How to test if exception is thrown in AngularJS - unit-testing

Question

I need to test a directive, and it should throw an exception. How can I test that the exception was thrown, in jasmine?
The directives link function:
link: function() {
if(something) {
throw new TypeError('Error message');
}
}
I have not yet successfully implemented a test that actually catches the error and reports that the test was successful.

Answer 1

This is how I do it:
describe("myDirective", function() {
it("should throw an error", inject(function ($compile, $rootScope) {
function errorFunctionWrapper()
{
$compile(angular.element("<div my-directive></div>"))($rootScope);
}
expect(errorFunctionWrapper).toThrow();
}));
});

Answer 2

it("should throw an error", inject(function ($compile, $rootScope) {
expect(function () {
$compile(angular.element("<directive-name></directive-name>"))($rootScope.$new());
}).toThrow();
}));

Answer 3

EDIT: this seems to be fixed now. Tested with Angular 1.6.4.
In Angular 1.6, I'm been unable to catch errors thrown during the $compile phase. While not as elegant, I can still check against the $exceptionHandler.errors array (source):
it('throws an error', function() {
$compile(angular.element('<directive-name></directive-name>'))($rootScope.$new());
expect($exceptionHandler.errors.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
});
Better yet, provide it with the exact error message(s):
expect($exceptionHandler.errors).toEqual(['first error', 'second error'])

Answer 4

exception handling in angular testing is better done with native angular service
https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$exceptionHandler
this gives better handle on the thrown exceptions and provide a better native angular way to handle exception globally. say if at some point in time you can change the exception handling strategy of you application in a single place.
in testing this when used along with $exceptionHandlerProvider
https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ngMock/provider/$exceptionHandlerProvider
gives you a better handle on the generated exception and write specific tests.
for unit tests it is not a standard way in angular to validate an exception using .toThrow(); method of jasmine.