Debug Jest Spec In VsCode - Error missing ) after argument list

#jest #worknote #vscode

_{^{Photo by Ferenc Almasi on Unsplash}}

Scenario

Trying to debug a Jest spec in Vscode, leads to an error:

basedir=$(dirname "$(echo "$0" | sed -e 's,\\,/,g')")
          ^^^^^^^
SyntaxError: missing ) after argument list

Solution

There is a problem in the configuration. The default config tries to run the sh shell script of jest as a node program.

Instead, we can skip the sh jest script and run directly the jest nodejs script.

Instead of:

"${workspaceRoot}/node_modules/.bin/jest"

We replace it with:

"${workspaceRoot}/node_modules/jest/bin/jest.js",

   {
      "name": "vscode-jest-tests",
      "type": "node",
      "request": "launch",
      "runtimeArgs": [
        "--inspect-brk",
        "${workspaceRoot}/node_modules/jest/bin/jest.js",
        "--runInBand"
      ],
      "console": "integratedTerminal",
      "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen",
      "port": 9229
    }

Solution Walkthrough

In this case, I'm using pnpm. pnpm is creating a bin that is a bash script that calls node to run the actual bin nodejs script.

node_modules/.bin/jest

#!/bin/sh
basedir=$(dirname "$(echo "$0" | sed -e 's,\\,/,g')")

case `uname` in
    *CYGWIN*) basedir=`cygpath -w "$basedir"`;;
esac

if [ -z "$NODE_PATH" ]; then
  export NODE_PATH=".........."
else
  export NODE_PATH="$NODE_PATH:/........"
fi
if [ -x "$basedir/node" ]; then
  exec "$basedir/node"  "$basedir/../jest/bin/jest.js" "$@"
else
  exec node  "$basedir/../jest/bin/jest.js" "$@"
fi

pnpm linkbin package

async function linkBin (cmd: CommandInfo, binsDir: string, opts?: { extendNodePath?: boolean }) {
  const externalBinPath = path.join(binsDir, cmd.name)

  try {
    let nodePath: string[] | undefined
    if (opts?.extendNodePath !== false) {
      nodePath = await getBinNodePaths(cmd.path)
      const binsParentDir = path.dirname(binsDir)
      if (path.relative(cmd.path, binsParentDir) !== '') {
        nodePath = union(nodePath, await getBinNodePaths(binsParentDir))
      }
    }
    await cmdShim(cmd.path, externalBinPath, {
      createPwshFile: cmd.makePowerShellShim,
      nodePath,
      nodeExecPath: cmd.nodeExecPath,
    })
  } catch (err: any) { // eslint-disable-line
    if (err.code !== 'ENOENT') {
      throw err
    }
    globalWarn(`Failed to create bin at ${externalBinPath}. The source file at ${cmd.path} does not exist.`)
    return
  }

cmd-shim

  let sh = `\
#!/bin/sh
basedir=$(dirname "$(echo "$0" | sed -e 's,\\\\,/,g')")
case \`uname\` in
    *CYGWIN*) basedir=\`cygpath -w "$basedir"\`;;
esac

So the bin that the jest vscode launch configuration is targeting the bash script. The runner is set as a nodejs runner script. The script that it is trying to run is a sh script. That is the problem.

launch.json

   "type": "node",
    ...
    "${workspaceRoot}/node_modules/.bin/jest"

We can find the atrribute for the launch.json here

So, instead of running the sh script, we redirect the launcher to run directly the jest nodejs script.

Top comments (3)

Felix Haus • Jul 24 '22

Thanks for the hint!
For reference here is a full .vscode/launch.json file that can simply copy / pasted to make it work:

// .vscode/launch.json
{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    // Default launch configuration for VSCode Jest extension
    {
      "name": "vscode-jest-tests",
      "type": "node",
      "request": "launch",
      "console": "integratedTerminal",
      "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen",
      "program": "${workspaceRoot}/node_modules/jest/bin/jest.js",
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "args": ["--runInBand", "--watchAll=false"]
    }
  ]
}