Use built-in functionality to test a Go server is a painful experience. The problem is because we have to handle too many errors and get so much thing we don't always need.

Of course, we will create an abstraction to reduce this panic. But if we already have a mature solution? That is httpexpect

We have two options for import:

• import "github.com/gavv/httpexpect.v1"
• import "github.com/gavv/httpexpect"

The different is v1 is stable branch, another is master branch on GitHub.

I suggest pick stable one for the company project, but it’s fine to use master branch at side project.

httpexpect works pretty good with httptest. A simple example:

type fakeHandler struct {
}

func (h *fakeHandler) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    fmt.Fprint(w, "Hello")
}

func TestIt(t *testing.T) {
    handler := &fakeHandler{}
    server := httptest.NewServer(handler)
    defer server.Close()

    e := httpexpect.New(t, server.URL)

    e.GET("/").
        Expect().
        Status(http.StatusOK).
        Body().Equal("Hello")
}

How about add form value?

e.PATCH("/test/patch").WithFormField("value", "patch").
    Expect().Status(http.StatusOK).
    Body().Equal("patch")

JSON response?

e.POST("/post").
    Expect().Status(http.StatusOK).
    ContentType("application/json", "").
    JSON().Equal(expected)

Query?

e.GET("/user").WithQuery("name", "Danny").
    Expect().Status(http.StatusOK).

Hope you would feel happy with this little introduction.