4.0.0 / 2017-05-26
4.0.0
4.0 has been a huge undertaking by the chai community! A lot has changed to ensure Chai 4 is a stable, reliable, well documented codebase. Here are just some of the major improvements:
-
almost all documentation has been rewritten, with detailed instructions on how assertions work, which flags they can be combined with and the best practices for how to use them.
-
deep equality has been rewritten from the ground up to support ES6 types like
Map
andSet
, and better support existing types. It is now also much, much faster than before and allows us to bring some great improvements in upcoming releases. -
we have made sure the
deep
flag now only ever does deep equality. Beforehand, it would sometimes also be used to test nested properties (for exampleexpect(foo).to.have.deep.property('bar.baz')
. For nested assertions, please now use the.nested
flag. -
many assertions have become more strict, which means you get better error messages explaining where things have gone wrong. For the most part, this wont mean error messages where there weren't error messages before, but it will mean better error messages to replace the, sometimes cryptic, default
TypeError
messages. -
we've added detections and helpful error messages for common mistakes and typos. The error messages will, in some cases, point you to documentation or in other cases suggest alternatives. These messages will continue to be improved in future releases, so let us know if you have any suggestions!
Breaking Changes
-
We no longer support Node v0.10 and v0.12 (since their LTS has ended) (PRs: #816, #901)
-
Instead of allowing the user to write the path of a property, now the deep flag performs a deep equality comparison when used with the
.property
assertion.
If you want the old behavior of using the dot or bracket notation to denote the property you want to assert against you can use the new.nested
flag. (Related Issues: #745, #743, PRs: #758, #757)const obj = {a: 1}; // The `.deep` flag now does deep equality comparisons expect({foo: obj}).to.have.deep.property('foo', {a: 1}); // Use the `nested` flag if you want to assert against a nested property using the bracket or dot notation expect({foo: obj}).to.have.nested.property('foo.a', 1); // You can also use both flags combined const obj2 = {a: {b: 2}}; expect({foo: obj2}).to.have.deep.nested.property('foo.a', {b: 2});
Please notice that the old methods which used the old behavior of the
deep
flag on theassert
interface have been renamed. They all have had thedeep
word changed by thenested
word. If you want to know more about this please take a look at #757. -
Previously,
expect(obj).not.property(name, val)
would throw an Error ifobj
didn't have a property namedname
. This change causes the assertion to pass instead.
Theassert.propertyNotVal
andassert.deepPropertyNotVal
assertions were renamed toassert.notPropertyVal
andassert.notDeepPropertyVal
, respectively. (Related Issues: #16, #743, #758) -
You can now use the
deep
flag for the.include
assertion in order to perform adeep
equality check to see if something is included on thetarget
.
Previously,.include
was using strict equality (===
) for non-negated property inclusion, butdeep
equality for negated property inclusion and array inclusion.
This change causes the .include assertion to always use strict equality unless the deep flag is set.
Please take a look at this comment if you want to know more about it. (Related Issues: #743, PRs: #760, #761)const obj = {a: 1}; expect([obj]).to.deep.include({a:1}); expect({foo: obj}).to.deep.include({foo: {a:1}});
-
Fix unstable behavior of the
NaN
assertion. Now we use the suggested ES6 implementation.
The new implementation is now more correct, strict and simple. While the old one threw false positives, the new implementation only checks if something isNaN
(or not if the.not
flag is used) and nothing else. (Related Issues: #498, #682, #681, PRs: #508)// Only `NaN` will be considered to be `NaN` and nothing else expect(NaN).to.be.NaN; // Anything that is not `NaN` cannot be considered as `NaN` expect('randomString').not.to.be.NaN; expect(true).not.to.be.NaN; expect({}).not.to.be.NaN; expect(4).not.to.be.NaN;
-
The Typed Array types are now truncated if they're too long (in this case, if they exceed the
truncateThreshold
value on theconfig
). (Related Issues: #441, PRs: #576)var arr = []; for (var i = 1; i <= 1000; i++) { arr.push(i); } // The assertion below will truncate the diff shown and the enormous typed array will be shown as: // [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ... ] instead of printing the whole typed array chai.expect(new Float32Array(100)).to.equal(1);
-
The assertions:
within
,above
,least
,below
,most
,increase
,decrease
will throw an error if the assertion's target or arguments are not numbers. (Related Issues: #691, PRs: #692, #796)// These will throw errors, for example: expect(null).to.be.within(0, 1); expect(null).to.be.above(10); expect(null).to.be.at.least(20); expect(null).to.be.below(20); expect(null).to.be.at.most(20); expect(null).to.increase.by(20); expect(null).to.decrease.by(20); // This will not: expect('string').to.have.a.lengthOf.at.least(3);
-
Previously,
expect(obj).not.ownProperty(name, val)
would throw an Error if obj didn't have an own property (non-inherited) named name. This change causes the assertion to pass instead. (Related Issues: #795, #, PRs: #744, #810)*expect({ foo: 'baz' }).to.not.have.own.property('quux', 'baz');
-
The
.empty
assertion will now throw when it is passed non-string primitives and functions (PRs: #763, #812)// These will throw TypeErrors: expect(Symbol()).to.be.empty; expect(function() {}).to.be.empty; expect(true).to.be.empty; expect(1).to.be.empty
-
Assertion subject (
obj
) changes when usingownProperty
orown.property
and thus enables chaining. (Related Issues: #281, PRs: #641)expect({val: 20}).to.have.own.property('val').above(10);
-
The
.change
,.increase
, and.decrease
assertions changed from chainable method assertions to method assertions. They don't have any chaining behavior, and there's no generic semantic benefit to chaining them. (Related Issues: #917, PRs: #925)
// This will not work anymore because there is no benefit to chaining these assertions:
expect(function() {}).to.change.by(2)
expect(function() {}).to.increase.by(2)
expect(function() {}).to.decrease.by(2)
-
The
utils
(second argument passed to thechai.use
callback function) no longer exports thegetPathValue
function. If you want to use that please use thepathval
module, which is what chai uses internally now. (Related Issues: #457, #737, PRs: #830) -
(For plugin authors) Throw when calling
_super
onoverwriteMethod
if the method being overwritten isundefined
.
