite enjoy it. :)

But yes, in the open-source sense of the word, it is supported, meaning: it's not a defunct project. It's very much alive and well. Feel free to submit a pull request with contributions!

Where did GoConvey start?

After our first project re-write in Go, using the standard library tests, we found that our tests didn't clearly document what our code was doing, and how it should behave. Assertions weren't clear because they were backward.

On top of that (which is solved by other, more lightweight libraries), we thought a browser tab with test results displayed visually would be really cool and it sounded fun. So originally, GoConvey was written for internal use at SmartyStreets. Then we decided to make it kind of our gift to the Golang community.

Will you add this or that feature?

Maybe, but GoConvey works well enough for us at SmartyStreets as-is. You're welcome to do it.

How do I contribute?

See our contributors page.

If I'm new to testing, what do you recommend reading?

Why did we create this? (Isn't go test good enough?)

We weren't satisifed with the built-in GoLang test tools. No, actually we were overjoyed that the languagecame with something built-in. And we liked go test enough that rather than create something from the ground upwe decided to integrate with go test directly. We were just used to something much more descriptive andthat facilitated testing large systems withing a lot of boiler plate code.

Why is it called GoConvey?

We've used a few different BDD tools before, each having its own take on the language you should useto specify the behavior of the system under test. "Given, When, Then" vs. "Establish, Because, It" from BDDand "Arrange, Act, Assert" from TDD are a few examples. In the end, you use the testing tool to specify or"convey" what the system should do. So, the main function you'll use to write specifications is named Convey.The language you use to specify your system is up to you, although we usually use the "Given, When, Then" style.

Should I be careful to not produce certain output in my code?

  • >->->OPEN-JSON->->->

  • Those patterns are used to delimit blocks of JSON so that the web server can parse test output correctly.