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# Chai Assertions for Promises
**Chai as Promised** extends [Chai](http://chaijs.com/) with a fluent language for asserting facts about [promises](http://www.slideshare.net/domenicdenicola/callbacks-promises-and-coroutines-oh-my-the-evolution-of-asynchronicity-in-javascript).
Instead of manually wiring up your expectations to a promise's fulfilled and rejected handlers:
```javascript
doSomethingAsync().then(
function (result) {
result.should.equal("foo");
done();
},
function (err) {
done(err);
}
);
```
you can write code that expresses what you really mean:
```javascript
return doSomethingAsync().should.eventually.equal("foo");
```
or if you have a case where `return` is not preferable (e.g. style considerations) or not possible (e.g. the testing framework doesn't allow returning promises to signal asynchronous test completion), then you can use the following workaround (where `done()` is supplied by the test framework):
```javascript
doSomethingAsync().should.eventually.equal("foo").notify(done);
```
*Notice*: either `return` or `notify(done)` _must_ be used with promise assertions. This can be a slight departure from the existing format of assertions being used on a project or by a team. Those other assertions are likely synchronous and thus do not require special handling.
## How to Use
### `should`/`expect` Interface
The most powerful extension provided by Chai as Promised is the `eventually` property. With it, you can transform any existing Chai assertion into one that acts on a promise:
```javascript
(2 + 2).should.equal(4);
// becomes
return Promise.resolve(2 + 2).should.eventually.equal(4);
expect({ foo: "bar" }).to.have.property("foo");
// becomes
return expect(Promise.resolve({ foo: "bar" })).to.eventually.have.property("foo");
```
There are also a few promise-specific extensions (with the usual `expect` equivalents also available):
```javascript
return promise.should.be.fulfilled;
return promise.should.eventually.deep.equal("foo");
return promise.should.become("foo"); // same as `.eventually.deep.equal`
return promise.should.be.rejected;
return promise.should.be.rejectedWith(Error); // other variants of Chai's `throw` assertion work too.
```
### `assert` Interface
As with the `should`/`expect` interface, Chai as Promised provides an `eventually` extender to `chai.assert`, allowing any existing Chai assertion to be used on a promise:
```javascript
assert.equal(2 + 2, 4, "This had better be true");
// becomes
return assert.eventually.equal(Promise.resolve(2 + 2), 4, "This had better be true, eventually");
```
And there are, of course, promise-specific extensions:
```javascript
return assert.isFulfilled(promise, "optional message");
return assert.becomes(promise, "foo", "optional message");
return assert.doesNotBecome(promise, "foo", "optional message");
return assert.isRejected(promise, "optional message");
return assert.isRejected(promise, Error, "optional message");
return assert.isRejected(promise, /error message matcher/, "optional message");
```
### Progress Callbacks
Chai as Promised does not have any intrinsic support for testing promise progress callbacks. The properties you would want to test are probably much better suited to a library like [Sinon.JS](http://sinonjs.org/), perhaps in conjunction with [Sinon–Chai](https://github.com/domenic/sinon-chai):
```javascript
var progressSpy = sinon.spy();
return promise.then(null, null, progressSpy).then(function () {
progressSpy.should.have.been.calledWith("33%");
progressSpy.should.have.been.calledWith("67%");
progressSpy.should.have.been.calledThrice;
});
```
### Customizing Output Promises
By default, the promises returned by Chai as Promised's assertions are regular Chai assertion objects, extended with a single `then` method derived from the input promise. To change this behavior, for instance to output a promise with more useful sugar methods such as are found in most promise libraries, you can override `chaiAsPromised.transferPromiseness`. Here's an example that transfer's Q's `finally` and `done` methods:
```js
chaiAsPromised.transferPromiseness = function (assertion, promise) {
assertion.then = promise.then.bind(promise); // this is all you get by default
assertion.finally = promise.finally.bind(promise);
assertion.done = promise.done.bind(promise);
};
```
### Transforming Arguments to the Asserters
Another advanced customization hook Chai as Promised allows is if you want to transform the arguments to the asserters, possibly asynchronously. Here is a toy example:
```js
chaiAsPromised.transformAsserterArgs = function (args) {
return args.map(function (x) { return x + 1; });
}
Promise.resolve(2).should.eventually.equal(2); // will now fail!
Promise.resolve(3).should.eventually.equal(2); // will now pass!
```
The transform can even be asynchronous, returning a promise for an array instead of an array directly. An example of that might be using `Promise.all` so that an array of promises becomes a promise for an array. If you do that, then you can compare promises against other promises using the asserters:
```js
// This will normally fail, since within() only works on numbers.
