docs(frontend): Note that tests should render a component, not a renderFoo() helper - #19570
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…erFoo() helper A local renderFoo() helper hides the JSX from every test that calls it, and it breaks rerender, which takes an element. The tip sits with the other RTL tips and shows the Example component shape we want instead.
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ryan953
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September 22, 2026 20:17
The tip was longer than the tips around it. A generic Widget makes the same point in half the space.
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natemoo-re
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Sep 22, 2026
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Adds a tip to the "Using React Testing Library" page: render the component under test, rather than wrapping
render()in a localrenderFoo()helper.The helper is common in
getsentry/sentryspecs and hides the JSX from every test that calls it, so a reader has to go find the helper before anit()block makes sense. Each file also invents its own name and argument shape for the same idea. The tip shows theExampleFoocomponent shape we want instead, and sits with the other tips on the page.It calls out the part that actually breaks:
rerendertakes an element, so with a helper the call site no longer controls what is rendered. Passing a different root component type torerenderremounts the tree and silently drops the state the test was checking. That is not a hypothetical — converting 42 spec files in getsentry/sentry#125144 surfaced exactly this in two tests.The tip also names what is not this pattern, so it does not read as a ban on all test helpers: a helper that only registers
MockApiClientmocks, or one that takes the element to render as a parameter, is fine as it is.Related
no-custom-render-helperscanner convention and the matching note in the repo'sreact-testingskill.