Currently if the method you are trying to overwrite is not defined and your new method calls_super
it will throw anError
.(Related Issues: #467, PRs: #528)
Before this change, calling_super
would simply returnthis
.// Considering the method `imaginaryMethod` does not exist, this would throw an error for example: chai.use(function (chai, utilities) { chai.Assertion.overwriteMethod('imaginaryMethod', function (_super) { return function () { _super.apply(this, arguments); } }); }); // This will throw an error since you are calling `_super` which should be a method (in this case, the overwritten assertion) that does not exist expect('anything').to.imaginaryMethod();
-
(For plugin authors) Now
showDiff
is turned on by default whenever theshowDiff
flag is anything other thanfalse
.
This issue will mostly affect plugin creators or anyone that made extensions to the core, since this affects theAssertion.assert
method. (Related Issues: #574, PRs: #515)// Now whenever you call `Assertion.assert` with anything that is not false for the `showDiff` flag it will be true // The assertion error that was thrown will have the `showDiff` flag turned on since it was not passed to the `assert` method try { new chai.Assertion().assert( 'one' === 'two' , 'expected #{this} to equal #{exp}' , 'expected #{this} to not equal #{act}' , 'one' , 'two' ); } catch(e) { assert.isTrue(e.showDiff); } // The assertion error that was thrown will have the `showDiff` flag turned off since here we passed `false` explicitly try { new chai.Assertion().assert( 'one' === 'two' , 'expected #{this} to equal #{exp}' , 'expected #{this} to not equal #{act}' , 'one' , 'two' , false ); } catch(e) { assert.isFalse(e.showDiff); }
New Features
-
Throw when non-existent property is read. (Related Issues: #407, #766 PRs: #721, #770)
This is a potentially breaking change. Your build will fail if you have typos in your property assertions
Before4.x.x
when using property assertions they would not throw an error if you wrote it incorrectly.
The example below, for example, would pass:expect(true).to.be.ture; // Oops, typo, now Chai will throw an Error
Since this implementation depends on ES6
Proxies
it will only work on platforms that support it.This property can be enabled (default) or disabled through the
config.useProxy
property, for example:chai.config.useProxy = false; // disable use of Proxy
-
Add fix suggestions when accessing a nonexistent property in proxy mode. (Related Issues: #771, PRs: #782)
When a nonexistent property is accessed in proxy mode, Chai will compute the levenshtein distance to all possible properties in order to suggest the best fix to the user.expect(false).to.be.fals; // Error: Invalid Chai property: fals. Did you mean "false"? expect('foo').to.be.undefind; // Error: Invalid Chai property: undefind. Did you mean "undefined"? // If the Levenshtein distance between the word and any Chai property is greater than 4, no fix will be suggested expect('foo').to.be.fdsakfdsafsagsadgagsdfasf // error thrown, no fix suggested
-
When non-chainable methods (including overwritten non-chainable methods) are used incorrectly an error will be thrown with a helpful error message. (PRs: #789)
expect(true).to.equal.true; // Invalid Chai property: equal.true. See docs for proper usage of "equal".
-
Add a new configuration setting that describes which keys will be ignored when checking for non-existing properties on an assertion before throwing an error.
