espresso: Assert a Dialog is not shown

Question

How can I assert a dialog is not shown?

At the moment I have a test which checks if text does not exist in a dialog where a dialog doesn't show

onView(withText("Mobile connection")).inRoot(isDialog()).check(doesNotExist());

But I get a NoMatchingRootException

android.support.test.espresso.NoMatchingRootException: Matcher 'is dialog' did not match any of the following roots: [Root{application-window-token=android.view.ViewRootImpl$W@9acefba, window-token=android.view.ViewRootImpl$W@9acefba, has-window-focus=true, layout-params-type=1, layout-params-string=WM.LayoutParams{(0,0)(fillxfill) ty=1 fl=#81810100 wanim=0x1030465 needsMenuKey=2}, decor-view-string=DecorView{id=-1, visibility=VISIBLE, width=768, height=1280, has-focus=true, has-focusable=true, has-window-focus=true, is-clickable=false, is-enabled=true, is-focused=false, is-focusable=false, is-layout-requested=false, is-selected=false, root-is-layout-requested=false, has-input-connection=false, x=0.0, y=0.0, child-count=5}}]
at dalvik.system.VMStack.getThreadStackTrace(Native Method)
at java.lang.Thread.getStackTrace(Thread.java:1566)
at android.support.test.espresso.base.DefaultFailureHandler.getUserFriendlyError(DefaultFailureHandler.java:92)
at android.support.test.espresso.base.DefaultFailureHandler.handle(DefaultFailureHandler.java:56)
at android.support.test.espresso.ViewInteraction.runSynchronouslyOnUiThread(ViewInteraction.java:184)
at android.support.test.espresso.ViewInteraction.check(ViewInteraction.java:158)
at uk.co.imagitech.learn2.hp.MainActivityConnectedTest.doesntShowMeteredDialogAtStart(MainActivityConnectedTest.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:50)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
at android.support.test.internal.statement.UiThreadStatement.evaluate(UiThreadStatement.java:55)
at android.support.test.rule.ActivityTestRule$ActivityStatement.evaluate(ActivityTestRule.java:270)
at org.junit.rules.RunRules.evaluate(RunRules.java:20)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:325)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:78)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:57)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:26)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunAfters.evaluate(RunAfters.java:27)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
at org.junit.runners.Suite.runChild(Suite.java:128)
at org.junit.runners.Suite.runChild(Suite.java:27)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:137)
at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:115)
at android.support.test.internal.runner.TestExecutor.execute(TestExecutor.java:59)
at android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner.onStart(AndroidJUnitRunner.java:262)
at uk.co.imagitech.learn2.hp.TestButlerAndroidRunner.onStart(TestButlerAndroidRunner.java:17)
at android.app.Instrumentation$InstrumentationThread.run(Instrumentation.java:1932)

Answer 1

You cannot check if dialog's text is displayed until it is shown.

onView(withText("Mobile connection")).inRoot(isDialog()) .check(doesNotExist());

As you may know this code checks if Dialog has a view with text displayed on it, but as there's no dialog you cannot finish this part of test. It's saying: "There's no root, no Dialog, how I can achieve this?"

Don't check view's attributes until it would be loaded.