ng-describe

v1.8.0

Published

2 years ago

Convenient BDD specs for Angular

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bahmutov

mcamac

angular angularjs bdd describe helper ng simple test testing unit

ng-describe

Convenient BDD specs for Angular

Tested against angular v1.2, v1.3 and v1.4, dependent projects tested using dont-break - [![Circle CI] circle-icon ]circle-url.

Read Unit testing AngularJS using ng-describe tutorial, look through Unit testing slides.

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Intro

Unit testing and mocking AngularJs requires a lot of boilerplate code:

describe('typical test', function () {
    var foo;
    beforeEach(function () {
        angular.mock.module('A');
        // other modules
    });
    beforeEach(inject(function (_foo_) {
        foo = _foo_;
    }));
    it('finally a test', function () {
        expect(foo).toEqual('bar');
    });
});

ng-describe makes testing simple modules a breeze. Just list which modules you would like to load, which values / services / etc. you would like to inject and then start testing. Same test as above using ng-describe is much shorter and clearer:

ngDescribe({
    modules: 'A',
    tests: function (foo) {
        it('finally a test', function () {
            expect(foo).toEqual('bar');
        });
    }
});

ng-describe can inject dependencies, mock modules, set configs, create controllers, scopes, and even html fragments. For more details, continue reading. We also showed this library at AngularJS NYC meetup, the slides are at slides.com/bahmutov/ng-describe.

Install

npm install ng-describe --save-dev

Load ng-describe.js after angular and angular-mocks but before your specs, for example in Karma conf file.

// karma.conf.js
files: [
    'node_modules/angular/angular.js',
    'node_modules/angular-mocks/angular-mocks.js',
    'node_modules/ng-describe/dist/ng-describe.js',
    '<your source.js>',
    '<your specs.js>'
],

File dist/ng-describe.js includes es5-shim and other dependencies needed by the ngDescribe function.

API

ng-describe provides a single function ngDescribe that takes an options object.

ngDescribe({
  // your options
});

You do not have to specify every option, there are reasonable defaults. We also tried to make the API user-friendly.

ngDescribe returns itself, so you can chain multiple sets of specs easily

ngDescribe({
  name: 'first suite'
  ...
})({
  name: 'second suite'
  ...
});

Primary options

name - a string name for the spec, similar to BDD describe(name, ...)

modules - list of modules to inject

angular.module('A', []);
angular.module('B', []);
ngDescribe({
  name: 'modules example',
  modules: ['A', 'B']
});

If you have a single module to inject, you can just use a string name without Array notation

ngDescribe({
  name: 'single module',
  modules: 'A'
});

inject - list of dependencies to inject into unit tests. A single dependency can be just a string without Array notation. All dependencies will be exposed as properties of the deps argument to the tests callback

angular.module('A', []).value('foo', 42);
ngDescribe({
  name: 'inject example',
  modules: 'A',
  inject: ['foo', '$timeout'],
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('has foo', function () {
      expect(deps.foo).toEqual(42);
    });
    it('has timeout service', function () {
      expect(typeof deps.$timeout).toEqual('function');
    });
  }
});

tests - callback function that contains actual specs. Think of this as equivalent to describe with all necessary Angular dependencies taken care of.

ngDescribe({
  inject: ['$q', '$rootScope'],
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('injects $q', function () {
      expect(typeof deps.$q).toEqual('function');
    });
    it('can be resolved', function () {
      deps.$q.when(42).then(function (value) {
        expect(value).toEqual(42);
      });
      // move promises along
      deps.$rootScope.$digest();
    });
  }
});

Dependencies injection shortcut

You can list the dependencies to be injected directly in the test callback.

angular.module('shortcut', [])
  .constant('foo', 'bar');
ngDescribe({
  module: 'shortcut',
  tests: function (foo) {
    it('has constant', function () {
      console.assert(foo === 'bar');
    });
  }
});

You can inject multiple providers, including built-in services. If the test callback argument is named deps or dependencies it will be assumed that you do NOT use the shortcut.

