How to skip a test in FlatSpec?

Question

I know that a unit test is broken:

it should "be true" in {
  assert(false)
}

Yet I don't want to fix it right now but mark it as skipped. There should be a highly visible and also very concise warning in the output of the test run which is why commenting the code won't suffice.

I found the cancel command:

it should "be true" in {
  cancel("skipped")
  assert(false)
}

and while this looks good in the console through sbt test:

[info] - should be true !!! CANCELED !!!

it spams the console in IntelliJ with a huge stacktrace:

Test Canceled: skipped


org.scalatest.exceptions.TestCanceledException: skipped
    at org.scalatest.Assertions.newTestCanceledException(Assertions.scala:531)
    at org.scalatest.Assertions.newTestCanceledException$(Assertions.scala:530)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpec.newTestCanceledException(FlatSpec.scala:1685)
    at org.scalatest.Assertions.cancel(Assertions.scala:1141)
    at org.scalatest.Assertions.cancel$(Assertions.scala:1137)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpec.cancel(FlatSpec.scala:1685)
    at com.dreamlines.metronome.entities.MarshallingTest.$anonfun$new$3(MarshallingTest.scala:108)
    at org.scalatest.OutcomeOf.outcomeOf(OutcomeOf.scala:85)
    at org.scalatest.OutcomeOf.outcomeOf$(OutcomeOf.scala:83)
    at org.scalatest.OutcomeOf$.outcomeOf(OutcomeOf.scala:104)
    at org.scalatest.Transformer.apply(Transformer.scala:22)
    at org.scalatest.Transformer.apply(Transformer.scala:20)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike$$anon$1.apply(FlatSpecLike.scala:1682)
    at org.scalatest.TestSuite.withFixture(TestSuite.scala:196)
    at org.scalatest.TestSuite.withFixture$(TestSuite.scala:195)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpec.withFixture(FlatSpec.scala:1685)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.invokeWithFixture$1(FlatSpecLike.scala:1680)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.$anonfun$runTest$1(FlatSpecLike.scala:1692)
    at org.scalatest.SuperEngine.runTestImpl(Engine.scala:289)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.runTest(FlatSpecLike.scala:1692)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.runTest$(FlatSpecLike.scala:1674)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpec.runTest(FlatSpec.scala:1685)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.$anonfun$runTests$1(FlatSpecLike.scala:1750)
    at org.scalatest.SuperEngine.$anonfun$runTestsInBranch$1(Engine.scala:396)
    at scala.collection.immutable.List.foreach(List.scala:389)
    at org.scalatest.SuperEngine.traverseSubNodes$1(Engine.scala:384)
    at org.scalatest.SuperEngine.runTestsInBranch(Engine.scala:379)
    at org.scalatest.SuperEngine.runTestsImpl(Engine.scala:461)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.runTests(FlatSpecLike.scala:1750)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.runTests$(FlatSpecLike.scala:1749)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpec.runTests(FlatSpec.scala:1685)
    at org.scalatest.Suite.run(Suite.scala:1147)
    at org.scalatest.Suite.run$(Suite.scala:1129)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpec.org$scalatest$FlatSpecLike$$super$run(FlatSpec.scala:1685)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.$anonfun$run$1(FlatSpecLike.scala:1795)
    at org.scalatest.SuperEngine.runImpl(Engine.scala:521)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.run(FlatSpecLike.scala:1795)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpecLike.run$(FlatSpecLike.scala:1793)
    at org.scalatest.FlatSpec.run(FlatSpec.scala:1685)
    at org.scalatest.tools.SuiteRunner.run(SuiteRunner.scala:45)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.$anonfun$doRunRunRunDaDoRunRun$13(Runner.scala:1346)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.$anonfun$doRunRunRunDaDoRunRun$13$adapted(Runner.scala:1340)
    at scala.collection.immutable.List.foreach(List.scala:389)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.doRunRunRunDaDoRunRun(Runner.scala:1340)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.$anonfun$runOptionallyWithPassFailReporter$24(Runner.scala:1031)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.$anonfun$runOptionallyWithPassFailReporter$24$adapted(Runner.scala:1010)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.withClassLoaderAndDispatchReporter(Runner.scala:1506)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.runOptionallyWithPassFailReporter(Runner.scala:1010)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner$.run(Runner.scala:850)
    at org.scalatest.tools.Runner.run(Runner.scala)
    at org.jetbrains.plugins.scala.testingSupport.scalaTest.ScalaTestRunner.runScalaTest2(ScalaTestRunner.java:131)
    at org.jetbrains.plugins.scala.testingSupport.scalaTest.ScalaTestRunner.main(ScalaTestRunner.java:28)

What else can I do if I want to skip a test and don't want to fallback to tags?

Answer 1

While ignore will work, the test is not run at all, and even when the functionality is fixed, the test might continue to be ignored. Since you've said you are worried about forgetting to turn the test back on, I'd suggest pendingUntilFixed. The test is still run, and if the assertions fail, the test is ignored. However, when the functionality is fixed, and the assertions pass, the test fails, reminding you to turn it back on. It's added after the in, like this:

it should "be true" in pendingUntilFixed {
  assert(false)
}