Normalize handling of the package root in the runner.

test/runner/loader_test.dart

 // Copyright (c) 2015, the Dart project authors.  Please see the AUTHORS file
 // for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
 // BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
 @TestOn("vm")
 
 import 'dart:io';
 
 import 'package:path/path.dart' as p;
 import 'package:test/src/backend/state.dart';
@@ skipping 70 matching lines @@
       return liveTest.run().whenComplete(() => liveTest.close());
     });
 
     test("can load and run a failing test", () {
       var liveTest = suite.tests[1].load(suite);
       expectSingleFailure(liveTest);
       return liveTest.run().whenComplete(() => liveTest.close());
     });
 
     test("throws a nice error if the package root doesn't exist", () {
-      var loader = new Loader([TestPlatform.vm], root: _sandbox);
-      expect(
-          loader.loadFile(p.join(_sandbox, 'a_test.dart')).first
-              .whenComplete(loader.close),
-          throwsA(isLoadException(
+      expect(() => new Loader([TestPlatform.chrome], root: _sandbox),
+          throwsA(isApplicationException(
               "Directory ${p.join(_sandbox, 'packages')} does not exist.")));
     });
   });
 
   group(".loadDir()", () {
     test("ignores non-Dart files", () {
       new File(p.join(_sandbox, 'a_test.txt')).writeAsStringSync(_tests);
       expect(_loader.loadDir(_sandbox).toList(), completion(isEmpty));
     });
 
@@ skipping 35 matching lines @@
 
       test("can run tests in those suites", () {
         var suite = suites.firstWhere((suite) => suite.path.contains("a_test"));
         var liveTest = suite.tests[1].load(suite);
         expectSingleFailure(liveTest);
         return liveTest.run().whenComplete(() => liveTest.close());
       });
     });
   });
 }