The shortcut was implemented using changing named parameters trick.

mocks - top level mocks to be substituted into the tests. The mocks override any injected dependencies among modules.

ngDescribe({
  mocks: {
    // each module to mock by name
    moduleName1: {
      // each dependency from moduleName1 to mock
      dependencyName1: mockValue1,
      dependencyName2: mockValue2
      // the rest of moduleName1 is unchanged
    },
    moduleName2: {
      // dependencies to mock in moduleName2
    }
  }
});

For more information see examples below.

controllers - list of controllers by name that should be injected. Each controller is created with a new $rootScope instance.

NOTE: For each created controller, its SCOPE instance will be in the dependencies object.

angular.module('D', [])
  .controller('dController', function ($scope) {
    $scope.foo = 'foo';
  });
ngDescribe({
  modules: 'D',
  controllers: 'dController',
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('is a scope for controller', function () {
      expect(typeof deps.dController).toEqual('object');
      // deps.dController is the $scope object injected into dController
      expect(deps.dController.foo).toEqual('foo');
    });
  }
});

element - HTML fragment string for testing custom directives and DOM updates.

ngDescribe({
  element: '<my-foo bar="baz"></my-foo>'
});

The compiled angular.element will be injected into the dependencies object under element property. See examples below for more information. The compilation will create a new scope object too.

parentScope - when creating HTML fragment, copies properties from this object into the scope. The returned dependencies object will have deps.parentScope that is the new scope.

// myFoo directive uses isolate scope for example
ngDescribe({
  element: '<my-foo bar="baz"></my-foo>',
  parentScope: {
    baz: 42
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('baz -> bar', function () {
      deps.parentScope.baz = 100;
      deps.$rootScope.$apply();
      expect(deps.element.isolateScope().bar).toEqual(100);
    });
  }
});

See "2 way binding" example below.

configs - object with modules that have provider that can be used to inject run time settings. See Update 1 in Inject valid constants into Angular blog post and examples below.

Secondary options

verbose - flag to print debug messages during execution

only - flag to run this set of tests and skip the rest. Equivalent to ddescribe or describe.only.

ngDescribe({
  name: 'run this module only',
  only: true
});

skip - flag to skip this group of specs. Equivalent to xdescribe or describe.skip. Could be a string message explaining the reason for skipping the spec.

exposeApi - expose low-level ngDescribe methods

The tests callback will get the second argument, which is an object with the following methods

{
  setupElement: function (elementHtml),
  setupControllers: function (controllerNames)
}

You can use setupElement to control when to create the element. For example, instead of creating element right away, expose element factory so that you can create an element after running a beforeEach block. Useful for setting up mock backend before creating an element.

ngDescribe({
  exposeApi: true,
  inject: '$httpBackend',
  // no element option
  tests: function (deps, describeApi) {
    beforeEach(function () {
      deps.$httpBackend
        .expectGET('/api/foo/bar').respond(500);
    });
    beforeEach(function () {
      // now create an element ourselves
      describeApi.setupElement('<study-flags />');
    });
    it('created an element', function () {
      la(check.has(deps.element));
    });
  });
});

See the spec in test/expose-spec.js

Or you can use setupControllers to create controller objects AFTER setting up your spies.

angular.module('BroadcastController', [])
  .controller('broadcastController', function broadcastController($rootScope) {
    $rootScope.$broadcast('foo');
  });

We need to listen for the foo broadcast inside a unit test before creating the controller. If we let ngDescribe create the "broadcastController" it will be too late. Instead we can tell the ngDescribe to expose the low-level api and then we create the controllers when we are ready

ngDescribe({
  name: 'spy on controller init',
  modules: 'BroadcastController',
  inject: '$rootScope',
  exposeApi: true,
  tests: function (deps, describeApi) {
    it('can catch the broadcast in controller init', function (done) {
      var heardFoo;
      deps.$rootScope.$on('foo', function () {
        heardFoo = true;
        done();
      });
      describeApi.setupControllers('broadcastController');
    });
  }
});

