Testing NGRX effect with delay

Question

I want to test an effect that works as follows:

1. Effect starts if LoadEntriesSucces action was dispatched
2. It waits for 5 seconds
3. After 5 seconds passes http request is send
4. When response arrives, new action is dispatched (depending, whether response was succes or error).

Effect's code looks like this:

  @Effect()
  continuePollingEntries$ = this.actions$.pipe(
    ofType(SubnetBrowserApiActions.SubnetBrowserApiActionTypes.LoadEntriesSucces),
    delay(5000),
    switchMap(() => {
      return this.subnetBrowserService.getSubnetEntries().pipe(
        map((entries) => {
          return new SubnetBrowserApiActions.LoadEntriesSucces({ entries });
        }),
        catchError((error) => {
          return of(new SubnetBrowserApiActions.LoadEntriesFailure({ error }));
        }),
      );
    }),
  );

What I want to test is whether an effect is dispatched after 5 seconds:

it('should dispatch action after 5 seconds', () => {
  const entries: SubnetEntry[] = [{
    type: 'type',
    userText: 'userText',
    ipAddress: '0.0.0.0'
  }];

  const action = new SubnetBrowserApiActions.LoadEntriesSucces({entries});
  const completion = new SubnetBrowserApiActions.LoadEntriesSucces({entries});

  actions$ = hot('-a', { a: action });
  const response = cold('-a', {a: entries});
  const expected = cold('- 5s b ', { b: completion });

  subnetBrowserService.getSubnetEntries = () => (response);

  expect(effects.continuePollingEntries$).toBeObservable(expected);
});

However this test does not work for me. Output from test looks like this:

Expected $.length = 0 to equal 3.
Expected $[0] = undefined to equal Object({ frame: 20, notification: Notification({ kind: 'N', value: undefined, error: undefined, hasValue: true }) }).
Expected $[1] = undefined to equal Object({ frame: 30, notification: Notification({ kind: 'N', value: undefined, error: undefined, hasValue: true }) }).
Expected $[2] = undefined to equal Object({ frame: 50, notification: Notification({ kind: 'N', value: LoadEntriesSucces({ payload: Object({ entries: [ Object({ type: 'type', userText: 'userText', ipAddress: '0.0.0.0' }) ] }), type: '[Subnet Browser API] Load Entries Succes' }), error: undefined, hasValue: true }) }).

What should I do to make this test work?

Answer 1

Like mentioned in another answer, one way to test that effect would be by using the TestScheduler but it can be done in a simpler way.

We can test our asynchronous RxJS code synchronously and deterministically by virtualizing time using the TestScheduler. ASCII marble diagrams provide a visual way for us to represent the behavior of an Observable. We can use them to assert that a particular Observable behaves as expected, as well as to create hot and cold Observables we can use as mocks.

For example, let's unit test the following effect:

effectWithDelay$ = createEffect(() => {
  return this.actions$.pipe(
    ofType(fromFooActions.doSomething),
    delay(5000),
    switchMap(({ payload }) => {
      const { someData } = payload;

      return this.fooService.someMethod(someData).pipe(
        map(() => {
          return fromFooActions.doSomethingSuccess();
        }),
        catchError(() => {
          return of(fromFooActions.doSomethinfError());
        }),
      );
    }),
  );
});

The effect just waits 5 seconds after an initial action, and calls a service which would then dispatch a success or error action. The code to unit test that effect would be the following:

import { TestBed } from "@angular/core/testing";

import { provideMockActions } from "@ngrx/effects/testing";

import { Observable } from "rxjs";
import { TestScheduler } from "rxjs/testing";

import { FooEffects } from "./foo.effects";
import { FooService } from "../services/foo.service";
import * as fromFooActions from "../actions/foo.actions";

// ...

describe("FooEffects", () => {
  let actions$: Observable<unknown>;

  let testScheduler: TestScheduler; // <-- instance of the test scheduler

  let effects: FooEffects;
  let fooServiceMock: jasmine.SpyObj<FooService>;

  beforeEach(() => {
    // Initialize the TestScheduler instance passing a function to
    // compare if two objects are equal
    testScheduler = new TestScheduler((actual, expected) => {
      expect(actual).toEqual(expected);
    });

    TestBed.configureTestingModule({
      imports: [],
      providers: [
        FooEffects,
        provideMockActions(() => actions$),

        // Mock the service so that we can test if it was called
        // and if the right data was sent
        {
          provide: FooService,
          useValue: jasmine.createSpyObj("FooService", {
            someMethod: jasmine.createSpy(),
          }),
        },
      ],
    });

    effects = TestBed.inject(FooEffects);
    fooServiceMock = TestBed.inject(FooService);
  });

  describe("effectWithDelay$", () => {
    it("should dispatch doSomethingSuccess after 5 seconds if success", () => {
      const someDataMock = { someData: Math.random() * 100 };

      const initialAction = fromFooActions.doSomething(someDataMock);
      const expectedAction = fromFooActions.doSomethingSuccess();
    
      testScheduler.run((helpers) => {

        // When the code inside this callback is being executed, any operator 
        // that uses timers/AsyncScheduler (like delay, debounceTime, etc) will
        // **automatically** use the TestScheduler instead, so that we have 
        // "virtual time". You do not need to pass the TestScheduler to them, 
        // like in the past.
        // https://rxjs-dev.firebaseapp.com/guide/testing/marble-testing

        const { hot, cold, expectObservable } = helpers;

        // Actions // -a-
        // Service //    -b|
        // Results // 5s --c

        // Actions
        actions$ = hot("-a-", { a: initialAction });

        // Service
        fooServiceMock.someMethod.and.returnValue(cold("-b|", { b: null }));

        // Results
        expectObservable(effects.effectWithDelay$).toBe("5s --c", {
          c: expectedAction,
        });
      });

      // This needs to be outside of the run() callback
      // since it's executed synchronously :O
      expect(fooServiceMock.someMethod).toHaveBeenCalled();
      expect(fooServiceMock.someMethod).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
      expect(fooServiceMock.someMethod).toHaveBeenCalledWith(someDataMock.someData);
    });
  });
});

Please notice that in the code I'm using expectObservable to test the effect using the "virtual time" from the TestScheduler instance.