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docs(fakeTimers): Explain how to use fake timers in testing-library #528
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docs(fakeTimers): Explain how to use fake timers in testing-library
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docs(fakeTimers): Fix some phrases and use runOnlyPendingTimers.
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docs(fakeTimers): Add a missing space and fix phrasing
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docs(fakeTimers): Multiple fixes for adding fake timers page after re…
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Update docs/using-fake-timers.md
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docs(fakeTimers): Rephrase the using section to explain that fake tim…
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docs(fakeTimers): Fix small typo
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--- | ||
id: using-fake-timers | ||
title: Using Fake Timers | ||
sidebar_label: Using Fake Timers | ||
--- | ||
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Using real timers in your tests is problematic since they depend on real time | ||
lapse. | ||
When you depend on real time, your tests can be unpredictable, slow, flaky. This | ||
will will also prevent you from making any assumptions about timestamps within | ||
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your tests. | ||
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To solve these problems, most testing frameworks offer the option to use fake | ||
timers in your tests so you won't need to rely on real times. | ||
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When using fake timers in your tests, all of the code inside your test uses fake | ||
timers. | ||
The common pattern to setup fake timers is usually within the `beforeEach`, for | ||
example: | ||
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```js | ||
// Fake timers using Jest | ||
beforeEach(() => { | ||
jest.useFakeTimers() | ||
}) | ||
``` | ||
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When using fake timers, you need to remember to restore the timers after your | ||
test runs. | ||
The main reason to do that is to prevent 3rd party libraries running after your | ||
test finishes (e.g cleanup functions), from being coupled to your fake timers | ||
and use real timers instead. | ||
For that you usually call `useRealTimers` in `afterEach`. | ||
It's important to also call `runOnlyPendingTimers` before switching to real | ||
timers. | ||
This will ensure you flush all the pending timers before you switch to real | ||
timers. If you don't progress the timers and just switch to real timers, the | ||
scheduled tasks won't get executed and you'll get an unexpected behavior. | ||
This is mostly important for 3rd parties that schedule tasks without you being | ||
aware of it. | ||
Here's an example of doing that using jest: | ||
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```js | ||
// Running all pending timers and switching to real timers using Jest | ||
afterEach(() => { | ||
jest.runOnlyPendingTimers() | ||
jest.useRealTimers() | ||
}) | ||
``` |
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I feel like the wording here strongly advises the use of fake timers 100% of the time or as the default. I don't know about anyone else, but fake timers as complexity to test code and only sometimes provide any benefit and I therefore only use them when I really want to fake timers (like a debounce). Either way, I don't think this mentions the drawbacks fairly and I think we should do so. I don't think people should come away from reading this with the ideas that fake timers should be their default way for testing. Maybe we could add a section for when fake timers are worth the trouble?
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Yeah you're right, it's pretty misleading, I'll work on that.
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Sorry it took me some time, I rephrased it.
I think it's still not 100% explanatory though, wasn't really sure how I can expand it..