See the spec in test/controller-init-spec.js

http - shortcut for specifying mock HTTP responses, built on top of $httpBackend. Each GET request will be mapped to $httpBackend.whenGET for example. You can provide data, response code + data pair, response code + data + headers and optionally statusText or custom function to return something using custom logic. If you use http property, then the injected dependencies will have http object that you can flush (it is really $httpBackend object).

ngDescribe({
  inject: '$http', // for making test calls
  http: {
    get: {
      '/my/url': 42, // status 200, data 42
      '/my/other/url': [202, 42], // status 202, data 42,
      '/my/smart/url': function (method, url, data, headers) {
        return [500, 'something is wrong'];
      } // status 500, data "something is wrong"
    },
    post: {
      '/my/url': '/my/url': [201, {message: 'ok'}, {Location: '/new/url'}, 'this is the new response'], // status data, headers and statusText
      // same format as GET
    }
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('responds', function (done) {
      deps.$http.get('/my/other/url')
        .then(function (response) {
          // expect
          // response.status = 202
          // response.data = 42
          done();
        });
      deps.http.flush();
    });
  }
});

All standard methods should be supported (get, head, post, put, delete, jsonp and patch).

Each of the methods can return a function that returns an configuration object, see mock http.

step - shortcut for running the digest cycle and mock http flush

tests: function (deps) {
  it('runs the digest cycle', function (done) {
    $q.when(42).finally(done);
    deps.step();
    // same as deps.$rootScope.$digest();
  });
}

Also flushes the mock http backend

http: {}
tests: function (deps) {
  it('returns expected result', function (done) {
    deps.$http.get(...)
      .then(...)
      .finally(done);
    deps.step();
    // same as deps.http.flush();
  });
}

Also flushed the $timeout service

ngDescribe({
  inject: '$timeout',
  tests: function (deps) {
    it(function () {
      deps.$timeout(...)
      deps.step();
      // same as deps.$timeout.flush()
    })
  }
})

root - alternative context for BDD callbacks

Imagine we are loading Angular and ngDescribe in a synthetic browser environment (like jsdom). ngDescribe attaches itself to synthetic window object, but the test framework callbacks are attached to global object, not window. By passing an alternative object, we allow ngDescribe to discover it, beforeEach, etc.

// load ngDescribe in jsdom under Node
window.ngDescribe({
  root: global,
  tests: function (deps) {
    ...
  }
})

See repo ng-describe-jsdom for actual example that tests Angular without a browser, only a synthetic emulation.

Examples

Most examples use use the la assertion from the lazy-ass library and done callback argument from Mocha testing framework.

Also, note that the dependencies object is filled only inside the unit test callbacks it and setup helpers beforeEach and afterEach

ngDescribe({
  inject: 'foo',
  tests: function (deps) {
    // deps is an empty object here
    beforeEach(function () {
      // deps object has 'foo'
    });
    // deps is an empty object here
    it(function () {
      // deps object has 'foo'
    });
    // deps is an empty object here
    afterEach(function () {
      // deps object has 'foo'
    });
  }
});

Test value provided by a module

// A.js
angular.module('A', [])
  .value('foo', 'bar');
// A-spec.js
ngDescribe({
  name: 'test value',
  modules: 'A',
  inject: 'foo',
  tests: function (deps) {
    // deps object has every injected dependency as a property
    it('has correct value foo', function () {
      la(deps.foo === 'bar');
    });
  }
});

Test a filter

We can easily test a built-in or custom filter function

ngDescribe({
  name: 'built-in filter',
  inject: '$filter',
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('can convert to lowercase', function () {
      var lowercase = deps.$filter('lowercase');
      la(lowercase('Foo') === 'foo');
    });
  }
});

Test a service

We can inject a service to test using the same approach. You can even use multiple specs inside tests callback.

