AngularJS: The Secret to Creating Testable Controllers with Private Functions

I'm currently working on writing a test for one of my controllers using angular.js and jasmine.

Imagine I have a controller defined as follows:

angular.module('app').controller('MyCtrl', function() {
    this.myFunc = function() {
        // ...
    };

    activate();

    function activate() {
        this.myFunc();
    }
});

This controller contains a function called activate() which gets triggered when the controller is initialized.

Now, I am trying to figure out how to effectively test the activate() function. Essentially, I want to ensure that when the controller is created, it calls the function "myFunc()".

Here's an approach I've tried:

describe('activate() controller', function() {
    it('should call function myFunc', inject(function($rootScope, $controller) {
        var locals     = {$scope: $rootScope.$new()};
        var controller = $controller('MyCtrl', locals);

        spyOn(controller, 'myFunc').toHaveBeenCalled();
    });
}

However, I encountered the following error:

Expected spy myFunc to have been called.

It seems like by the time I create the spy, the activate function has already been called by the controller.

Does anyone know of a way to properly test a controller in this scenario?

Answer №1

When looking at the code snippet provided, it becomes apparent that the myFunc method is being executed as soon as it is initialized. This means that when you try to attach a spy to it, the method has already completed its execution. A more effective approach to testing would involve analyzing the transformations carried out by myFunc.

If this method was part of a service, one could set up a spy during injection and then proceed to initialize the controller, expecting the service method to have been called in the process.

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