Dart Matcher Best Practices

When to use this skill

Use this skill when:

• Writing assertions using expect and package:matcher.
• Migrating legacy manual checks to cleaner matchers.
• Debugging confusing test failures.

Discovery

To find candidates for improving matcher usage, search for suboptimal patterns:

Suboptimal Length Checks

Search for length checks that should use hasLength:

• Regex: expect\([^,]+.length,\s*

Suboptimal Boolean Checks

Search for checks on boolean properties that have specific matchers:

• Regex: expect\([^,]+.isEmpty,\s*(true|equals\(true\))
• Regex: expect\([^,]+.isNotEmpty,\s*(true|equals\(true\))
• Regex: expect\([^,]+.contains\(.\),\s(true|equals\(true\))

Suboptimal Map Lookups

Search for manual map lookups instead of containsPair:

• Regex: expect\([^,]+\[.\],\s

Core Matchers

1. Collections (hasLength, contains, isEmpty, unorderedEquals, containsPair)

• hasLength(n):

- Prefer expect(list, hasLength(n)) over expect(list.length, n). - Gives better error messages on failure (shows actual list content).

• isEmpty / isNotEmpty:

- Prefer expect(list, isEmpty) over expect(list.isEmpty, true). - Prefer expect(list, isNotEmpty) over expect(list.isNotEmpty, true).

• contains(item):

- Verify existence without manual iteration. - Prefer over expect(list.contains(item), true).

• unorderedEquals(items):

- Verify contents regardless of order. - Prefer over expect(list, containsAll(items)).

• containsPair(key, value):

- Verify a map contains a specific key-value pair. - Prefer over checking expect(map[key], value) or expect(map.containsKey(key), true).

2. Type Checks (isA<T> and TypeMatcher<T>)

• isA<T>():

- Prefer for inline assertions: expect(obj, isA<Type>()). - More concise and readable than TypeMatcher<Type>(). - Allows chaining constraints using .having().

• TypeMatcher<T>:

- Prefer when defining top-level reusable matchers. - Use const: const isMyType = TypeMatcher<MyType>(); - Chaining .having() works here too, but the resulting matcher is not const.

3. Object Properties (having)

Use .having() on isA<T>() or other TypeMatchers to check properties.

• Descriptive Names: Use meaningful parameter names in the closure (e.g.,

(e) => e.message) instead of generic ones like p0 to improve readability.

expect(person, isA<Person>()
    .having((p) => p.name, 'name', 'Alice')
    .having((p) => p.age, 'age', greaterThan(18)));

This provides detailed failure messages indicating exactly which property failed.

4. Async Assertions

• completion(matcher):

- Wait for a future to complete and check its value. - Prefer await expectLater(...) to ensure the future completes before the test continues. - await expectLater(future, completion(equals(42))).

• throwsA(matcher):

- Check that a future or function throws an exception. - await expectLater(future, throwsA(isA<StateError>())). - expect(() => function(), throwsA(isA<ArgumentError>())) (synchronous function throwing is fine with expect).

5. Exception Testing (Avoid try/catch with fail())

• Prefer throwsA over imperative try/catch:

- Legacy tests often use try { fn(); fail('should throw'); } catch (e) { expect(e, isA<T>()); }. - Replace with declarative matchers: ```dart // Synchronous: expect(() => parseData('invalid'), throwsA(isA<FormatException>()));

// Asynchronous: await expectLater(client.fetch('bad-url'), throwsA(isA<HttpException>())); `` - Common built-in exception matchers include throwsArgumentError, throwsStateError, throwsRangeError, throwsFormatException, throwsNoSuchMethodError, and throwsUnsupportedError`.

6. Using expectLater

Use await expectLater(...) when testing async behavior to ensure proper sequencing.

// GOOD: Waits for future to complete before checking side effects
await expectLater(future, completion(equals(42)));
expect(sideEffectState, equals('done'));

// BAD: Side effect check might run before future completes
expect(future, completion(equals(42)));
expect(sideEffectState, equals('done')); // Race condition!

Principles

1. Readable Failures: Choose matchers that produce clear error messages.
2. Avoid Manual Logic: Don't use if statements or for loops for

assertions; let matchers handle it.

1. Specific Matchers: Use the most specific matcher available (e.g.,

containsPair for maps instead of checking keys manually).

Related Skills

• [dart-test-fundamentals]: Core

concepts for structuring tests, lifecycles, and configuration.

[dart-test-fundamentals]: https://github.com/kevmoo/dash_skills/blob/main/skills/dart-test-fundamentals/SKILL.md