// B.js
angular.module('B', ['A'])
  .service('addFoo', function (foo) {
    return function (str) {
      return str + foo;
    };
  });
// B-spec.js
ngDescribe({
  name: 'service tests',
  modules: 'B',
  inject: 'addFoo',
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('is a function', function () {
      la(typeof deps.addFoo === 'function');
    });
    it('appends value of foo to any string', function () {
      var result = deps.addFoo('x');
      la(result === 'xbar');
    });
  }
});

Test controller and scope

We can easily create instances of controller functions and scope objects. In this example we also inject $timeout service to speed up delayed actions (see Testing Angular async stuff).

angular.module('S', [])
  .controller('sample', function ($timeout, $scope) {
    $scope.foo = 'foo';
    $scope.update = function () {
      $timeout(function () {
        $scope.foo = 'bar';
      }, 1000);
    };
  });
ngDescribe({
  name: 'timeout in controller',
  modules: 'S',
  // inject $timeout so we can flush the timeout queue
  inject: ['$timeout'],
  controllers: 'sample',
  tests: function (deps) {
    // deps.sample = $scope object injected into sample controller
    it('has initial values', function () {
      la(deps.sample.foo === 'foo');
    });
    it('updates after timeout', function () {
      deps.sample.update();
      deps.$timeout.flush();
      la(deps.sample.foo === 'bar');
    });
  }
});

Test directive

angular.module('MyFoo', [])
  .directive('myFoo', function () {
    return {
      restrict: 'E',
      replace: true,
      template: '<span>{{ bar }}</span>'
    };
  });
ngDescribe({
  name: 'MyFoo directive',
  modules: 'MyFoo',
  element: '<my-foo></my-foo>',
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('can update DOM using binding', function () {
      la(check.has(deps, 'element'), 'has compiled element');
      var scope = deps.element.scope();
      scope.bar = 'bar';
      scope.$apply();
      la(deps.element.html() === 'bar');
    });
  }
});

Test controllerAs syntax

If you use controllerAs syntax without any components (see Binding to ... post or Separate ...), then you can still test it quickly

angular.module('H', [])
  .controller('hController', function () {
    // notice we attach properties to the instance, not to the $scope
    this.foo = 'foo';
  });
  ngDescribe({
    module: 'H',
    element: '<div ng-controller="hController as ctrl">{{ ctrl.foo }}</div>',
    tests: function (deps) {
      it('created controller correctly', function () {
        var compiledHtml = deps.element.html();
        // 'foo'
      });
      it('changes value', function () {
        var ctrl = deps.element.controller();
        // { foo: 'foo' }
        ctrl.foo = 'bar';
        deps.element.scope().$apply();
        var compiledHtml = deps.element.html();
        // 'bar'
      });
    }
  });

Test controller instance in custom directive

If you add methods to the controller inside custom directive, use controllerAs syntax to expose the controller instance.

angular.module('C', [])
  .directive('cDirective', function () {
    return {
      controllerAs: 'ctrl', // puts controller instance onto scope as ctrl
      controller: function ($scope) {
        $scope.foo = 'foo';
        this.foo = function getFoo() {
          return $scope.foo;
        };
      }
    };
  });
ngDescribe({
  name: 'controller for directive instance',
  modules: 'C',
  element: '<c-directive></c-directive>',
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('has controller', function () {
      var scope = deps.element.scope(); // grabs scope
      var controller = scope.ctrl; // grabs controller instance
      la(typeof controller.foo === 'function');
      la(controller.foo() === 'foo');
      scope.foo = 'bar';
      la(controller.foo() === 'bar');
    });
  }
});

Test 2 way binding

If a directive implements isolate scope, we can configure parent scope separately.

