How to test Controller that calls a service where service uses $http - angularjs

Question

I am trying to test a controller. The controller uses a service which is using $http to get the data from a json file (This json file is just a mock up of response returned from server)
My problem is that when I am testing the controller, it creates the controller object and even calls the service. But it doesnt call the $http mocked response. I not sure where I am going wrong. I tried looking at few examples but all of them are using $q.
My service looks like this:
(function(){
angular.module('mymodule')
.factory('MyService', MyService);
MyService.$inject = ['$http'];
function MyService($http) {
var service = {
retrieveData : retrieveData
};
return service;
function retrieveData(containerLabel){
var myGrossData = [];
var isMatchFound = false;
var myindex = containerLabel.slice(-4);
return $http.get('app/myGrossData.json').then(function(response) {
console.log('inside http retrieveData: ');
myGrossData = response.data;
var myindexExists = false;
var mydataObject = [];
var defaultdata = [];
angular.forEach(myGrossData, function (myGrossData) {
if (myindex === myGrossData.myindex) {
mydataObject = myGrossData;
isMatchFound = true;
}
if(!isMatchFound && myGrossData.myindex === '2006')
{
mydataObject = myGrossData;
}
if(myGrossData.myindex === '2006'){
defaultdata = myGrossData;
}
});
if (isMatchFound && response.status === 200)
{
return mydataObject;
}
else if(!isMatchFound && (response.status === 200 || response.status === 201)){
return defaultdata;
}
else //all other responses for success block
{
return 'Incorrect Response status: '+response.status;
}
},
function(error){
return 'Error Response: '+error.status;
}
);
}
};
})();
The controller calling it is :
(function () {
'use strict';
angular
.module('mymodule', [])
.controller('MyCtrl', MyCtrl);
MyCtrl.$inject = ['$scope', 'MyService'];
function MyCtrl($scope, MyService) {
var vm = this;
vm.datafromsomewhere = datafromsomewhere;
vm.displayData = [];
vm.disableBarCode = false;
vm.childCount = 0;
vm.headertext="Master Container Builder";
init();
function init() {
console.log('MyCtrl has been initialized!');
console.log(vm.headertext);
}
function myfunctionCalledByUI(input) {
processData(input);
}
function processData(containerLabel){
MyService.retrieveMasterContainer(containerLabel).then(function(data){
vm.displayData = data;
});
vm.disableBarCode = true;
vm.childCount = (vm.displayData.childData === undefined) ? 0: vm.displayData.childData.length;
vm.headertext="Myindex "+vm.displayData.myindex;
if ( vm.displayData.masterDataId.match(/[a-z]/i)) {
// Validation passed
vm.displayData.masterDataId ="No Shipping Label Assigned";
}
else
console.log('else: '+vm.displayData.masterDataId);
console.log('length of childData: '+vm.childCount);
}
}
})();
and finally my spec looks like this:
var expect = chai.expect;
describe('Test Controller', function () {
var rootScope, compile; MyService = {};
var $scope, $controller;
beforeEach(module('ui.router'));
beforeEach(function() {
module('mymodule');
inject(function ($rootScope, _$compile_,_$controller_) {
rootScope = $rootScope;
compile = _$compile_;
$scope = $rootScope.$new();
MyService = jasmine.createSpyObj('MyService', [
'retrieveData'
]);
$controller = _$controller_('MyCtrl', {
$scope: $scope
});
});
});
it('controller should be initialized and data should also be initialized', function() {
expect($controller).to.not.be.undefined;
expect($controller).to.not.be.null;
expect($controller.disableBarCode).to.equal(false);
expect($controller.childCount).to.equal(0);
expect($controller.headertext).to.equal("Master Container Builder");
});
it(' should process data when containerLabel is called into myfunction', function() {
$controller.handKeyed('12001');
expect(MyService.retrieveData).to.have.been.called;
expect($controller.processData).to.have.been.called;
expect($controller.disableBarCode).to.equal(true);
expect($controller.childCount).to.equal(0);
expect($controller.headertext).to.equal("Master Container Builder");
});
});
I am using following techstack if it helps:
angular 1.5
Ionic
Karma-jasmine
The code works when I run it. My issue is that when i run the test it doesnt populate the data in my vm.displayData variable. how do I make it get some data into the service. I added in some log statements and it skips it completely.
After all the test run including unrelated tests to this one, then I see the log statements from MyService. I am not sure how to approach this.

Answer 1

I think what you are looking for is the $httpBackend service. It will mock the request indicating the result. So, when your service hit the url, it will return what you passed to the $httpBackend configuration.
A simple example would be:
it('should list newest by category', function(){
$httpBackend
.expectGET(url)
.respond(techPosts /*YOUR MOCKED DATA*/);
$stateParams.category = 'tech';
var controller = $controller('HomeCtrl', { PostsResource: PostsResource, $stateParams: $stateParams });
controller.listNewestPosts();
$httpBackend.flush();
expect(controller.posts).toEqual(techPosts.posts);
});