Promise.resolve(2).should.eventually.be.within(Promise.resolve(1), Promise.resolve(6));
chaiAsPromised.transformAsserterArgs = function (args) {
return Promise.all(args);
};
// But now it will pass, since we transformed the array of promises for numbers into
// (a promise for) an array of numbers
Promise.resolve(2).should.eventually.be.within(Promise.resolve(1), Promise.resolve(6));
```
### Compatibility
Chai as Promised is compatible with all promises following the [Promises/A+ specification](http://promisesaplus.com/).
Notably, jQuery's promises were not up to spec before jQuery 3.0, and Chai as Promised will not work with them. In particular, Chai as Promised makes extensive use of the standard [transformation behavior](http://domenic.me/2012/10/14/youre-missing-the-point-of-promises/#toc_2) of `then`, which jQuery<3.0 does not support.
Angular promises have a special digest cycle for their processing, and [need extra setup code to work with Chai as Promised](http://stackoverflow.com/a/37374041/3191).
### Working with Non-Promise–Friendly Test Runners
Some test runners (e.g. Jasmine, QUnit, or tap/tape) do not have the ability to use the returned promise to signal asynchronous test completion. If possible, I'd recommend switching to ones that do, such as [Mocha](http://mochajs.org/#asynchronous-code), [Buster](http://docs.busterjs.org/en/latest/modules/buster-test/spec/#returning-a-promise), or [blue-tape](https://github.com/spion/blue-tape). But if that's not an option, Chai as Promised still has you covered. As long as your test framework takes a callback indicating when the asynchronous test run is over, Chai as Promised can adapt to that situation with its `notify` method, like so:
```javascript
it("should be fulfilled", function (done) {
promise.should.be.fulfilled.and.notify(done);
});
it("should be rejected", function (done) {
otherPromise.should.be.rejected.and.notify(done);
});
```
In these examples, if the conditions are not met, the test runner will receive an error of the form `"expected promise to be fulfilled but it was rejected with [Error: error message]"`, or `"expected promise to be rejected but it was fulfilled."`
There's another form of `notify` which is useful in certain situations, like doing assertions after a promise is complete. For example:
```javascript
it("should change the state", function (done) {
otherState.should.equal("before");
promise.should.be.fulfilled.then(function () {
otherState.should.equal("after");
}).should.notify(done);
});
```
Notice how `.notify(done)` is hanging directly off of `.should`, instead of appearing after a promise assertion. This indicates to Chai as Promised that it should pass fulfillment or rejection directly through to the testing framework. Thus, the above code will fail with a Chai as Promised error (`"expected promise to be fulfilled…"`) if `promise` is rejected, but will fail with a simple Chai error (`expected "before" to equal "after"`) if `otherState` does not change.
### Multiple Promise Assertions
To perform assertions on multiple promises, use `Promise.all` to combine multiple Chai as Promised assertions:
```javascript
it("should all be well", function () {
return Promise.all([
promiseA.should.become("happy"),
promiseB.should.eventually.have.property("fun times"),
promiseC.should.be.rejectedWith(TypeError, "only joyful types are allowed")
]);
});
```
This will pass any failures of the individual promise assertions up to the test framework, instead of wrapping them in an `"expected promise to be fulfilled…"` message as would happen if you did `return Promise.all([…]).should.be.fulfilled`. If you can't use `return`, then use `.should.notify(done)`, similar to the previous examples.
## Installation and Setup
### Node
Do an `npm install chai-as-promised` to get up and running. Then:
```javascript
var chai = require("chai");
var chaiAsPromised = require("chai-as-promised");
chai.use(chaiAsPromised);
// Then either:
var expect = chai.expect;
// or:
var assert = chai.assert;
// or:
chai.should();
// according to your preference of assertion style
```
You can of course put this code in a common test fixture file; for an example using [Mocha](http://mochajs.org), see [the Chai as Promised tests themselves](https://github.com/domenic/chai-as-promised/tree/master/test/).
**Note when using other Chai plugins:** Chai as Promised finds all currently-registered asserters and promisifies them, at the time it is installed. Thus, you should install Chai as Promised _last_, after any other Chai plugins, if you expect their asserters to be promisified.
### In the Browser
To use Chai as Promised in environments that don't support Node.js-like CommonJS modules, you'll need to use a bundling tool like [browserify](http://browserify.org/). See also the note below about browser compatibility.
### Karma
If you're using [Karma](https://karma-runner.github.io/), check out the accompanying [karma-chai-as-promised](https://github.com/vlkosinov/karma-chai-as-promised) plugin.
### Browser/Node Compatibility
Chai as Promised requires Node v4+ or a browser with equivalent support for modern JavaScript syntax. If your browser doesn't support modern JavaScript syntax, you'll need to transpile it down using a tool like [Babel](http://babeljs.io/).