Unit testing component with debounceTime rxjs operator is way too hard

I’m submitting a…

[ ] Regression (a behavior that used to work and stopped working in a new release)
[ ] Bug report  
[ ] Performance issue
[x] Feature request
[x] Documentation issue or request
[ ] Support request => Please do not submit support request here, instead see https://github.com/angular/angular/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#question
[ ] Other... Please describe:

        it('should autocomplete schools', fakeAsync(() => {
          spectator.click('eb-select2');
          spectator.typeInElement('ba', 'input.eb-filter');

          // Wait for the debounceTime(500)
          tick(500);
          spectator.fixture.whenStable().then(() => {
            spectator.detectChanges();

            const schools = spectator
              .queryAll('.eb-select-dropdown .vo-name')
              .map(elm => elm.textContent);

            expect(schools).toEqual(['Bar', 'Baz']);
          });
        }));

That code (uses the spectator library, but that just wraps the TestBed API) is required to test a component that has an autocomplete feature that uses debounceTime(500)

  ngOnInit() {
    this.schools = this.schoolFilter.pipe(
      distinctUntilChanged(),
      debounceTime(500),
      startWith(''),
      switchMap(term => {
       // etc.
      })
    );

Testing code that uses the debounceTime operator should not be this difficult. By difficult i mean you have to:

1. Wrap the test in fakeAsync
2. Advance time using tick(500)
3. Then wait until the fixture is table
4. Finally detectChanges

The docs at https://angular.io/guide/testing#fake-async make no mention of having to use whenStable(). In fact it says the opposite: “The fakeAsync function enables a linear coding style by running the test body in a special fakeAsync test zone. The test body appears to be synchronous. There is no nested syntax (like a Promise.then()) to disrupt the flow of control.”