Since this implementation depends on ES6Proxies
it will only work on platforms that support it. Also, if you disableconfig.useProxy
, this setting will have no effect. (Related Issues: #765, PRs: #774)chai.config.proxyExcludedKeys.push('nonExistingProp'); expect('my string').to.nonExistingProp; // This won't throw an error now
-
Add script that registers should as a side-effect. (Related Issues: #594, #693 PRs: #604)
// You can now write: import 'chai/should'; // as opposed to: import {should} from 'chai'; should();
You can also register should via a
mocha
option:mocha --require chai/should
. -
The
change
assertion accepts a function as object. (Related Issues: #544, PRs: #607)// Now you can also check if the return value of a function changes, for example assert.increases( someOperation, () => getSomething().length )
-
You can also assert for a delta using the
by
assertion alongside thechange
,increase
anddecrease
assertions. (Related Issues: #339, PRs: #621)
// You can use `.by` to assert the amount you want something to change
var obj = { val: 10 };
var increaseByTwo = function() { obj.val += 2 };
var decreaseByTwo = function() { obj.val -= 2 };
var increaseByThree = function() { obj.val += 3 };
expect(increaseByThree).to.change(obj, 'val').by(3);
expect(increaseByTwo).to.increase(obj, 'val').by(2);
expect(decreaseByTwo).to.decrease(obj, 'val').by(2);
// Please notice that if you want to assert something did change but not by some amount you need to use `.not` **after** the `change` related assertion
// Take a look at the examples below:
expect(increaseByThree).to.change(obj, 'val').but.not.by(5)
expect(increaseByTwo).to.increase(obj, 'val').but.not.by(1)
expect(decreaseByTwo).to.decrease(obj, 'val').but.not.by(1)
// The `.keys` assertion now works on `map`s and `set`s natively, like the examples below:
expect(new Map([[{objKey: 'value'}, 'value'], [1, 2]])).to.contain.key({objKey: 'value'});
expect(new Map([[{objKey: 'value'}, 'value'], [1, 2]])).to.contain.any.keys([{objKey: 'value'}, {anotherKey: 'anotherValue'}]);
expect(new Map([['firstKey', 'firstValue'], [1, 2]])).to.contain.all.keys('firstKey', 1);
expect(new Set([['foo', 'bar'], ['example', 1]])).to.have.any.keys('foo');
// You can also use `.deep` when asserting agains `Map`s and `Set`s
expect(new Map([[{objKey: 'value'}, 'value'], [1, 2]])).to.contain.any.deep.keys([{objKey: 'value'}, {anotherKey: 'anotherValue'}]);
expect(new Map([['firstKey', 'firstValue'], [1, 2]])).to.contain.all.deep.keys('firstKey', 1);
expect(new Set([['foo', 'bar'], ['example', 1]])).to.have.any.deep.keys('foo');
-
Add compatibility with strict mode. (Related Issues: #578, PRs: #665)
// This means you can now run your code with the `--use_strict` flag on Node // If want to understand more about this please read the issue related to this change
-
Add
does
andbut
as new no-op assertion. (Related Issues: #700, #339 PRs: #621, #701)// You can now write assertions forming phrases with these two new words: expect(increaseByThree).to.change(obj, 'val').but.not.by(5); expect(foobar).to.have.property("baz").which.does.not.have.property("thing");
-
Allow
use
to be imported using new ES6 module syntax. (Related Issues: #718, PRs: #724)// You can now import `use` using the ES6 module syntax, like the example below: import sinonChai from "sinon-chai"; import {expect, use} from "chai"; use(sinonChai);
You can also use
require
alongside the new ES6 destructuring feature:const sinonChai = require('sinon-chai'); const {expect, use} = require("chai"); use(sinonChai);
-
Add ordered flag for members assertion. (Related Issues: #717, PRs: #728)
// You can now use the `ordered` flag to assert the order of elements when using the `members` assertion: expect([1, 2, 3]).to.include.ordered.members([1, 2]); // This passes expect([1, 2, 3]).to.include.ordered.members([2, 3]); // This will fail! Read the docs to know more.
