How to fix Error: Not implemented: navigation (except hash changes)

I am implementing unit test for a file that contain window.location.href and I need to check it.

My jest version is 22.0.4. Everything is fine when I run my test on node version >=10

But I get this error when I run it on v8.9.3

console.error node_modules/jsdom/lib/jsdom/virtual-console.js:29
      Error: Not implemented: navigation (except hash changes)

I have no idea about it. I have searched on many page to find out the solution or any hint about this to figure out what happened here.

[UPDATE] - I took a look deep to source code and I think this error is from jsdom.

at module.exports (webapp/node_modules/jsdom/lib/jsdom/browser/not-implemented.js:9:17)
at navigateFetch (webapp/node_modules/jsdom/lib/jsdom/living/window/navigation.js:74:3)

navigation.js file

exports.evaluateJavaScriptURL = (window, urlRecord) => {
  const urlString = whatwgURL.serializeURL(urlRecord);
  const scriptSource = whatwgURL.percentDecode(Buffer.from(urlString)).toString();
  if (window._runScripts === "dangerously") {
    try {
      return window.eval(scriptSource);
    } catch (e) {
      reportException(window, e, urlString);
    }
  }
  return undefined;
};
exports.navigate = (window, newURL, flags) => {
  // This is NOT a spec-compliant implementation of navigation in any way. It implements a few selective steps that
  // are nice for jsdom users, regarding hash changes and JavaScript URLs. Full navigation support is being worked on
  // and will likely require some additional hooks to be implemented.

  const document = idlUtils.implForWrapper(window._document);
  const currentURL = document._URL;

  if (!flags.reloadTriggered && urlEquals(currentURL, newURL, { excludeFragments: true })) {
    if (newURL.fragment !== currentURL.fragment) {
      navigateToFragment(window, newURL, flags);
    }
    return;
  }

  // NOT IMPLEMENTED: Prompt to unload the active document of browsingContext.

  // NOT IMPLEMENTED: form submission algorithm
  // const navigationType = 'other';

  // NOT IMPLEMENTED: if resource is a response...
  if (newURL.scheme === "javascript") {
    window.setTimeout(() => {
      const result = exports.evaluateJavaScriptURL(window, newURL);
      if (typeof result === "string") {
        notImplemented("string results from 'javascript:' URLs", window);
      }
    }, 0);
    return;
  }
  navigateFetch(window);
};

not-implemented.js

module.exports = function (nameForErrorMessage, window) {
  if (!window) {
    // Do nothing for window-less documents.
    return;
  }

  const error = new Error(`Not implemented: ${nameForErrorMessage}`);
  error.type = "not implemented";

  window._virtualConsole.emit("jsdomError", error);
};

I see some weird logics in these file.

const scriptSource = whatwgURL.percentDecode(Buffer.from(urlString)).toString();
then check string and return error

Solution

I faced a similar issue in one of my unit tests. Here's what I did to resolve it.

Replace window.location.href with window.location.assign(url) OR window.location.replace(url)
JSDOM will still complain about window.location.assign not implemented.

Error: Not implemented: navigation (except hash changes)
Then, in one of your unit tests for the above component / function containing window.assign(url) or window.replace(url) define the following
sinon.stub(window.location, 'assign');
sinon.stub(window.location, 'replace');
Make sure you import sinon import sinon from 'sinon';

Hopefully, this should fix the issue for you as it did for me.

The reason JSDOM complains about the ` Error: Not implemented: navigation (except hash changes)` is because JSDOM does not implement methods like `window.alert`, `window.location.assign`, etc.

References: