How to test ajax error callback?

Question

Within an ajax request how can the error callback be tested ? Is it possible to simulate a network connection error ?

    $.ajax({
        url: "myUrl",       
        type: 'post',
        dataType : "json",
        data : ({
            myJson
        }),
        success : function(jsonSaveResponse) {  

        },
        error: function (xhr) {

    } 

    }); 

Fiord

Are you implementing plain AJAX or it's using jQuery ? – Dumond

feed the xmlhttprequest object with a false url (something like mydomain.com/thisurldoesntexist) – Affection

@KPBird please see question edit, im using jQuery – Fiord

Answer 1

You could simply put an incorrect URL into the URL attribute of the AJAX call.

Civilize

This is not working for me! I have typed url : "asdjasfd.php" inside my $.ajax() function! and I have set error : function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown){ alert(testStatus); }, inside the $.ajax() function! I don't see any Javascript alert! – Valuer

Nothing... I use chrome, and the AJAX request just goes seamlessly.. I have also added an alert for success : function(data, textStatus, jQxhr). Even this alert I did not get. Rightnow, for the correct url, I get success as the alert message! – Valuer

If you see nothing in your network panel, you Xhr request is not happening. – Civilize

To emulate error on the server write smth like: header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found"); exit; - in such case error section of your js code will work – Persis

Answer 2

What I do is just turn my server off before I make the AJAX request, which will simulate the server not responding.

Remember it'll need to be switched back on before you can refresh for changes.

Civilize

Answer 3

You have to stub the ajax request, and return a custom response that will trigger the error callback. You can do this easily with Javascript testing frameworks such as Jasmine.

Disarmament

Answer 4

If your URL is a PHP page, you can do something like this:

<?php
    header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
    exit();
    //the rest of your code

You can simply comment it out later when you're done testing your error function.

Shea