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Mocking collaborating Abstract class using EasyMock partial mocking

18 Jun, 2007
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There are times when we need to unit-test methods of a concrete subclass, which colloborate with methods of the abstract superclass. The key requirement is that we want to unit-test the subclass methods in isolation; without bothering about the collaborating methods in the abstract superclass.

 

Lets take a look at a simple example : Dog extends Animal.

 

// Code for Animal

[java]
package com.xebia.example;
public abstract class Animal {
public void sit() {}
public void stand() {}
public abstract void expressAnger();
public void speak(String message, Integer volumeLevel) {
// Here goes the code for the method to to speak-out the message with the given volume.
}
}
[/java]

// Code for Dog

[java]
package com.xebia.example;
public class Dog extends Animal {
public static final String ANGRY_MESSAGE = "BARK-BARK";
public void expressAnger() {
speak(ANGRY_MESSAGE, 10);
}
}
[/java]

Test cases for Animal class have already been written. Now comes the turn of Dog class – how do we test expressAnger method of Dog class in isolation. Well, that’s not hard with EasyMock class extension 2.2 partial mocking feature, which allows (as the name suggests) only selected methods of a class to be mocked.

If we take a look at the expressAnger method of Dog class, the only thing that we want to test is that speak method of Animal class is called with the right parameter values. So, we need to mock the colloborating method speak in order to unit-test expressAnger method.

 

Here is the EasyMock test-case which shows how this can be done.

 

// Code for DogTest

[java]
package com.xebia.example;
import static org.easymock.classextension.EasyMock.createMock;
import static org.easymock.classextension.EasyMock.replay;
import static org.easymock.classextension.EasyMock.verify;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import junit.framework.TestCase;
public class DogTest extends TestCase {
// Class under test. Also the colloborating class.
Dog dog;
protected void setUp() throws Exception {
super.setUp();
// Create a partially-mocked instance of Dog class. The "methods to be mocked" are passed as an array.
dog = createMock(Dog.class, new Method[] {Dog.class.getMethod("speak", String.class, Integer.class)});
}
public void testExpressAnger() {
// Set expectations.
dog.speak(Dog.ANGRY_MESSAGE, new Integer(10));
// Change mode.
replay(dog);
// Call the method under test.
dog.expressAnger();
// Verify expectations.
verify(dog);
}
}
[/java]

The test-case is quite simple – instead of mocking out the dependency/collaborating class (the usual case), we have mocked-out the collaborating method.

 

Of-course, the same trick applies when you want to test one method of a class, which calls other methods of the same class. So, you want to keep normal behaviour of the methodUnderTest & mock other collaboratingMethods of the same class.

 

Conclusion

 

EasyMock partial mocking is quite handy for testing in circumstances where a method of a class calls method of the same or superclass; and you need to test methods of the class in isolation of other methods.

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