How to test a prop update on React component

Question

What is the correct way of unit testing a React component prop update.

Here is my test fixture;

describe(\'updating the value\', function(){
                 


        

Answer 1

AirBnB's Enzyme library provides an elegant solution to this question.

it provides a setProps method, that can be called on either a shallow or jsdom wrapper.

    it("Component should call componentWillReceiveProps on update", () => {
        const spy = sinon.spy(Component.prototype, "componentWillReceiveProps");
        const wrapper = shallow(<Component {...props} />);

        expect(spy.calledOnce).to.equal(false);
        wrapper.setProps({ prop: 2 });
        expect(spy.calledOnce).to.equal(true);
    });

Answer 2

This is an older question, but in case anyone else stumbles upon this, the following setup has worked for me nicely:

it('updates component on property update', () => {
    let TestParent = React.createClass({
        getInitialState() {
            return {value: true};
        },
        render() {
            return <MyComponent value={this.state.value}/>;
        }
    });
    component = TestUtils.renderIntoDocument(<TestParent/>);
    component.setState({value: false});
    // Verification code follows
});

This makes React run the usual component update.