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useFakeTimers not working in jest/testing-library

I'm rendering an element that makes use of a setTimeout to change the inner text from a loading state to a desired message:

function Message({ message }: any) {
  const [showMessage, setShowMessage] = useState(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    const CTATimer = setTimeout(() => {
      setShowMessage(true);
    }, 1500);
    return () => {
      clearTimeout(CTATimer);
    };
  }, []);

  if (!showMessage) {
    return <p>Loading...</p>;
  }

  return (
    <>
      <div>{message.text}</div>
    </>
  );
}

The corresponding test renders, then advances time by 1500ms, and then should show the message. However, currently the test fails and the terminal shows that the text is still Loading.... The test is written like so:

const mockMessage = {
  text: "this is a message",
  answers: [],
  id: 1,
};

afterEach(() => {
  jest.useRealTimers();
});

it("should show message after setTimeout", () => {
  jest.useFakeTimers();
  jest.advanceTimersByTime(1500);
  customRender(<Message message={mockMessage} />); // my customRender is just the default render but with a ThemeProvider wrapper.
  const message = screen.getByText(/this is a message/i);
  expect(message).toBeInTheDocument();
});

Why would my test still be rendering the loading state when 1500ms have passed?

about 4 years ago · Juan Pablo Isaza
1 answers
Answer question

0

You should advance timers after rendering the component. Besides, you should call jest.advanceTimersByTime() inside act function. Otherwise, it will throws an warning: Warning: An update to Message inside a test was not wrapped in act(...).

index.tsx:

import React from 'react';
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

export function Message({ message }: any) {
  const [showMessage, setShowMessage] = useState(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    const CTATimer = setTimeout(() => {
      setShowMessage(true);
    }, 1500);
    return () => {
      clearTimeout(CTATimer);
    };
  }, []);

  if (!showMessage) {
    return <p>Loading...</p>;
  }

  return (
    <>
      <div>{message.text}</div>
    </>
  );
}

index.test.tsx:

import React from 'react';
import { render, screen, act } from '@testing-library/react';
import '@testing-library/jest-dom/extend-expect';
import { Message } from './';

describe('Message', () => {
  const mockMessage = {
    text: 'this is a message',
    answers: [],
    id: 1,
  };

  afterEach(() => {
    jest.useRealTimers();
  });

  it('should show message after setTimeout', () => {
    jest.useFakeTimers();
    render(<Message message={mockMessage} />);
    act(() => {
      jest.advanceTimersByTime(1500);
    });
    const message = screen.getByText(/this is a message/i);
    expect(message).toBeInTheDocument();
  });
});

Test result:

 PASS  stackoverflow/71174071/index.test.tsx (9.705 s)
  Message
    ✓ should show message after setTimeout (27 ms)

-----------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
File       | % Stmts | % Branch | % Funcs | % Lines | Uncovered Line #s 
-----------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
All files  |     100 |      100 |     100 |     100 |                   
 index.tsx |     100 |      100 |     100 |     100 |                   
-----------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total
Tests:       1 passed, 1 total
Snapshots:   0 total
Time:        10.903 s
Ran all test suites related to changed files.
about 4 years ago · Juan Pablo Isaza Report
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