Flutter: how to load file for testing

Just had a go at this and it’s easier than you might expect.

First, create a folder that lives in the same directory than your tests are. For example, I created a folder called test_resources.

Then, let’s say we have the following JSON file for testing purposes.

test_resources/contacts.json

{
  "contacts": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Seth Ladd"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Eric Seidel"
    }
  ]
}

test/load_file_test.dart

We could use it for our test like so:

import 'dart:convert';
import 'dart:io';
import 'package:flutter_test/flutter_test.dart';

void main() {
  test('Load a file', () async {
    final file = new File('test_resources/contacts.json');
    final json = jsonDecode(await file.readAsString());
    final contacts = json['contacts'];

    final seth = contacts.first;
    expect(seth['id'], 1);
    expect(seth['name'], 'Seth Ladd');

    final eric = contacts.last;
    expect(eric['id'], 2);
    expect(eric['name'], 'Eric Seidel');
  });
}