More SQL command (drop table, drop database)
delete, select & insert upgraded More utility function (node to array, arrayToNode) XMLDB special move command PHP Unit Test
This commit is contained in:
445
simpletest/docs/en/partial_mocks_documentation.html
Normal file
445
simpletest/docs/en/partial_mocks_documentation.html
Normal file
@@ -0,0 +1,445 @@
|
||||
<html>
|
||||
<head>
|
||||
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
|
||||
<title>SimpleTest for PHP partial mocks documentation</title>
|
||||
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="docs.css" title="Styles">
|
||||
</head>
|
||||
<body>
|
||||
<div class="menu_back"><div class="menu">
|
||||
<a href="index.html">SimpleTest</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="overview.html">Overview</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="unit_test_documentation.html">Unit tester</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="group_test_documentation.html">Group tests</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="mock_objects_documentation.html">Mock objects</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<span class="chosen">Partial mocks</span>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="reporter_documentation.html">Reporting</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="expectation_documentation.html">Expectations</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="web_tester_documentation.html">Web tester</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="form_testing_documentation.html">Testing forms</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="authentication_documentation.html">Authentication</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="browser_documentation.html">Scriptable browser</a>
|
||||
</div></div>
|
||||
<h1>Partial mock objects documentation</h1>
|
||||
This page...
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<a href="#inject">The mock injection problem</a>.
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
Moving creation to a <a href="#creation">protected factory</a> method.
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<a href="#partial">Partial mocks</a> generate subclasses.
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
Partial mocks <a href="#less">test less than a class</a>.
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<div class="content">
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
A partial mock is simply a pattern to alleviate a specific problem
|
||||
in testing with mock objects,
|
||||
that of getting mock objects into tight corners.
|
||||
It's quite a limited tool and possibly not even a good idea.
|
||||
It is included with SimpleTest because I have found it useful
|
||||
on more than one occasion and has saved a lot of work at that point.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p><a class="target" name="inject"><h2>The mock injection problem</h2></a></p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
When one object uses another it is very simple to just pass a mock
|
||||
version in already set up with its expectations.
|
||||
Things are rather tricker if one object creates another and the
|
||||
creator is the one you want to test.
|
||||
This means that the created object should be mocked, but we can
|
||||
hardly tell our class under test to create a mock instead.
|
||||
The tested class doesn't even know it is running inside a test
|
||||
after all.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
For example, suppose we are building a telnet client and it
|
||||
needs to create a network socket to pass its messages.
|
||||
The connection method might look something like...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
<strong><?php
|
||||
require_once('socket.php');
|
||||
|
||||
class Telnet {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function &connect($ip, $port, $username, $password) {
|
||||
$socket = &new Socket($ip, $port);
|
||||
$socket->read( ... );
|
||||
...
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
?></strong>
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
We would really like to have a mock object version of the socket
|
||||
here, what can we do?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The first solution is to pass the socket in as a parameter,
|
||||
forcing the creation up a level.
|
||||
Having the client handle this is actually a very good approach
|
||||
if you can manage it and should lead to factoring the creation from
|
||||
the doing.
|
||||
In fact, this is one way in which testing with mock objects actually
|
||||
forces you to code more tightly focused solutions.
|
||||
They improve your programming.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Here this would be...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
<?php
|
||||
require_once('socket.php');
|
||||
|
||||
class Telnet {
|
||||
...
|
||||
<strong>function &connect(&$socket, $username, $password) {
|
||||
$socket->read( ... );
|
||||
...
|
||||
}</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
?>
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
This means that the test code is typical for a test involving
|
||||
mock objects.
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
class TelnetTest extends UnitTestCase {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function testConnection() {<strong>
|
||||
$socket = &new MockSocket($this);
|
||||
...
|
||||
$telnet = &new Telnet();
|
||||
$telnet->connect($socket, 'Me', 'Secret');
|
||||
...</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
It is pretty obvious though that one level is all you can go.
|
||||
You would hardly want your top level application creating
|
||||
every low level file, socket and database connection ever
|
||||
needed.
|
||||
It wouldn't know the constructor parameters anyway.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The next simplest compromise is to have the created object passed
|
||||
in as an optional parameter...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
<?php
|
||||
require_once('socket.php');
|
||||
|
||||
class Telnet {
|
||||
...<strong>
|
||||
function &connect($ip, $port, $username, $password, $socket = false) {
|
||||
if (!$socket) {
|
||||
$socket = &new Socket($ip, $port);
|
||||
}
|
||||
$socket->read( ... );</strong>
|
||||
...
