Mocha, Enzyme: Unit testing custom functions in react component using enzyme

Question

I am working on creating unit tests of react components using mocha, enzyme. Below is a sample component.

Foo.js

class Foo extends React.Component {
    customFunction=() => {
    }

    render() {
        return (<div className={this.props.name}/>);
   }
}

And here is the testing file.

Foo-Test.js

import React from 'react';
import { expect } from 'chai';
import { shallow, mount, render } from 'enzyme';
import Foo from '../src/Foo';

describe("A suite", function() {
    it("contains spec with an expectation", function() {
        expect(shallow(<Foo />).contains(<div className="foo" />)).to.equal(true);
    });

    it("contains spec with an expectation", function() {
        expect(shallow(<Foo />).is('.foo')).to.equal(true);
    });
});

Everything is good. but I didn't understand how to unit test customFunction in Foo.js when we are using enzyme

Answer 1

The best answer to this question really depends on what it is that customFunction is actually doing...

You can call the function like this:

wrapper.instance().customFunction('foo', 'bar');

If it's a function that sets state on the instance itself, and thus affects what the rendered output looks like, you may want to call .update() as well

wrapper.instance().customFunction('foo', 'bar'); // uses setState internally
wrapper.update(); // updates render tree
// do assertions on the rendered output

Answer 2

You can also use the chai plugin to spy on custom functions in you jsx file.

// to use this pluggin add this to the top of your testing file

const chai = require("chai"), spies = require("chai-spies");
chai.use(spies);
import Foo from "./<path to component>/Foo.jsx";

describe("Foo", () => {
  it("a call to customFunction will not error", () => {
    let spy = chai.spy(Foo.prototype, "customFunciton"); // spy
    const wrapper = mount(<Foo/>);
    wrapper.setProps({bar: "baz"}); // manipulate you component in some way
    expect(spy).to.have.been.called.once();
  });
});

@leland-richardson is right, it depends on what your test is doing. Understanding that will help you compose new ways to manipulate your component and thus make assertions.

Another example testing a function that updates your components state.

it("function will assert new state", () => {
  const wrapper = shallow(<Foo {...props}/>);
  wrapper.instance.customFunction(); // call custom function
  wrapper.update();
  expect(wrapper.state("bar")).to.equal("new-state");
});

Chai-spies also has a handful of chainable getters that make testing custom functions much easier. Please see the docs for a more in-depth explanation.