angular.module('IsolateFoo', [])
  .directive('aFoo', function () {
    return {
      restrict: 'E',
      replace: true,
      scope: {
        bar: '='
      },
      template: '<span>{{ bar }}</span>'
    };
  });

We can use element together with parentScope property to set initial values.

ngDescribe({
  modules: 'IsolateFoo',
  element: '<a-foo bar="x"></a-foo>',
  parentScope: {
    x: 'initial'
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('has correct initial value', function () {
      var scope = deps.element.isolateScope();
      expect(scope.bar).toEqual('initial');
    });
  }
});

We can change parent's values to observe propagation into the directive

// same setup
it('updates isolate scope', function () {
  deps.parentScope.x = 42;
  deps.$rootScope.$apply();
  var scope = deps.element.isolateScope();
  expect(scope.bar).toEqual(42);
});

beforeEach and afterEach

You can use multiple beforeEach and afterEach inside tests function.

ngDescribe({
  name: 'before and after example',
  modules: ['A'],
  inject: ['foo'],
  tests: function (deps) {
    var localFoo;
    beforeEach(function () {
      // dependencies are already injected
      la(deps.foo === 'bar');
      localFoo = deps.foo;
    });
    it('has correct value foo', function () {
      la(localFoo === 'bar');
    });
    afterEach(function () {
      la(localFoo === 'bar');
      // dependencies are still available
      la(deps.foo === 'bar');
    });
  }
});

This could be useful for setting up additional mocks, like $httpBackend.

angular.module('apiCaller', [])
  .service('getIt', function ($http) {
    return function () {
      return $http.get('/my/url');
    };
  });
ngDescribe({
  name: 'http mock backend example',
  modules: ['apiCaller'],
  inject: ['getIt', '$httpBackend'],
  tests: function (deps) {
    beforeEach(function () {
      deps.$httpBackend.expectGET('/my/url').respond(200, 42);
    });
    it('returns result from server', function (done) {
      deps.getIt().then(function (response) {
        la(response && response.status === 200);
        la(response.data === 42);
        done();
      });
      deps.$httpBackend.flush();
    });
    afterEach(function () {
      deps.$httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingRequest();
      deps.$httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingExpectation();
    });
  }
});

Note if you use beforeEach block with element, the beforeEach runs before the element is created. This gives you a chance to setup mocks before running the element and possibly making calls. If you really want to control when an element is created use exposeApi option (see Secondary options).

Mocking

Mock value provided by a module

Often during testing we need to mock something provided by a module, even if it is passed via dependency injection. ng-describe makes it very simple. List all modules with values to be mocked in mocks object property.

// C.js
angular.module('C', ['A'])
  .service('getFoo', function (foo) {
    // foo is provided by module A
    return function getFoo() {
      return foo;
    };
  });
// C-spec.js
ngDescribe({
  name: 'test C with mocking top level',
  modules: ['C'],
  inject: ['getFoo'],
  mocks: {
    // replace C.getFoo with mock function that returns 11
    C: {
      getFoo: function () {
        return 11;
      }
    }
  },
  verbose: false,
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('has mock injected value', function () {
      var result = deps.getFoo();
      la(result === 11, 'we got back mock value', result);
    });
  }
});

Remember when making mocks, it is always module name : provider name : mocked property name

mocks: {
  'module name': {
    'mocked provider name': {
      'mocked value name'
    }
  }
}

Note: the mocked values are injected using $provider.constant call to be able to override both values and constants

angular.module('A10', [])
  .constant('foo', 'bar');
ngDescribe({
  modules: 'A10',
  mock: {
    A10: {
      foo: 42
    }
  },
  inject: 'foo',
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('has correct constant foo', function () {
      expect(deps.foo).toEqual(42);
    });
  }
});

