Mocha: Question: Allow failures?

[amilajack]

Is there a way to allow the failure of specific tests but show that they are failing?

[boneskull]

By "allow" you mean what, exactly?

[amilajack]

Similar to allow_failures on travis:

https://docs.travis-ci.com/user/customizing-the-build#Rows-that-are-Allowed-to-Fail
https://improveandrepeat.com/2014/01/travis-ci-and-allowed-failures/

[AnnieCyl]

@boneskull Like jasmine, it has a "fail" function,

describe("A spec using the fail function", function() {
  var foo = function(x, callBack) {
    if (x) {
      callBack();
    }
  };

  it("should not call the callBack", function() {
    foo(false, function() {
      fail("Callback has been called");
    });
  });
});

[amilajack]

Exactly!

[mlrawlings]

@boneskull This section in the ava docs describes a huge benefit that comes with this: a PR with a failing test (but a failing test that doesn't break the build).

I'm currently using it.skip in a few cases where there are known bugs and we have a failing test case, but it's not a high enough priority for an immediate fix. This doesn't actually run the failing test though and doesn't differentiate between an unwritten pending test and a known failing test.

It would be great to see something like:

441 passing (509ms)
3 pending
1 expected failing

[mlrawlings]

Also, I wouldn't be able to take this on immediately, but if you'd be willing to merge a PR that implemented this, I would be willing to work on this in the near future.

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[kellyselden]

Here is a simplified workaround

it.allowFail = (title, callback) => {
  it(title, function() {
    return Promise.resolve().then(() => {
      return callback.apply(this, arguments);
    }).catch(() => {
      this.skip();
    });
  });
};

it.allowFail('skip on error', function() {
  assert.ok(false);
});

or use it here if you want.