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Asynchronous Tests in Jest

Published on June 6, 2017
Matthew Garcia

By Matthew Garcia

Asynchronous Tests in Jest

Not everything executes synchronously, so not everything should be tested synchronously. Jest offers a few options for asynchronous testing.

Using a Callback

If your function accepts a parameter, Jest will give it a done callback; the test will run until done or done.fail are called or it times out. This can be useful for testing observables:

// Let's say you're testing a cup that emits an event when it is full or spills.
it('fills without spilling.', (done) => {
  const smartCup = new SmartCup();
  // The event happened, so call `done`.
  smartCup.on('full', () => done());
  // If a failing condition happens, you can call `done.fail`.
  smartCup.on('spilled', () => done.fail());
  smartCup.fill();
});

Jest will wait for done if the function accepts a parameter. So something like:

it('works synchronously.', (done) => {
  expect(1).toBeGreaterThan(0);
});

…will run until it times out, since done is never called.

Returning a Promise

You can also make a test asynchronous by returning a promise:

it('returns a number.', () => {
  return getId()
    // After `getId` resolves, you can test it against your expectations.
    .then(id => expect(typeof id).toEqual('number'));
});

Since async functions return promises, you can use those, too:

// Same as above.
it('returns a number.', async () => {
  const id = await getId()
  expect(typeof id).toEqual('number');
});

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About the author

Matthew Garcia
Matthew Garcia
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