-
Add
.own
flag to.property
assertion. It does the same thing as.ownProperty
and cannot be used alongisde the new.nested
flag. (Related Issues: #795, PRs: #810)expect({a: 1}).to.have.own.property('a'); // The example below will thrown an Error expect({a: {b: 1}}).to.have.own.nested.property('a.b', 1);
-
Add
.deep
support to.property
assertion. (Related Issues: #795, PRs: #810)expect({ foo: { bar: 'baz' } }).to.have.deep.own.property('foo', { bar: 'baz' }); expect({ foo: { bar: { baz: 'quux' } } }).to.have.deep.nested.property('foo.bar', { baz: 'quux' });
-
The
.empty
assertion will now work with ES6 collections (PRs: #763, #812, #814)
Please notice that this assertion will throw an error when it is passed aWeakMap
orWeakSet
.expect(new Set()).to.be.empty; expect(new Map()).to.be.empty; // The examples below will throw a TypeError: expect(new WeakSet()).to.be.empty; expect(new WeakMap()).to.be.empty;
-
Add script that registers
should
as a side-effect. This change allows you to registershould
via a mocha option by using:mocha spec.js -r chai/register-should
and also allows you to register the testing style globally. (Issues: #693, PRs: #868)require('chai/register-should'); // Using Should style
-
Add script that registers
assert
as a side-effect. This change allows you to registerassert
via a mocha option by using:mocha spec.js -r chai/register-assert
(Issues: #693, PRs: #868, #872)
require('chai/register-assert'); // Using Assert style
-
Add script that registers
expect
as a side-effect. This change allows you to registerexpect
via a mocha option by using:mocha spec.js -r chai/register-expect
(Issues: #693, PRs: #868, #872)require('chai/register-expect'); // Using Expect style
-
When the
length
assertion is chained directly off of an uninvoked method, it referencesfunction
's built-inlength
property instead of Chai'slength
assertion. This commit adds a guard to Chai methods to detect this problem and throw a helpful error message that advises the user on how to correct it. (Issues: #684, #841, PRs: #897) -
Allows the
lockSsfi
flag to be set when creating new Assertion. This flag controls whether or not the givenssfi
flag should retain its current value, even as assertions are chained off of this object. This is usually set totrue
when creating a new assertion from within another assertion. It's also temporarily set totrue
before an overwritten assertion gets called by the overwriting assertion. (Issues: #878, #904, PRs: #922)// This will lock the stack stack function from this line on // The SSFI is the reference to the starting point for removing irrelevant frames from the stack trace new Assertion(obj, msg, ssfi, true).to.have.property('length')
-
The
nestedInclude
,deepNestedInclude
,ownInclude
anddeepOwnInclude
assertions and there negated pairs were added to theassert
interface. (Issues: #905, PRs: #964)// '[]' and '.' in property names can be escaped using double backslashes. assert.nestedInclude({'.a': {'b': 'x'}}, {'\\.a.[b]': 'x'}); assert.notNestedInclude({'.a': {'b': 'x'}}, {'\\.a.b': 'y'}); assert.deepNestedInclude({a: {b: [{x: 1}]}}, {'a.b[0]': {x: 1}}); assert.notDeepNestedInclude({a: {b: [{x: 1}]}}, {'a.b[0]': {y: 1}}); assert.ownInclude({ a: 1 }, { a: 1 }); assert.notOwnInclude({ a: 1 }, { b: 2 }); assert.deepOwnInclude({a: {b: 2}}, {a: {b: 2}}); assert.notDeepOwnInclude({a: {b: 2}}, {a: {c: 3}});
Bug Fixes
- Fix missing msg argument for change related assertions. (Related Issues: None, PRs: #606)
- The addMethod function returns a new assertion with flags copied over instead of
this
. (Related Issues: #562, #684, #723, PRs: #642, #660) - Fix stacktraces for overwritten properties and methods. (Related Issues: #659, #661)
- Fix bug when testing Symbol equality with should syntax. (Related Issues: #669, PRs: #672)
- Fix bug when asserting some valid ES6 keys. (Related Issues: #674, PRs: #676)
- Fix bug caused when custom inspect method is used and this method calls stylize. (PRs: #680)
- Fix ownProperty on objects with no prototype. (Related Issues: #688, PRs: #689)
- Fix swapped expected and actual results for the
.members
assertion. (Related Issues: #511, PRs: #702) - Fix
same.members
to properly handle duplicates by treating each one as a unique member. (Related Issues: #590, PRs: #739) - Fix deep.have.same.members() that was not printing a diff. (PRs: #509)
- Diff will be shown for assert's equal and notEqual methods. (Related Issues: #790, PRs: #794)
- The
overwriteMethod
,overwriteProperty
,addChainableMethod
,overwriteChainableMethod
functions will return new assertion with flags copied over instead of this. (Related Issues: #562, #642, #791, PRs: #799) - Proxy-related implementation frames were showing up in the stack traces for failed property assertions. Now we remove them by setting the proxy getter (instead of the property getter) as the starting point to remove all implementation frames. (PRs: #884)
- Negated
keys
assertions will now consider size of sets. (Related Issues: #919, PRs: #924) - Whenever passed something that is not an instance of a function, the instanceof assertion will now throw an error informing the user that he should pass a constructor to this assertion, but instead he has passed . (Related Issues: #893, PRs: #924)
- Fix all issues on expect/should interfaces that were causing implementation frames to leak through. Also improve the internal Chai error test helper to validate stack traces. (Issues: #878, #904, PRs: #922)
- This fixes custom messages not always being respected. (Issues: #922, #947, #904, PRs: #916, #923)
- Fix PhantomJS 1.x incompatibility (Issues: #966, PRs: #890)