Jest suppresses errors in describe callback when only running specific tests

[G-Rath]

🐛 Bug Report

If you run a specific test (such as using --testNamePattern - there could be other ways, but this is how I found the bug), jest will eat any errors thrown outside of that test, skipping the test and sometimes complaining about a describe callback not returning a value.

I did do a very minor dive into this a while ago, before I determined the cause (as when I first started jest I was getting these strange "a describe callback must not return a value", despite never returning a value) - somewhere internally something returns null instead of undefined, which jest doesn't know it's doing and hence complains to the developer.

To Reproduce

1. Write a test file that errors outside of an test/it block, that is inside at least one describe block
2. Run the test specifically using a parameter like --testNamePatten

Expected behavior

Jest tells me that the error happened, in the same manner it does when I run the describe block.

Jest also shouldn't complain about a describe callback shouldn't have a return value (which it does even if I'm running the describe block - let me know if you'd like me to make a separate issue for this)

Link to repl or repo (highly encouraged)

Here is an example repo.

Do npm run showcase to see the bug in action.

Heres what it outputs on my side:

PS C:\Users\G-Rath\workspace\projects-personal\js-bugs>  jest "--testNamePattern=^test$" --runTestsByPath test/test.spec.js
  console.log node_modules/jest-jasmine2/build/jasmine/Env.js:520
      ● Test suite failed to run

        A "describe" callback must not return a value.
        Returning a value from "describe" will fail the test in a future version of Jest.

        > 1 | describe('test', () => {
            |                        ^
          2 |   throw new Error();
          3 | 
          4 |   it('showcases the bug', () => {

          at addSpecsToSuite (node_modules/jest-jasmine2/build/jasmine/Env.js:522:17)
          at Object.<anonymous> (test/test.spec.js:1:24)


Test Suites: 1 skipped, 0 of 1 total
Tests:       1 skipped, 1 total
Snapshots:   0 total
Time:        2.03s
Ran all test suites within paths "test/test.spec.js".

Run npx envinfo --preset jest

Paste the results here:

  System:
    OS: Windows 10
    CPU: (8) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz
  Binaries:
    Node: 10.15.3 - C:\nodejs\node.EXE
    Yarn: 1.13.0 - ~\AppData\Roaming\npm\yarn.CMD
    npm: 6.9.0 - ~\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm.CMD

[jeysal]

Confirmed. The describe warning was a code path I didn't consider when implementing that feature, I'll make a fix for it.
The error being swallowed is unrelated, appears to be because the test case being searched is never created due to the error and then the whole suite is marked as skipped. Not very nice I guess but perhaps not a top priority fix since it's jest-jasmine2 - jest-circus behaves properly.

[G-Rath]

Confirmed. The describe warning was a code path I didn't consider when implementing that feature, I'll make a fix for it.

Maybe you could somehow utilise that?

This is the only way I've gotten this behavior (i.e outside of explicitly returning), so maybe you could replace null with a canary (such as a magic value, or boolean property/variable) to output a warning on the lines of "Hey we've not returned properly - this usually happens when there was an error before creating test cases".

Not very nice I guess but perhaps not a top priority fix since it's jest-jasmine2 - jest-circus behaves properly.

Fair enough - is there anything else I should do to make this more actionable, such as opening an issue for jest-jasmine2?

[jeysal]

The describe warning thing is a small fix, we can keep this issue open for the suppressed I guess

[jeysal]

#8335 for the describe warning part

[jeysal]

Fair enough - is there anything else I should do to make this more actionable, such as opening an issue for jest-jasmine2?

jest-circus will supersede jest-jasmine2 as the default test framework implementation soon, so that will solve it for most people anyway.
It might not be trivial to fix the suppression in jest-jasmine2 so possibly not worth it for something that's obsolete soon.
You can opt in to jest-circus now if you want to try it out BTW :)

[G-Rath]

Can confirm not an issue using jest-circus:

  ● Test suite failed to run

    Error

      3 | 
      4 | describe('test', () => {
    > 5 |   throw new Error('');
        |         ^
      6 | 
      7 |   it('geolocation', () => {
      8 |     expect(1).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);

      at Object.<anonymous>.describe (test/src/leafs/location/BrowserLocationLeaf.spec.ts:5:9)
      at Object.<anonymous> (test/src/leafs/location/BrowserLocationLeaf.spec.ts:4:1)

  ● Test suite failed to run

    Cannot spyOn on a primitive value; undefined given

      3 | 
      4 | describe('test', () => {
    > 5 |   const spy = jest.spyOn(window.navigator.geolocation, 'getCurrentPosition');
        |                    ^
      6 | 
      7 |   it('geolocation', () => {
      8 |     expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);

      at ModuleMockerClass.spyOn (node_modules/jest-mock/build/index.js:832:13)
      at Object.<anonymous>.describe (test/src/leafs/location/BrowserLocationLeaf.spec.ts:5:20)
      at Object.<anonymous> (test/src/leafs/location/BrowserLocationLeaf.spec.ts:4:1)

Is there any documentation on the differences between jest-circus & jest-jasmine2? I've heard that jasmine2 has its issues, but am really curious on what exactly the differences are/will-be between the two (if any?).

I'm sure this'll probably be provided in a blog post when it's finally released so feel free to tell me to shush, but I figure might as well ask while I've got your eyes on this issue, in case there is a nice md somewhere 😜