TypeError during Jest's spyOn: Cannot set property getRequest of #<Object> which has only a getter

Question

I'm writing a React application with TypeScript. I do my unit tests using Jest.

I have a function that makes an API call:

import { ROUTE_INT_QUESTIONS } from "../../../config/constants/routes";
import { intQuestionSchema } from "../../../config/schemas/intQuestions";
import { getRequest } from "../../utils/serverRequests";

const intQuestionListSchema = [intQuestionSchema];

export const getIntQuestionList = () => getRequest(ROUTE_INT_QUESTIONS, intQuestionListSchema);

The getRequest function looks like this:

import { Schema } from "normalizr";
import { camelizeAndNormalize } from "../../core";

export const getRequest = (fullUrlRoute: string, schema: Schema) =>
  fetch(fullUrlRoute).then(response =>
    response.json().then(json => {
      if (!response.ok) {
        return Promise.reject(json);
      }
      return Promise.resolve(camelizeAndNormalize(json, schema));
    })
  );

I wanted to try the API function using Jest like this:

import fetch from "jest-fetch-mock";
import { ROUTE_INT_QUESTIONS } from "../../../config/constants/routes";
import {
  normalizedIntQuestionListResponse as expected,
  rawIntQuestionListResponse as response
} from "../../../config/fixtures";
import { intQuestionSchema } from "../../../config/schemas/intQuestions";
import * as serverRequests from "./../../utils/serverRequests";
import { getIntQuestionList } from "./intQuestions";

const intQuestionListSchema = [intQuestionSchema];

describe("getIntQuestionList", () => {
  beforeEach(() => {
    fetch.resetMocks();
  });

  it("should get the int question list", () => {
    const getRequestMock = jest.spyOn(serverRequests, "getRequest");
    fetch.mockResponseOnce(JSON.stringify(response));

    expect.assertions(2);
    return getIntQuestionList().then(res => {
      expect(res).toEqual(expected);
      expect(getRequestMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(ROUTE_INT_QUESTIONS, intQuestionListSchema);
    });
  });
});

The problem is that the line with spyOn throws the following error:

  ● getRestaurantList › should get the restaurant list

    TypeError: Cannot set property getRequest of #<Object> which has only a getter

      17 |
      18 |   it("should get the restaurant list", () => {
    > 19 |     const getRequestMock = jest.spyOn(serverRequests, "getRequest");
         |                                 ^
      20 |     fetch.mockResponseOnce(JSON.stringify(response));
      21 |
      22 |     expect.assertions(2);

      at ModuleMockerClass.spyOn (node_modules/jest-mock/build/index.js:706:26)
      at Object.spyOn (src/services/api/IntQuestions/intQuestions.test.ts:19:33)

I googled this and only found posts about hot reloading. So what could cause this during Jest test? How can I get this test to pass?

Answer 1

This one was interesting.

Issue

Babel generates properties with only get defined for re-exported functions.

utils/serverRequests/index.ts re-exports functions from other modules so an error is thrown when jest.spyOn is used to spy on the re-exported functions.

---

Details

Given this code re-exporting everything from lib:

export * from './lib';

...Babel produces this:

'use strict';

Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", {
  value: true
});

var _lib = require('./lib');

Object.keys(_lib).forEach(function (key) {
  if (key === "default" || key === "__esModule") return;
  Object.defineProperty(exports, key, {
    enumerable: true,
    get: function get() {
      return _lib[key];
    }
  });
});

Note that the properties are all defined with only get.

Trying to use jest.spyOn on any of those properties will generate the error you are seeing because jest.spyOn tries to replace the property with a spy wrapping the original function but can't if the property is defined with only get.

---

Solution

Instead of importing ../../utils/serverRequests (which re-exports getRequest) into the test, import the module where getRequest is defined and use that module to create the spy.

Alternate Solution

Mock the entire utils/serverRequests module as suggested by @Volodymyr and @TheF