July 2013 Summaries

Rollbar has introduced Source Maps support for JavaScript, a highly requested feature that simplifies debugging production errors by mapping minified code back to the original source code. This enhancement is available for all accounts and aims to improve error resolution by providing clearer stack traces and more effective error grouping. To enable this feature, users must modify the on-page JavaScript snippet with specific parameters and ensure that either a sourceMappingURL comment is included in the minified file or that the source map is uploaded separately during the deployment process. While the feature supports Chrome, Firefox, and IE10+ for caught errors, it relies on stack traces with line and column numbers, which browsers inconsistently support, particularly for uncaught errors. Rollbar offers a 14-day free trial for new users to explore this and other error management capabilities.

Rollbar's experience in building a robust test suite for their API server highlights the importance of thorough testing in preventing deployment issues for high-traffic applications. The team chose Vows over the popular Mocha framework for its alignment with familiar coding syntax and less reliance on special-case methods, despite Mocha's widespread use and features. The testing approach emphasizes the importance of separating view logic from API business logic, using callbacks in all functions to simplify future refactoring, and adopting asynchronous programming patterns. The process involves directly testing the API library and utilizing child processes to simulate server behavior, complemented by Vows macros and contexts for reusable tests. Rollbar faced challenges with maintaining real database testing without mock objects, opting to use a SQL fixture updated with schema changes. Continuous integration with CircleCI was employed to streamline the testing process, leveraging pre-installed systems to simulate a production environment closely.