Angular Unit Test Helper

Helper functions to help write unit tests in Angular using mocks and spies

Goal

Minimal feature set to bridge obvious gaps in jasmine's support of modern JavaScript features. Ideally, I'd like to be using an auto-mocking library, but they don't play well with Angular's TestBed and RxJS\BehaviorSubject.

Here's a great article about auto-mocking libraries: https://hackernoon.com/with-typescript-3-and-substitute-js-you-are-already-missing-out-when-mocking-or-faking-a3b3240c4607.

Install

Add the package to your Angular project with npm:

npm i -D angular-unit-test-helper

Example Projects

Check out my sample projects that leverage angular-unit-test-helper:

• https://github.com/duluca/local-weather-app
• https://github.com/duluca/lemon-mart

Use the ng-tester package to generate robust and efficient unit tests using angular-unit-test-helper.

Usage

npm i -D ng-tester
npx ng g ng-tester:unit

For more information see https://github.com/bjsawyer/ng-tester/.

Features

autoSpyObj(classUnderTest: Function, spyProperties: string[] = [], observableStrategy = ObservablePropertyStrategy.Observable)

An extension of jasmine.createSpyObj with automatic discovery of functions and property getters given a Class, without requiring an instance of an object.

If you'd want to spy on a property without a getter, then you can simply pass in the property name like autoSpyObj(WeatherService, ['currentWeather ]).

Return value of autoSpyObj will be a true mock of the Class with spy-able methods and properties, making it easy to control and modify the return values of external dependencies during testing.

If property name ends with $ indicating that the property is an Observable, then you can specify an optional ObservablePropertyStrategy to prefer {}, new Observable() or new BehaviorSubject(null) default values for your mocked properties.

Usage

const weatherServiceSpy = autoSpyObj(WeatherService)

Alternate Usage

const weatherServiceSpy = autoSpyObj(
  WeatherService,
  ['currentWeather

],
  ObservablePropertyStrategy.BehaviorSubject
)

autoSpyObj replaces the more verbose and difficult to maintain code, shown below:

jasmine.createSpyObj(WeatherService.name, [
  'getCurrentWeather',
  'getCurrentWeatherByCoords',
  'updateCurrentWeather',
])
addPropertyAsBehaviorSubject(weatherServiceSpy, 'currentWeather

)

addProperty(object: object, propertyName: string, valueToReturn: object)

When creating a mock object, add a property to that object with a property getter, so you can use a jasmine.spyOnProperty.

Usage

  weatherServiceMock = jasmine.createSpyObj('WeatherService', ['getCurrentWeather'])
  addPropertyAsBehaviorSubject(weatherServiceMock, 'currentWeather', null)
  ...
  spyOnProperty(weatherServiceMock, 'currentWeather

).and.returnValue({ temp = 72})

addPropertyAsBehaviorSubject(object: object, propertyName: string)

Convenience method to configure a property as a BehaviorSubject, so you can update its value before each test by calling .next on it.

Usage

  weatherServiceMock = jasmine.createSpyObj('WeatherService', ['getCurrentWeather'])
  addPropertyAsBehaviorSubject(weatherServiceMock, 'currentWeather

)
  ...
  weatherServiceMock.currentWeather$.next(fakeWeather)

createComponentMock(className: string, selectorName?: string, template = '')

Creates a mock class decorated with @Component, if not specified selector is inferred to be MyClassComponent -> app. Provides an option to override empty template.

Usage

TestBed.configureTestingModule({
      declarations: [ ..., createComponentMock('CurrentWeatherComponent')]
      ...
})

Note: Inferred selector in the above example is 'app-current-weather'.

Replaces boilerplate

@Component({
  selector: 'app-current-weather',
  template: '',
})
class MockCurrentWeatherComponent {}

injectClass<TDependency>(dependency: Type<TDependency> | AbstractType<TDependency>): TDependency

Helper function to inject a dependency, like a service, into the TestBed with a typed return variable.

Usage

beforeEach(() => {
  weatherService = injectClass(WeatherService)
})

Replaces

beforeEach(() => {
  weatherService = TestBed.inject(WeatherService)
})

injectSpy<TDependency>(dependency: Type<TDependency> | AbstractType<TDependency>): jasmine.SpyObj<TDependency>

Similar to injectClass, but more descriptive to read for developers if returning a mocked SpyObj.

Usage

beforeEach(() => {
  weatherServiceMock = injectSpy(WeatherService)
})

Replaces

beforeEach(() => {
  weatherServiceMock = TestBed.inject(WeatherService) as any
})

getAllFunctions(prototype: any, props?: (string | number | symbol)[])

Helper function that return all functions in a given Class using reflection, so you don't have to provide an instance of the object.

getAllProperties(prototype: any, props?: (string | number | symbol)[])

Helper function that return all property getters in a given Class using reflection, so you don't have to provide an instance of the object.

Contributing

• Send PR, will accept
• To setup the project, run npm install
• Test against the example project listed below using npm pack to create a .tgz file and install the .tgz file using npm install -D ../path/to/your.tgz
  • Using npm link doesn't work as expected due devDependencies being symlinked to the parent Angular project, causing issues with the framework.
• To publish the project, run npm version major|minor|patch

  Read more about that setup by Isaac Schlueter here