Mocha: ReferenceError: before is not defined

Created on 25 Jun 2015  路  9Comments  路  Source: mochajs/mocha

I'm trying to make some tests with Mocha for my Sails application. As described here.

I have files:

test/mocha.opts:

--require test/bootstrap.test.js

test/bootstrap.test.js:

var Sails = require('sails'), sails;


before(function(done) {
  Sails.lift({
    // configuration for testing purposes
  }, function(err, server) {
    sails = server;
    if (err) return done(err);
    // here you can load fixtures, etc.
        console.log("Sails Loaded");
    done(err, sails);
  });
});

after(function(done) {
  // here you can clear fixtures, etc.
  sails.lower(done);
});

test/unit/model/User.test.js

/* global describe, User */

describe.only('UserModel', function() {

    describe('#find()', function() {
        it('should check find function', function(done) {
            User.find()
                            .then(function(results) {
                                console.log(results);
                                done();
                            })
                            .catch(done);
        });
    });

});

When I'm running tests, I see an error:

...
test\bootstrap.test.js:4
before(function(done) {
^
ReferenceError: before is not defined
...
picture elennaro

Most helpful comment

for eslint, a .eslintrc file include below config should be placed inside the test folder:

{
  "env": {
    "mocha": true
  }
}
picture marswong on 16 Jul 2018
👍14 ❤7

All 9 comments

You don't declare suites, tests or hooks on --required files.

Instead, you could require(...) helpers in your spec/test files, and execute methods that define those hooks.

require('./setup.js')()

describe(..., function () {
  it(...)
})
dasilvacontin picture dasilvacontin on 25 Jun 2015
👍1

To clarify, --required files are require(...)d _once_ by the CLI even before a Mocha instance is created, so they are useful for one time setup of globals and stuff.

e.g, you can execute require('chai').should() in your --required file to avoid doing so in each of your test files.

dasilvacontin picture dasilvacontin on 25 Jun 2015

Thans for explanation and for solution @dasilvacontin!
I solved it by simply running test/bootstrap.test.js through test/mocha.opts:

test/bootstrap.test.js
elennaro picture elennaro on 25 Jun 2015
👍4

@elennaro what do you mean by:

I solved it by simply running test/bootstrap.test.js through test/mocha.opts:

you just put that line as the first line in your test/mocha.opts ?

aventurella picture aventurella on 3 Jun 2016

Yes @aventurella
Here's my mocha opts:

--full-trace
--timeout 20000
test/bootstrap.test.js
elennaro picture elennaro on 7 Jun 2016
👍3

I was also getting below mentioned error.

global.window.beforeEach = beforeEach;
^
ReferenceError: beforeEach is not defined

I changed --require to --required and now its working fine.

My application mocha.opt

--compilers js:babel-register,jsx:babel-register
--recursive
--colors
--reporter list
--required ./test/setup.js

And setup.js

delete require.cache[require.resolve('angular')];
delete require.cache[require.resolve('angular/angular')];
delete require.cache[require.resolve('angular-mocks')];

import chai from 'chai';
import chaiAsPromised from 'chai-as-promised';
import sinon from 'sinon';
import sinonChai from 'sinon-chai';
import 'sinon-as-promised';
import {jsdom} from 'jsdom'

// example of using the should DSL without having to import it anywhere
// see chai docs
global.should = chai.should();
chai.use(chaiAsPromised);
chai.use(sinonChai);
global.sinon = sinon;

// mocha re-executes every time so we need to create this lazily
global.document = jsdom('<html><head></head><body></body></html>');
global.window = global.document.defaultView;
global.navigator = window.navigator = {};
global.Node = window.Node;

global.window.mocha = {};
global.window.beforeEach = beforeEach;
global.window.afterEach = afterEach;

require('angular/angular');
require('angular-mocks/angular-mocks');

global.angular = window.angular;
global.inject = global.angular.mock.inject;
global.ngModule = global.angular.mock.module;
jsandeepm picture jsandeepm on 27 Jan 2017

Hi guys, I just find using async call in the required file will solve this problem:

setTimeout(() => {
  beforeEach(async () => {
    // ***
  });

  afterEach(async () => {
    // ***
  });
});
tianjianchn picture tianjianchn on 7 Feb 2018
👍8

for eslint, a .eslintrc file include below config should be placed inside the test folder:

{
  "env": {
    "mocha": true
  }
}
marswong picture marswong on 16 Jul 2018
👍14 ❤7

I got the same error, but the reason was that I was using tdd, which uses suiteSetup instead of before.

Almenon picture Almenon on 18 Nov 2018
👍3 🚀2 ❤1
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