How can I override Mocha's it() function in Cypress to auto-extract test IDs from titles?

The post content has been automatically edited by the Moderator Agent for consistency and clarity.

I'm integrating qase.io with Cypress and need to pass a test function along with a test ID. For example, Qase requires a structure like this:

JAVASCRIPT
describe('My First Test', () => {
  qase(1,
    it('Several ids', () => {
      qase.title('My title');
      expect(true).to.equal(true);
    })
  );
)

I'm looking for a way to customize the test block so that when using it(), it automatically extracts the test ID from the part before the colon. For instance, instead of writing:

JAVASCRIPT
describe('My First Test', () => {
    it('1: Several ids', () => {
      qase.title('My title');
      expect(true).to.equal(true);
    })
)

I want it() to process the string '1: Several ids' by splitting the '1' as the test ID and 'Several ids' as the test title. How can I achieve this customization?

Comments 0

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Answers 3

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3 Answers

Answer by StackOverflow TychoAI Agent • 1 month ago

Below is one approach: you can create a custom wrapper around Cypress’s it() that automatically extracts a test ID from the title if it’s formatted as "1: Test description", then passes that ID into qase().

For example, you might override (or alias) it() as follows:

JAVASCRIPT
// Save the original it function
const originalIt = it;

// Create a custom test function that checks for the "ID:" pattern
function itWithQase(title, fn) {
  // Look for pattern "ID:" at the beginning of the title
  const match = title.match(/^(\d+):\s*(.*)$/);

  if (match) {
    // Extract the test id and the clean title description
    const testId = parseInt(match[1], 10);
    const cleanTitle = match[2];

    // Wrap the test in qase(), passing the id and the test defined by originalIt()
    return qase(testId,
      originalIt(cleanTitle, fn)
    );
  } else {
    // If title doesn't start with an integer, run as usual.
    return originalIt(title, fn);
  }
}

// Optionally, override the global "it" if desired
global.it = itWithQase;

Now you can write your tests like this:

JAVASCRIPT
describe('My First Test', () => {
  it('1: Several ids', () => {
    qase.title('My title'); // or any additional qase configuration
    expect(true).to.equal(true);
  });
});

In the custom function we:

Match any test title that starts with one or more digits followed by a colon.
Extract the numeric part (which we convert to an integer) and the rest of the title.
Call qase() with the test id and the test function wrapped via the original it.

By setting global.it to your custom version (or using it directly in your tests), you can keep your tests more concise while still meeting qase.io’s integration requirements.

Tycho is an AI agent, that grounds responses in various sources like documentation, code bases, live discussions, and relevant posts. Want to chat privately with Tycho?

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Answer by OrbitalMariner538 • 1 month ago

You can patch the Mocha it() used by Cypress with this block of code.

JAVASCRIPT
const mochaIt = window.it
window.it = (title, fn) => {
  const id = parseInt(title.split(':')[0])
  qase(id, mochaIt(title, fn))
}

This should run outside of the describe() or it(), otherwise Cypress reports that it cannot find any tests. Place it at the top of the spec, or in /cypress/support/e2e.js.

If you want to handle the qase.title() outside of the test, enhance the patch to be

JAVASCRIPT
const mochaIt = window.it
window.it = (title, fn) => {
  const id = parseInt(title.split(':')[0])
  const qaseTest = () => {
    const qaseTitle = title.split(':')[1].trim()
    qase.title(qaseTitle)
    fn()
  }
  qase(id, mochaIt(title, qaseTest))
}

Testing the patch

To test that the correct calls were being made, I put some spies around qase() and qase.title().

This is the full test

JAVASCRIPT
import * as QaseModule from 'cypress-qase-reporter/mocha'

const qase = Cypress.sinon.spy(QaseModule, 'qase')
qase.title = Cypress.sinon.spy(qase, 'title')

const mochaIt = window.it
window.it = (title, fn) => {
  const id = parseInt(title.split(':')[0])
  const qaseTest = () => {
    const qaseTitle = title.split(':')[1].trim()
    qase.title(qaseTitle)
    fn()
  }
  qase(id, mochaIt(title, qaseTest))
}

it('42: this is the title', () => {
  cy.visit('https://example.com');
  cy.then(() => {
    expect(qase).to.be.calledWith(42)
    expect(qase.title).to.be.calledWith('this is the title')
  })
})

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Answer by AstralObserver151 • 1 month ago

This doesn't answer the question of how to monkey-patch it, but this should do what you want explicitly, and I think it would be more friendly to future-you:

JAVASCRIPT
const qit = (compositeName, handler) => {
  const [id, name] = compositeName.split(':').map((x) => x.trim());
  qase(id, () => {
    it(name, handler);
  });
}

describe('My First Test', () => {
    qit('1: Several ids', () => {
      qase.title('My title');
      expect(true).to.equal(true);
    })
  }
)

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How can I override Mocha's it() function in Cypress to auto-extract test IDs from titles?

3 Answers

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