How to test electron ipc events using jest?

Question

I'm working on some tests for an electron app I'm building. I'm running into the error below. I'm new to jest, so I imagine it's due to an incorrect setup. Any idea where I'm going wrong?

Error: Cannot find module 'ipcMain' from 'ipcMainEvents.spec.js'

//myEvents.ts

import { ipcMain } from 'electron'

export class IpcMainEvents {

    constructor() {
        ipcMain.on('openPlaywright', this.openPlaywright)
        ipcMain.on('openPreviewBrowser', this.openPlaywright)
    }


    openPlaywright(event, arg) {
        console.log('openPlaywright')
    }

    openPreviewBrowser(event, arg) {
        console.log('openPreviewBrowser')
    }
}

//myEvents.spec.ts

import {IpcMainEvents} from './ipcMainEvents'
import {ipcMain} from 'electron'
jest.mock('ipcMain')


describe('Should test the ipcMain events', () => {
    let component;
    let addSpy
    beforeEach(()=>{
        component = new IpcMainEvents()

    }) 
    it('should attach the eventListeners', () => { 

        expect(component.ipcMain.on.calls.all()[0].args[0]).toEqual('openPlaywright'); //<----Errors here
        expect(component.ipcMain.on.calls.all()[1].args[0]).toEqual('openPreviewBrowser');
        expect(component.ipcMain.on.calls.count()).toEqual(2);
    });

});

Answer 1

Firstly, you should mock electron package, not ipcMain function.

Second, you should access the calls property of mocked function via .mock property.

E.g.

myEvents.ts:

import { ipcMain } from 'electron';

export class IpcMainEvents {
  constructor() {
    ipcMain.on('openPlaywright', this.openPlaywright);
    ipcMain.on('openPreviewBrowser', this.openPlaywright);
  }

  openPlaywright(event, arg) {
    console.log('openPlaywright');
  }

  openPreviewBrowser(event, arg) {
    console.log('openPreviewBrowser');
  }
}

myEvents.spec.ts:

import { IpcMainEvents } from './myEvents';
import { ipcMain } from 'electron';

jest.mock(
  'electron',
  () => {
    const mockIpcMain = {
      on: jest.fn().mockReturnThis(),
    };
    return { ipcMain: mockIpcMain };
  },
  { virtual: true },
);

describe('Should test the ipcMain events', () => {
  let component;
  let addSpy;
  beforeEach(() => {
    component = new IpcMainEvents();
  });
  it('should attach the eventListeners', () => {
    expect(ipcMain.on.mock.calls[0][0]).toEqual('openPlaywright');
    expect(ipcMain.on.mock.calls[1][0]).toEqual('openPreviewBrowser');
    expect(ipcMain.on.mock.calls).toHaveLength(2);
  });
});

unit test results with coverage report:

 PASS  stackoverflow/61562193/myEvents.spec.js (10.657s)
  Should test the ipcMain events
    ✓ should attach the eventListeners (3ms)

-------------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
File         | % Stmts | % Branch | % Funcs | % Lines | Uncovered Line #s 
-------------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
All files    |      80 |      100 |      50 |   77.78 |                   
 myEvents.js |      80 |      100 |      50 |   77.78 | 10,14             
-------------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total
Tests:       1 passed, 1 total
Snapshots:   0 total
Time:        11.917s