Generating JavaScript in C# and subsequent testing
- by Codebrain
We are currently developing an ASP.NET MVC application which makes heavy use of attribute-based metadata to drive the generation of JavaScript.
Below is a sample of the type of methods we are writing:
function string GetJavascript<T>(string javascriptPresentationFunctionName,
string inputId,
T model)
{
return @"function updateFormInputs(value){
$('#" + inputId + @"_SelectedItemState').val(value);
$('#" + inputId + @"_Presentation').val(value);
}
function clearInputs(){
" + helper.ClearHiddenInputs<T>(model) + @"
updateFormInputs('');
}
function handleJson(json){
clearInputs();
" + helper.UpdateHiddenInputsWithJson<T>("json", model) + @"
updateFormInputs(" + javascriptPresentationFunctionName + @"());
" + model.GetCallBackFunctionForJavascript("json") + @"
}";
}
This method generates some boilerplace and hands off to various other methods which return strings. The whole lot is then returned as a string and written to the output.
The question(s) I have are:
1) Is there a nicer way to do this other than using large string blocks?
We've considered using a StringBuilder or the Response Stream but it seems quite 'noisy'. Using string.format starts to become difficult to comprehend.
2) How would you go about unit testing this code? It seems a little amateur just doing a string comparison looking for particular output in the string.
3) What about actually testing the eventual JavaScript output?
Thanks for your input!
