Example

Quickstart

This is a minimal setup to get you started. If you want to see a description of what each line does, scroll down to the annotated version. Scroll down to Full Example to see a more advanced test setup.

import {render, screen} from '@testing-library/react'
import userEvent from '@testing-library/user-event'
import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
import Fetch from './fetch'

test('loads and displays greeting', async () => {
  // ARRANGE
  render(<Fetch url="/greeting" />)

  // ACT
  await userEvent.click(screen.getByText('Load Greeting'))
  await screen.findByRole('heading')

  // ASSERT
  expect(screen.getByRole('heading')).toHaveTextContent('hello there')
  expect(screen.getByRole('button')).toBeDisabled()
})

Quickstart (Annotated Example)

// import react-testing methods
import {render, screen} from '@testing-library/react'
// userEvent library simulates user interactions by dispatching the events that would happen if the interaction took place in a browser.
import userEvent from '@testing-library/user-event'
// add custom jest matchers from jest-dom
import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
// the component to test
import Fetch from './fetch'

test('loads and displays greeting', async () => {
  // Render a React element into the DOM
  render(<Fetch url="/greeting" />)

  await userEvent.click(screen.getByText('Load Greeting'))
  // wait before throwing an error if it cannot find an element
  await screen.findByRole('heading')

  // assert that the alert message is correct using
  // toHaveTextContent, a custom matcher from jest-dom.
  expect(screen.getByRole('heading')).toHaveTextContent('hello there')
  expect(screen.getByRole('button')).toBeDisabled()
})

Full Example

See the following sections for a detailed breakdown of the test

note

We recommend using the Mock Service Worker (MSW) library to declaratively mock API communication in your tests instead of stubbing window.fetch, or relying on third-party adapters.

note

Our example here uses axios to make its API calls. If your application uses fetch() to make its API calls, then be aware that by default JSDOM does not include fetch. If you are using vitest as your test runner, it will be included for you. For jest you may wish to manually polyfill fetch() or use the jest-fixed-jsdom environment which includes fetch.

__tests__/fetch.test.jsx

import React from 'react'
import {http, HttpResponse} from 'msw'
import {setupServer} from 'msw/node'
import {render, fireEvent, screen} from '@testing-library/react'
import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
import Fetch from '../fetch'

const server = setupServer(
  http.get('/greeting', () => {
    return HttpResponse.json({greeting: 'hello there'})
  }),
)

beforeAll(() => server.listen())
afterEach(() => server.resetHandlers())
afterAll(() => server.close())

test('loads and displays greeting', async () => {
  render(<Fetch url="/greeting" />)

  fireEvent.click(screen.getByText('Load Greeting'))

  await screen.findByRole('heading')

  expect(screen.getByRole('heading')).toHaveTextContent('hello there')
  expect(screen.getByRole('button')).toBeDisabled()
})

test('handles server error', async () => {
  server.use(
    http.get('/greeting', () => {
      return new HttpResponse(null, {status: 500})
    }),
  )

  render(<Fetch url="/greeting" />)

  fireEvent.click(screen.getByText('Load Greeting'))

  await screen.findByRole('alert')

  expect(screen.getByRole('alert')).toHaveTextContent('Oops, failed to fetch!')
  expect(screen.getByRole('button')).not.toBeDisabled()
})

---

Step-By-Step

Imports

// import dependencies
import React from 'react'

// import API mocking utilities from Mock Service Worker
import {http, HttpResponse} from 'msw'
import {setupServer} from 'msw/node'

// import react-testing methods
import {render, fireEvent, screen} from '@testing-library/react'

// add custom jest matchers from jest-dom
import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
// the component to test
import Fetch from '../fetch'

test('loads and displays greeting', async () => {
  // Arrange
  // Act
  // Assert
})

Mock

Use the setupServer function from msw to mock an API request that our tested component makes.

// declare which API requests to mock
const server = setupServer(
  // capture "GET /greeting" requests
  http.get('/greeting', (req, res, ctx) => {
    // respond using a mocked JSON body
    return HttpResponse.json({greeting: 'hello there'})
  }),
)

// establish API mocking before all tests
beforeAll(() => server.listen())
// reset any request handlers that are declared as a part of our tests
// (i.e. for testing one-time error scenarios)
afterEach(() => server.resetHandlers())
// clean up once the tests are done
afterAll(() => server.close())

// ...

test('handles server error', async () => {
  server.use(
    // override the initial "GET /greeting" request handler
    // to return a 500 Server Error
    http.get('/greeting', (req, res, ctx) => {
      return new HttpResponse(null, {status: 500})
    }),
  )

  // ...
})

Arrange

The render method renders a React element into the DOM.

render(<Fetch url="/greeting" />)

Act

The fireEvent method allows you to fire events to simulate user actions.

fireEvent.click(screen.getByText('Load Greeting'))

// wait until the `get` request promise resolves and
// the component calls setState and re-renders,
// throwing an error if it cannot find an element
await screen.findByRole('heading')

Assert

// assert that the alert message is correct using
// toHaveTextContent, a custom matcher from jest-dom.
expect(screen.getByRole('alert')).toHaveTextContent('Oops, failed to fetch!')

// assert that the button is not disabled using
// toBeDisabled, a custom matcher from jest-dom.
expect(screen.getByRole('button')).not.toBeDisabled()

System Under Test

fetch.jsx

import React, {useState, useReducer} from 'react'
import axios from 'axios'

const initialState = {
  error: null,
  greeting: null,
}

function greetingReducer(state, action) {
  switch (action.type) {
    case 'SUCCESS': {
      return {
        error: null,
        greeting: action.greeting,
      }
    }
    case 'ERROR': {
      return {
        error: action.error,
        greeting: null,
      }
    }
    default: {
      return state
    }
  }
}

export default function Fetch({url}) {
  const [{error, greeting}, dispatch] = useReducer(
    greetingReducer,
    initialState,
  )
  const [buttonClicked, setButtonClicked] = useState(false)

  const fetchGreeting = async url =>
    axios
      .get(url)
      .then(response => {
        const {data} = response
        const {greeting} = data
        dispatch({type: 'SUCCESS', greeting})
        setButtonClicked(true)
      })
      .catch(error => {
        dispatch({type: 'ERROR', error})
      })

  const buttonText = buttonClicked ? 'Ok' : 'Load Greeting'

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={() => fetchGreeting(url)} disabled={buttonClicked}>
        {buttonText}
      </button>
      {greeting && <h1>{greeting}</h1>}
      {error && <p role="alert">Oops, failed to fetch!</p>}
    </div>
  )
}