Akka test case assertion failure - scala

Question

I am trying to write test for an actor which sends:
sender() ! Status.Failure(message)
I have written the test case as:
class TestActorSpec
extends TestKit(ActorSystem("system"))
with ImplicitSender
with WordSpecLike
with Matchers {
implicit val executionContext: ExecutionContextExecutor = system.dispatcher
implicit val futureDuration: FiniteDuration = 60.seconds
val timeout: FiniteDuration = 5.seconds
val testActorRef: ActorRef = system.actorOf(Props(new TestActor()), "test-actor")
val futureResult: Future[Any] = (testActorRef ? "Exception")(timeout)
"TestSpec" should {
"send the exception in {
expectMsgType[Status.Failure]
}
}
}
But i am getting the test failure with reason:
[info] java.lang.AssertionError: assertion failed: timeout (3 seconds) during expectMsgClass waiting for class akka.actor.Status$Failure
[info] at scala.Predef$.assert(Predef.scala:223)

Answer 1

If you want to receive Status.Failure as a message, you should not use ask pattern ? and use tell ! instead.
The reason is that ask pattern will consume the Failure and pass back a failed Future. In case of ask pattern, you need to assert a failed Future.
From Scala docs of akka.actor.Status.Failure
This class/message type is preferably used to indicate failure of some operation performed.
As an example, it is used to signal failure with AskSupport is used (ask/?).