avajs/ava

Fail test even after it has passed

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#1330 opened on Apr 1, 2017

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 (4 comments) (2 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (20,600 stars) (1,408 forks)batch import
blockedenhancementhelp wantedscope:assertionsscope:reportersscope:test-interface

Description

09b23e0d5fd00d48f6b5b1f9c43641faa00f1d1d made it an error if an assertion is added after a test has finished. This can occur if the test finished earlier than the user intended. Once a test has passed though we cannot update its state in the reporters.

The feedback in 09b23e0d5fd00d48f6b5b1f9c43641faa00f1d1d could only be provided to users if the test was waiting for a pending assertion. That behavior itself is confusing, which means that when #1327 is fixed we won't be able to provide any feedback at all.

If a test has passed, but then later an assertion is added before other tests have finished, we should change the test state to a failure and update the reporters. The mini reporter should work well, since it hides previously passing tests. The verbose reporter would have a duplicate entry for the test but perhaps that's OK. I'm not sure whether it's acceptable to add a duplicate entry in the TAP reporter. The alternative is buffering the output for each test file which is not ideal.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptnodejs
Domain
testing
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
Familiarity with AVA's test lifecycleUnderstanding of reporter architecture
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
35
Research direction
Investigate the referenced commit 09b23e0d5fd00d48f6b5b1f9c43641faa00f1d1d which made it an error to add assertions after a test finishes. Understand the test state machine and how reporters like mini, verbose, and TAP handle results. Discuss the trade off of buffering vs duplicate entries as mentioned in the issue. Review issue #1327 which is related to pending assertions after test completion.