You can even mock part of the module itself and use mock value in other parts via injection

angular.module('LargeModule', [])
  .constant('foo', 'foo')
  .service('getFoo', function (foo) {
    return function getFoo() {
      return foo;
    };
  });
ngDescribe({
  name: 'mocking part of the module itself',
  modules: 'LargeModule',
  inject: 'getFoo',
  mock: {
    LargeModule: {
      foo: 'bar'
    }
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('service injects mock value', function () {
      la(deps.getFoo() === 'bar', 'returns mock value');
    });
  }
});

Angular services inside mocks

You can use other injected dependencies inside mocked functions, using injected values and free parameters.

ngDescribe({
  inject: ['getFoo', '$rootScope'],
  mocks: {
    C: {
      // use angular $q service in the mock function
      // argument "value" remains free
      getFoo: function ($q, value) {
        return $q.when(value);
      }
    }
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('injected $q into mock', function (done) {
      deps.getFoo('foo').then(function (result) {
        expect(result).toEqual('foo');
        done();
      });
      deps.$rootScope.$apply(); // resolve promise
    });
  }
});

Mock $http.get

Often we need some dummy response from $http.get method. We can use mock httpBackend or mock the $http object. For example to always return mock value when making any GET request, we can use

mocks: {
  ng: {
    $http: {
      get: function ($q, url) {
        // inspect url if needed
        return $q.when({
          data: {
            life: 42
          }
        });
      }
    }
  }
}

$http service returns a promise that resolves with a response object. The actual result to send is placed into the data property, as I show here.

Mock http responses

You can use a shortcut to define mock HTTP responses via $httpBackend module. For example, you can define static responses.

ngDescribe({
  http: {
    get: {
      '/some/url': 42,
      '/some/other/url': [500, 'something went wrong']
    },
    post: {
      // you can use custom functions too
      '/some/post/url': function (method, url, data, headers) {
        return [200, 'ok'];
      }
    }
  }
});

All HTTP methods are supported (get, post, delete, put, etc.).

You can also get a function that would return a config object.

var mockGetApi = {
  '/some/url': 42
};
mockGetApi['/some/other/url'] = [500, 'not ok'];
ngDescribe({
  http: {
    get: mockGetApi
  }
});

You can use deps.http.flush() to move the http responses along.

You can return the entire http mock object from a function, or combine objects with functions.

function constructMockApi() {
  return {
    get: function () {
      return { '/my/url': 42 };
    },
    post: {
      '/my/other/url': [200, 'nice']
    }
  };
}
ngDescribe({
  http: constructMockApi,
  test: function (deps) {
    ...
  } 
});

You can use exact query arguments too

http: {
  get: {
    '/foo/bar?search=value': 42,
    '/foo/bar?search=value&something=else': 'foo'
  }
}
// $http.get('/foo/bar?search=value') will resolve with value 42
// $http.get('/foo/bar?search=value&something=else') will resolve with value 'foo'

or you can build the query string automatically by passing params property in the request config objet

http: {
  get: {
    '/foo/bar?search=value&something=else': 'foo'
  }
}
// inside the unit test
var config = {
  params: {
    search: 'value',
    something: 'else'
  }
};
$http.get('/foo/bar', config).then(function (response) {
  // response.data = 'foo'
});

note the http mocks are defined using $httpBack.when(method, ...) calls, which are looser than $httpBackend.expect(method, ...), see ngMock/$httpBackend.

Spying

Spy on injected methods

One can quickly spy on injected services (or other methods) using sinon.js similarly to spying on the regular JavaScript methods.

Include a browser-compatible combined sinon.js build into the list of loaded Karma files.
Setup spy in the beforeEach function. Since every injected service is a method on the deps object, the setup is a single command.
Restore the original method in afterEach function.

