xunit Assert.ThrowsAsync() does not work properly?

Dmitry picture Dmitry · Nov 27, 2016 · Viewed 25.4k times · Source

So I have a test like the following:

    [Fact]
    public void Test1()
    {
        Assert.ThrowsAsync<ArgumentNullException>(() => MethodThatThrows());
    }

    private async Task MethodThatThrows()
    {
        await Task.Delay(100);
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

To my surprise, Test1 passes successfully. To make it fail I have to write like this:

Assert.Throws<ArgumentNullException>(() => MethodThatThrows().Wait());

What is the purpose of ThrowsAsync(), if it does not work in the scenario above?

Answer

Ruben Bartelink picture Ruben Bartelink · Nov 27, 2016

You're supposed to await the result (see xunit's acceptance tests).

[Fact] public async Task Test1()
{
    await Assert.ThrowsAsync<ArgumentNullException>(() => MethodThatThrows());
}

In this specific degenerate case, you could just return the Task that Assert.ThrowsAsync yields without using await, but the key thing is you need to hand the resulting Task back to the xUnit framework, i.e.

[Fact]
public Task Test1() =>
    Assert.ThrowsAsync<ArgumentNullException>(MethodThatThrows);