Testing Angular $resource with external service - rest

Question

I'm trying to make some basic tests on REST requests I'm doing using Angular $resource.
The service code works just fine.
'use strict';
angular.module('lelylan.services', ['ngResource']).
factory('Device', ['Settings', '$resource', '$http', function(Settings, $resource, $http) {
var token = 'df39d56eaa83cf94ef546cebdfb31241327e62f8712ddc4fad0297e8de746f62';
$http.defaults.headers.common["Authorization"] = 'Bearer ' + token;
var resource = $resource(
'http://localhost:port/devices/:id',
{ port: ':3001', id: '#id' },
{ update: { method: 'PUT' } }
);
return resource;
}]);
I'm using the Device resource inside a directive and it works. The problems comes out
when I start making some tests on the services. Here is a sample test where I mock the
HTTP request using $httpBackend and I make a request to the mocked URL.
Unluckily it does not return anything, although the request is made. I'm sure about this
because if a request to another URL is made, the test suite automatically raises an error.
I've been spending lot of time, but no solutions. Here the test code.
'use strict';
var $httpBackend;
describe('Services', function() {
beforeEach(module('lelylan'));
beforeEach(inject(function($injector) {
var uri = 'http://localhost:3001/devices/50c61ff1d033a9b610000001';
var device = { name: 'Light', updated_at: '2012-12-20T18:40:19Z' };
$httpBackend = $injector.get('$httpBackend');
$httpBackend.whenGET(uri).respond(device)
}));
describe('Device#get', function() {
it('returns a JSON', inject(function(Device) {
device = Device.get({ id: '50c61ff1d033a9b610000001' });
expect(device.name).toEqual('Light');
}));
});
});
As the device is not loaded this is the error.
Expected undefined to equal 'Light'.
Error: Expected undefined to equal 'Light'.
I've tried also using the following solution, but it doesn't get into the function
to check the expectation.
it('returns a JSON', inject(function(Device) {
device = Device.get({ id: '50c61ff1d033a9b610000001' }, function() {
expect(device.name).toEqual('Light');
});
}));
Any suggestion or link to solve this problem is really appreciated.
Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

You were very close, the only thing missing was a call to the $httpBackend.flush();. The working test looks like follows:
it('returns a JSON', inject(function(Device) {
var device = Device.get({ id: '50c61ff1d033a9b610000001' });
$httpBackend.flush();
expect(device.name).toEqual('Light');
}));
and a live test in plunker: http://plnkr.co/edit/Pp0LbLHs0Qxlgqkl948l?p=preview
You might also want to check docs for the $httpBackend mock.

Answer 2

In later versions of angular, I'm using 1.2.0rc1 you also need to call this within a $apply or call $digest on a scope. The resource call isn't made unless you do something like this:
var o, back, scope;
beforeEach(inject(function( $httpBackend, TestAPI,$rootScope) {
o = TestAPI;
back = $httpBackend;
scope = $rootScope.$new();
}));
it('should call the test api service', function() {
back.whenGET('/api/test').respond({});
back.expectGET('/api/test');
scope.$apply( o.test());
back.flush();
});