prefer-user-event.md

Suggest using userEvent library instead of fireEvent for simulating user interaction (testing-library/prefer-user-event)

From testing-library/dom-testing-library#107:

[...] it is becoming apparent the need to express user actions on a web page using a higher-level abstraction than fireEvent

userEvent adds related event calls from browsers to make tests more realistic than its counterpart fireEvent, which is a low-level api.
See the appendix at the end to check how are the events from fireEvent mapped to userEvent.

Rule Details

This rule enforces the usage of userEvent methods over fireEvent. By default, the methods from userEvent take precedence, but you add exceptions by configuring the rule in .eslintrc.

Examples of incorrect code for this rule:

// a method in fireEvent that has a userEvent equivalent
import { fireEvent } from '@testing-library/dom';
// or const { fireEvent } = require('@testing-library/dom');
fireEvent.click(node);

// using fireEvent with an alias
import { fireEvent as fireEventAliased } from '@testing-library/dom';
fireEventAliased.click(node);

// using fireEvent after importing the entire library
import * as dom from '@testing-library/dom';
// or const dom = require(@testing-library/dom');
dom.fireEvent.click(node);

// using fireEvent as a function
import * as dom from '@testing-library/dom';
dom.fireEvent(node, dom.createEvent('click', node));

import { fireEvent, createEvent } from '@testing-library/dom';
const clickEvent = createEvent.click(node);
fireEvent(node, clickEvent);

Examples of correct code for this rule:

import userEvent from '@testing-library/user-event';
// or const userEvent = require('@testing-library/user-event');

// any userEvent method
userEvent.click();

// fireEvent method that does not have an alternative in userEvent
import { fireEvent } from '@testing-library/dom';
// or const { fireEvent } = require('@testing-library/dom');
fireEvent.cut(node);

import * as dom from '@testing-library/dom';
// or const dom = require('@testing-library/dom');
dom.fireEvent.cut(node);

import { fireEvent, createEvent } from '@testing-library/dom';
fireEvent(node, createEvent('cut', node));

Options

This rule allows to exclude specific functions with an equivalent in userEvent through configuration. This is useful if you need to allow an event from fireEvent to be used in the solution. For specific scenarios, you might want to consider disabling the rule inline.

The configuration consists of an array of strings with the names of fireEvents methods to be excluded.
An example looks like this

{
  "rules": {
    "prefer-user-event": [
      "error",
      {
        "allowedMethods": ["click", "change"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

With this configuration example, the following use cases are considered valid

// using a named import
import { fireEvent } from '@testing-library/dom';
// or const { fireEvent } = require('@testing-library/dom');
fireEvent.click(node);
fireEvent.change(node, { target: { value: 'foo' } });

// using fireEvent with an alias
import { fireEvent as fireEventAliased } from '@testing-library/dom';
fireEventAliased.click(node);
fireEventAliased.change(node, { target: { value: 'foo' } });

// using fireEvent after importing the entire library
import * as dom from '@testing-library/dom';
// or const dom = require('@testing-library/dom');
dom.fireEvent.click(node);
dom.fireEvent.change(node, { target: { value: 'foo' } });

When Not To Use It

When you don't want to use userEvent, such as if a legacy codebase is still using fireEvent or you need to have more low-level control over firing events (rather than the recommended approach of testing from a user's perspective)

Further Reading

• user-event repository
• userEvent in the Testing Library docs

Appendix

The following table lists all the possible equivalents from the low-level API fireEvent to the higher abstraction API userEvent. All the events not listed here do not have an equivalent (yet)

fireEvent method	Possible options in userEvent
click	click type selectOptions deselectOptions
change	upload type clear selectOptions deselectOptions
dblClick	dblClick
input	type upload selectOptions deselectOptions paste
keyDown	type tab
keyPress	type
keyUp	type tab
mouseDown	click dblClick selectOptions deselectOptions
mouseEnter	hover selectOptions deselectOptions
mouseLeave	unhover
mouseMove	hover unhover selectOptions deselectOptions
mouseOut	unhover
mouseOver	hover selectOptions deselectOptions
mouseUp	click dblClick selectOptions deselectOptions
paste	paste
pointerDown	click dblClick selectOptions deselectOptions
pointerEnter	hover selectOptions deselectOptions
pointerLeave	unhover
pointerMove	hover unhover selectOptions deselectOptions
pointerOut	unhover
pointerOver	hover selectOptions deselectOptions
pointerUp	click dblClick selectOptions deselectOptions