// source code
angular.module('Tweets', [])
  .service('getTweets', function () {
    return function getTweets(username) {
      console.log('returning # of tweets for', username);
      return 42;
    };
  });

// spec
ngDescribe({
  name: 'spying on Tweets getTweets service',
  modules: 'Tweets',
  inject: 'getTweets',
  tests: function (deps) {
    beforeEach(function () {
      sinon.spy(deps, 'getTweets');
    });
    afterEach(function () {
      deps.getTweets.restore();
    });
    it('calls getTweets service', function () {
      var n = deps.getTweets('foo');
      la(n === 42, 'resolved with correct value');
      la(deps.getTweets.called, 'getTweets was called (spied using sinon)');
      la(deps.getTweets.firstCall.calledWith('foo'));
    });
  }
});

Spy on injected function

You can inject a function, but use a Sinon spy instead of the injected function to get additional information. For example, to spy on the $filter uppercase, we can use the following code.

ngDescribe({
  name: 'spying on a filter',
  inject: '$filter',
  tests: function (deps) {
    /*
      to spy on a injected filter, need to grab the actual filter function
      and then create a spy
    */
    // _uppercase = angular uppercase $filter
    // uppercase = spy on the _uppercase
    var _uppercase, uppercase;
    beforeEach(function () {
      _uppercase = deps.$filter('uppercase');
      uppercase = sinon.spy(_uppercase);
    });
    it('converts string to uppercase', function () {
      var result = uppercase('foo');
      la(result === 'FOO', 'converted string to uppercase', result);
      la(uppercase.calledOnce, 'uppercase was called once');
      la(uppercase.calledWith('foo'));
    });
  }
});

Spy on 3rd party service injected some place else

Let us say you need to verify that the $interval service injected in the module under test was called. It is a little verbose to verify from the unit test. We must mock the $interval with our function and then call the actual $interval from the module ng to provide the same functionality.

Source code we are trying to unit test

angular.module('IntervalExample', [])
  .service('numbers', function ($interval, $rootScope) {
    return function emitNumbers(delay, n) {
      var k = 0;
      $interval(function () {
        $rootScope.$emit('number', k);
        k += 1;
      }, 100, n);
    };
  });

In the unit test we will mock $interval service for module IntervalExample

// unit test start
var intervalCalled;
ngDescribe({
  name: 'spying on $interval',
  module: 'IntervalExample',
  inject: ['numbers', '$rootScope'],
  verbose: false,
  only: false,
  mocks: {
    IntervalExample: {
      $interval: function mockInterval(fn, delay, n) {
        var injector = angular.injector(['ng']);
        var $interval = injector.get('$interval');
        intervalCalled = true;
        return $interval(fn, delay, n);
      }
    }
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    // unit test goes here
  }
});

A unit test just calls the numbers function and then checks the variable intervalCalled

it('emits 3 numbers', function (done) {
  deps.$rootScope.$on('number', function (event, k) {
    if (k === 2) {
      done();
    }
  });
  // emit 3 numbers with 100ms interval
  deps.numbers(100, 3);
  la(intervalCalled, 'the $interval was called somewhere');
});

You can see the unit test in file test/spying-on-interval-spec.js.

Spy on mocked service

If we mock an injected service, we can still spy on it, just like as if we were spying on the regular service. For example, let us take the same method as above and mock it.

angular.module('Tweets', [])
  .service('getTweets', function () {
    return function getTweets(username) {
      return 42;
    };
  });

The mock will return a different number.

ngDescribe({
  name: 'spying on mock methods',
  inject: 'getTweets',
  mocks: {
    Tweets: {
      getTweets: function (username) {
        return 1000;
      }
    }
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    beforeEach(function () {
      sinon.spy(deps, 'getTweets');
    });
    afterEach(function () {
      deps.getTweets.restore();
    });
    it('calls mocked getTweets service', function () {
      var n = deps.getTweets('bar');
      la(n === 1000, 'resolved with correct value from the mock service');
      la(deps.getTweets.called,
        'mock service getTweets was called (spied using sinon)');
      la(deps.getTweets.firstCall.calledWith('bar'),
        'mock service getTweets was called with expected argument');
    });
  }
});

Configure module

If you use a separate module with namesake provider to pass configuration into the modules (see Inject valid constants into Angular), you can easily configure these modules.