|
||||
return $socket;
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
?>
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
For a quick solution this is usually good enough.
|
||||
The test now looks almost the same as if the parameter
|
||||
was formally passed...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
class TelnetTest extends UnitTestCase {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function testConnection() {<strong>
|
||||
$socket = &new MockSocket($this);
|
||||
...
|
||||
$telnet = &new Telnet();
|
||||
$telnet->connect('127.0.0.1', 21, 'Me', 'Secret', &$socket);
|
||||
...</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
The problem with this approach is its untidiness.
|
||||
There is test code in the main class and parameters passed
|
||||
in the test case that are never used.
|
||||
This is a quick and dirty approach, but nevertheless effective
|
||||
in most situations.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The next method is to pass in a factory object to do the creation...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
<?php
|
||||
require_once('socket.php');
|
||||
|
||||
class Telnet {<strong>
|
||||
function Telnet(&$network) {
|
||||
$this->_network = &$network;
|
||||
}</strong>
|
||||
...
|
||||
function &connect($ip, $port, $username, $password) {<strong>
|
||||
$socket = &$this->_network->createSocket($ip, $port);
|
||||
$socket->read( ... );</strong>
|
||||
...
|
||||
return $socket;
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
?>
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
This is probably the most highly factored answer as creation
|
||||
is now moved into a small specialist class.
|
||||
The networking factory can now be tested separately, but mocked
|
||||
easily when we are testing the telnet class...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
class TelnetTest extends UnitTestCase {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function testConnection() {<strong>
|
||||
$socket = &new MockSocket($this);
|
||||
...
|
||||
$network = &new MockNetwork($this);
|
||||
$network->setReturnReference('createSocket', $socket);
|
||||
$telnet = &new Telnet($network);
|
||||
$telnet->connect('127.0.0.1', 21, 'Me', 'Secret');
|
||||
...</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
The downside is that we are adding a lot more classes to the
|
||||
library.
|
||||
Also we are passing a lot of factories around which will
|
||||
make the code a little less intuitive.
|
||||
The most flexible solution, but the most complex.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Is there a middle ground?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p><a class="target" name="creation"><h2>Protected factory method</h2></a></p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
There is a way we can circumvent the problem without creating
|
||||
any new application classes, but it involves creating a subclass
|
||||
when we do the actual testing.
|
||||
Firstly we move the socket creation into its own method...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
<?php
|
||||
require_once('socket.php');
|
||||
|
||||
class Telnet {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function &connect($ip, $port, $username, $password) {<strong>
|
||||
$socket = &$this->_createSocket($ip, $port);</strong>
|
||||
$socket->read( ... );
|
||||
...
|
||||
}<strong>
|
||||
|
||||
function &_createSocket($ip, $port) {
|
||||
return new Socket($ip, $port);
|
||||
}</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
?>
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
This is the only change we make to the application code.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
For the test case we have to create a subclass so that
|
||||
we can intercept the socket creation...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
<strong>class TelnetTestVersion extends Telnet {
|
||||
var $_mock;
|
||||
|
||||
function TelnetTestVersion(&$mock) {
|
||||
$this->_mock = &$mock;
|
||||
$this->Telnet();
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
function &_createSocket() {
|
||||
return $this->_mock;
|
||||
}
|
||||
}</strong>
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
Here I have passed the mock in the constructor, but a
|
||||
setter would have done just as well.
|
||||
Note that the mock was set into the object variable
|
||||
before the constructor was chained.
|
||||
This is necessary in case the constructor calls
|
||||
<span class="new_code">connect()</span>.
|
||||
Otherwise it could get a null value from
|
||||
<span class="new_code">_createSocket()</span>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
After the completion of all of this extra work the
|
||||
actual test case is fairly easy.
|
||||
We just test our new class instead...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
class TelnetTest extends UnitTestCase {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function testConnection() {<strong>
|
||||
$socket = &new MockSocket($this);
|
||||
...
|
||||
$telnet = &new TelnetTestVersion($socket);
|
||||
$telnet->connect('127.0.0.1', 21, 'Me', 'Secret');
|
||||
...</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
The new class is very simple of course.
|
||||
It just sets up a return value, rather like a mock.
|
||||
It would be nice if it also checked the incoming parameters
|
||||
as well.
|
||||
Just like a mock.
|
||||
It seems we are likely to do this often, can
|
||||
we automate the subclass creation?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p><a class="target" name="partial"><h2>A partial mock</h2></a></p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Of course the answer is "yes" or I would have stopped writing
|
||||
this by now!
