This question has many, many duplicates, including questions not mentioning the Chai assertion library. Here are the basics collected together:
The assertion must call the function, instead of it evaluating immediately.
assert.throws(x.y.z);
// FAIL. x.y.z throws an exception, which immediately exits the
// enclosing block, so assert.throw() not called.
assert.throws(()=>x.y.z);
// assert.throw() is called with a function, which only throws
// when assert.throw executes the function.
assert.throws(function () { x.y.z });
// if you cannot use ES6 at work
function badReference() { x.y.z }; assert.throws(badReference);
// for the verbose
assert.throws(()=>model.get(z));
// the specific example given.
homegrownAssertThrows(model.get, z);
// a style common in Python, but not in JavaScript
You can check for specific errors using any assertion library:
assert.throws(() => x.y.z);
assert.throws(() => x.y.z, ReferenceError);
assert.throws(() => x.y.z, ReferenceError, /is not defined/);
assert.throws(() => x.y.z, /is not defined/);
assert.doesNotThrow(() => 42);
assert.throws(() => x.y.z, Error);
assert.throws(() => model.get.z, /Property does not exist in model schema./)
should.throws(() => x.y.z);
should.throws(() => x.y.z, ReferenceError);
should.throws(() => x.y.z, ReferenceError, /is not defined/);
should.throws(() => x.y.z, /is not defined/);
should.doesNotThrow(() => 42);
should.throws(() => x.y.z, Error);
should.throws(() => model.get.z, /Property does not exist in model schema./)
expect(() => x.y.z).to.throw();
expect(() => x.y.z).to.throw(ReferenceError);
expect(() => x.y.z).to.throw(ReferenceError, /is not defined/);
expect(() => x.y.z).to.throw(/is not defined/);
expect(() => 42).not.to.throw();
expect(() => x.y.z).to.throw(Error);
expect(() => model.get.z).to.throw(/Property does not exist in model schema./);
You must handle exceptions that 'escape' the test
it('should handle escaped errors', function () {
try {
expect(() => x.y.z).not.to.throw(RangeError);
} catch (err) {
expect(err).to.be.a(ReferenceError);
}
});
This can look confusing at first. Like riding a bike, it just 'clicks' forever once it clicks.