angular.module('App', ['AppConfig'])
  .service('foo', function (AppConfig) {
    return function foo() {
      return GConfig.bar;
    };
  });
// config module has provider with same name
angular.module('AppConfig', [])
  .provider('AppConfig', function () {
    var config = {};
    return {
      set: function (settings) {
        config = settings;
      },
      $get: function () {
        return config;
      }
    };
  });
// spec file
ngDescribe({
  name: 'config module example',
  modules: 'App',
  inject: 'foo',
  configs: {
    // every config module will be loaded automatically
    AppConfig: {
      bar: 'boo!'
    }
  },
  tests: function (deps) {
    it('foo has configured bar value', function () {
      expect(deps.foo()).toEqual('boo!');
    });
  }
});

You can configure multiple modules at the same time. Note that during the configuration Angular is yet to be loaded. Thus you cannot use Angular services inside the configuration blocks.

Helpful failure messages

ng-describe works inside helpDescribe function, producing meaningful error messages on failure (if you use lazy assertions).

helpDescribe('ngDescribe inside helpful', function () {
  ngDescribe({
    name: 'example',
    tests: function () {
      it('gives helpful error message', function () {
        var foo = 2, bar = 3;
        la(foo + bar === 4); // wrong on purpose
      });
    }
  });
});

when this test fails, it generates meaningful message with all relevant information: the expression that fails foo + bar === 4 and runtime values of foo and bar.

PhantomJS 1.9.7 (Mac OS X) 
ட ngDescribe inside helpful 
  ட example 
    ட ✘ gives helpful error message FAILED
  Error: condition [foo + bar === 4] foo: 2 bar: 3
      at lazyAss (/ng-describe/node_modules/lazy-ass/index.js:57)
PhantomJS 1.9.7 (Mac OS X): Executed 37 of 38 (1 FAILED) (skipped 1) (0.053 secs / 0.002 secs)

Development

To build the README document, run unit tests and linter

npm run build

To run all unit tests (against different Angular versions)

npm test

To keep a watch and rerun build + lint + tests on source file change

npm run watch

For now, all source is in a single ng-describe.js file, while the documentation is generated from Markdown files in the docs folder

To just run karma unit tests via Grunt plugin

npm run karma

If you have Karma runner installed globally you can run all the unit tests yourself ones

karma start --single-run=true test/karma.conf.js

Updating dependencies

This project uses a lot of 3rd party dependencies that constantly get out of date. To reliably update dependencies to the latest working versions, we use next-update. There is already a script command

npm run update-dependencies

You can upgrade a particular dependency by adding "-m ", for example

npm run update-dependencies -- -m jscs

If you use npm-quick-run you can use shorthand

nr u -m jscs

Note to Jasmine users

We got very tired of fighting bugs in the Jasmine test framework. From the broken order of afterEach callbacks to the afterAll not firing at all - the work arounds we had to write quickly becamse insane. Thus we recommend Mocha testing framework - fast, simple and seems to not suffer from any bugs. You do need your own assertion framework, we use lazy-ass and a library of predicates check-more-types.

Modules used

check-more-types - Large collection of predicates.
lazy-ass - Lazy assertions without performance penalty

License

Support: if you find any problems with this library, open issue on Github

The MIT License (MIT)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Published

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Keywords

Readme

ng-describe

Intro

Install

API

Primary options

Secondary options

Examples

Test value provided by a module

Test a filter

Test a service

Test controller and scope

Test directive

Test controllerAs syntax

Test controller instance in custom directive

Test 2 way binding

beforeEach and afterEach

Mocking

Mock value provided by a module

Angular services inside mocks

Mock $http.get

Mock http responses

Spying

Spy on injected methods

Spy on injected function

Spy on 3rd party service injected some place else

Spy on mocked service

Configure module

Helpful failure messages

Development

Updating dependencies

Note to Jasmine users

Modules used

License