Initializing the describe and it blocks

[kot99a]

However, in my case version is gotten from an async call - which I tried to put in before. However, it looks like the "it" test is done before before returns .

describe('some test suite', function () {
     let response;

     before('precondition', async function () {
         response = await getHttpResponse();        //some async http get req which returns {status: true, data: ...}
     });

     (response.status ? it : it.skip)('test', async function () {
             // do the test  
     });
 });

I get the error TypeError: Cannot read property 'status' of undefined because response is undefined ;)

How does the block initialization happen and how can I solve it? I see that for example the status in my precondition is equal true, but the test is initialized with response === undefined

I saw a similar question years ago, but could not find a solution:
#591 (comment)

[juergba]

Mocha runs in several cycles. In one (synchronous) phase the test file is parsed and the test hierarchy built. In a later phase the test and hooks are executed. Note that the descibe block is always synchronous, tests and hooks can be both sync/async.

Please see our docs, especially ["When a test file is loaded, Mocha executes all of its suites and finds – but does not execute – any hooks and tests therein."]

For dynamically skipping test at runtime, use this.skip() instead.