# Walkontable Testing

> Use when writing tests for the Walkontable rendering engine - has its own separate test pipeline, runner, and configuration distinct from main Handsontable E2E tests

- Skill: `handsontable/walkontable-testing` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add handsontable/walkontable-testing`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/handsontable/walkontable-testing/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: handsontable (https://skillmd.com/u/handsontable)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/handsontable/walkontable-testing

---


# Testing the Walkontable Rendering Engine

> **Paradigm note:** Walkontable follows the **same freeze** as the main suite. It now has a **Playwright home** at `tests/e2e/walkontable/` (which drives overlay / frozen-pane / scroll-sync behavior through a real grid — see `tests/fixtures/pages/WalkontablePage.ts`). So: **maintenance edits to existing `*.spec.js` here are allowed; new or flaky walkontable tests move to Playwright** (the presence gate blocks a new walkontable `*.spec.js`). In CI the legacy Jasmine/Puppeteer walkontable job and the Playwright e2e job run **in parallel**; walkontable migrates by attrition, worst/flakiest first. The guide below is for *maintaining* the frozen Jasmine specs.

## Separate Test Pipeline

Walkontable has its own dedicated test runner. Do NOT run Walkontable tests through the main `test:e2e` or `test:unit` commands -- they will not be picked up.

- **Run command:** `npm run test:walkontable --prefix handsontable`
- **Test location:** `src/3rdparty/walkontable/test/`

The directory contains two sub-pipelines:

- `test/spec/` -- E2E-style specs (Jasmine + Puppeteer, same as main E2E but with a separate Rspack config and bootstrap)
- `test/unit/` -- Unit-style specs for calculators, filters, renderers, and utilities

## Writing Tests

The same async/await rules that apply to main E2E tests apply here. All `it()` callbacks that call rendering APIs must be `async`, and those API calls must be `await`-ed.

Tests are organized by subsystem: `overlay/`, `scroll/`, `selection/`, `renderer/`, `table/`, `viewport.spec.js`, etc. Place new tests in the directory that matches the subsystem you are modifying.

## What to Cover

- **Frozen rows and columns:** The overlay system (6 overlay types) is the most fragile part of Walkontable. Always include tests with frozen rows/columns to catch overlay positioning and synchronization regressions.
- **Viewport calculations:** Test with various container sizes (small containers that clip content, containers larger than the data, and containers that resize dynamically).
- **Scroll synchronization:** Verify that scrolling the main table keeps frozen overlays aligned. Test both horizontal and vertical scroll.
- **Large datasets:** Include performance-oriented tests with 10k+ rows. Use `forEach` loops to populate data arrays -- never `arr.push(...largeArray)`.

## Common Mistakes

- Running Walkontable tests via `test:e2e` -- they have their own command and will not execute.
- Skipping frozen row/column scenarios -- this misses the overlay edge cases where most regressions occur.
- Testing only small datasets -- Walkontable bugs often surface at scale.
- Modifying Walkontable test bootstrap/Rspack config without verifying that both `spec/` and `unit/` sub-pipelines still pass.
- Clearing an inline overflow longhand with jQuery: `$el.css('overflow-x', '')` does not clear an inline `overflow-x` in this harness, so the "clip removed" branch of a spec keeps the clip and asserts against the wrong layout. Write `el.style.overflowX = ''` on the element and assert the intermediate fact (`getComputedStyle(el).overflowX === 'visible'`) before the behavior.
- Trusting the spec count. Until the bridge reporter sanitized failed expectations (`test/helpers/jasmine-bridge-reporter.js`), a failing spec whose `expected` or `actual` was a cyclic object (`toBe(window)`, `toEqual([overlay, …])`) could not cross the Puppeteer bridge and was dropped from the run: `Running 16 specs.` in `--verbose` mode, `15 specs, 0 failures` at the end, exit code 0. The `getOverlays` spec sat in that state from #12951 on. The bridge now reports such a spec as a normal failure with the value described (`[unserializable Window]`); if a count ever comes up short again, compare the `Running N specs.` line against the summary line with `npm run test:walkontable -- --testPathPattern=<file> --verbose`.
- Turning on the uniform-size flags (`rowHeightsUniform`/`columnWidthsUniform`) in a bare Walkontable spec and then asserting scrollbar-dependent row/column counts: the bare harness overflows content without rendering a real scrollbar, while the single-pass layout snapshot predicts one — so predicted and measured diverge there. Assert the snapshot booleans directly, or use a fixture that renders a real scrollbar; don't compare snapshot-predicted scrollbars/counts against the bare DOM.