|
||||
The previous test case was a lot of work, but we can
|
||||
generate the subclass using a similar approach to the mock objects.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Here is the partial mock version of the test...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
<strong>Mock::generatePartial(
|
||||
'Telnet',
|
||||
'TelnetTestVersion',
|
||||
array('_createSocket'));</strong>
|
||||
|
||||
class TelnetTest extends UnitTestCase {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function testConnection() {<strong>
|
||||
$socket = &new MockSocket($this);
|
||||
...
|
||||
$telnet = &new TelnetTestVersion($this);
|
||||
$telnet->setReturnReference('_createSocket', $socket);
|
||||
$telnet->Telnet();
|
||||
$telnet->connect('127.0.0.1', 21, 'Me', 'Secret');
|
||||
...</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
The partial mock is a subclass of the original with
|
||||
selected methods "knocked out" with test
|
||||
versions.
|
||||
The <span class="new_code">generatePartial()</span> call
|
||||
takes three parameters: the class to be subclassed,
|
||||
the new test class name and a list of methods to mock.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Instantiating the resulting objects is slightly tricky.
|
||||
The only constructor parameter of a partial mock is
|
||||
the unit tester reference.
|
||||
As with the normal mock objects this is needed for sending
|
||||
test results in response to checked expectations.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The original constructor is not run yet.
|
||||
This is necessary in case the constructor is going to
|
||||
make use of the as yet unset mocked methods.
|
||||
We set any return values at this point and then run the
|
||||
constructor with its normal parameters.
|
||||
This three step construction of "new", followed
|
||||
by setting up the methods, followed by running the constructor
|
||||
proper is what distinguishes the partial mock code.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Apart from construction, all of the mocked methods have
|
||||
the same features as mock objects and all of the unmocked
|
||||
methods behave as before.
|
||||
We can set expectations very easily...
|
||||
<pre>
|
||||
class TelnetTest extends UnitTestCase {
|
||||
...
|
||||
function testConnection() {
|
||||
$socket = &new MockSocket($this);
|
||||
...
|
||||
$telnet = &new TelnetTestVersion($this);
|
||||
$telnet->setReturnReference('_createSocket', $socket);<strong>
|
||||
$telnet->expectOnce('_createSocket', array('127.0.0.1', 21));</strong>
|
||||
$telnet->Telnet();
|
||||
$telnet->connect('127.0.0.1', 21, 'Me', 'Secret');
|
||||
...<strong>
|
||||
$telnet->tally();</strong>
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
</pre>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p><a class="target" name="less"><h2>Testing less than a class</h2></a></p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The mocked out methods don't have to be factory methods,
|
||||
they could be any sort of method.
|
||||
In this way partial mocks allow us to take control of any part of
|
||||
a class except the constructor.
|
||||
We could even go as far as to mock every method
|
||||
except one we actually want to test.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
This last situation is all rather hypothetical, as I haven't
|
||||
tried it.
|
||||
I am open to the possibility, but a little worried that
|
||||
forcing object granularity may be better for the code quality.
|
||||
I personally use partial mocks as a way of overriding creation
|
||||
or for occasional testing of the TemplateMethod pattern.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
It's all going to come down to the coding standards of your
|
||||
project to decide which mechanism you use.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
References and related information...
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
SimpleTest project page on <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletest/">SourceForge</a>.
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<a href="http://simpletest.org/api/">Full API for SimpleTest</a>
|
||||
from the PHPDoc.
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
The protected factory is described in
|
||||
<a href="http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-mocktest.html">this paper from IBM</a>.
|
||||
This is the only formal comment I have seen on this problem.
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<div class="menu_back"><div class="menu">
|
||||
<a href="index.html">SimpleTest</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="overview.html">Overview</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="unit_test_documentation.html">Unit tester</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="group_test_documentation.html">Group tests</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="mock_objects_documentation.html">Mock objects</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<span class="chosen">Partial mocks</span>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="reporter_documentation.html">Reporting</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="expectation_documentation.html">Expectations</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="web_tester_documentation.html">Web tester</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="form_testing_documentation.html">Testing forms</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="authentication_documentation.html">Authentication</a>
|
||||
|
|
||||
<a href="browser_documentation.html">Scriptable browser</a>
|
||||
</div></div>
|
||||
<div class="copyright">
|
||||
Copyright<br>Marcus Baker 2006
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
</body>
|
||||
</html>
|
Reference in New Issue
Block a user