Mockito: stub function is not working - unit-testing

Question

I am using Mockito to write a simple unit test.
Then, a function under test:
public class MyService {
public void getData() {
executor.execute(new MyRunnable() {
#Override
doTask() {
MyRestClient client = getRestClient();
Response resp = client.getFromServer();
persist(resp.getData());
}
});
}
}
protected MyRestClient getRestClient() {
return new MyRestClient();
}
My test case, I want to test doTask() has run & resp.getData() is persisted:
#Test
public void testGetData() {
MyService spyService = spy(MyService.getInstance());
// mock client
MyRestClient mockedClient = mock(MyRestClient.class);
mockedClient.setData("testData");
// stub getRestClient() function to return mocked client
when(spyService.getRestClient()).thenReturn(mockedClient);
// SUT
spyService.getData();
// run the Runnable task.
Mockito.doAnswer(new Answer<Object>() {
public Object answer(InvocationOnMock invocation) throws Exception {
Object[] args = invocation.getArguments();
Runnable runnable = (Runnable) args[0];
runnable.doTask();
return null;
}
}).when(executor).execute(Mockito.any(Runnable.class));
...
}
As you see above, I stub the getRestClient() function to return a mocked MyRestClient. However when run the test case, it doesn't stub the getRestClient() but run the real function. Why?

Answer 1

[Edit] following comment and review feedback
A rule of thumb is not to mock the class under test. Also your testing will be much easier if your class under test does not use the new keyword. Instead use Factory classes to create objects. There will be no need to use Mockito.spy() only Mockito.mock().
The fact that the following answer requires significant test setup is telling you that MyService has too much reposibility and needs to be simplified. However for the sake of answering your question directly here is how you can refactor your code to support verifying the call to persist() using Mocks.
MyService accepts in the constructor the objects that you will be mocking in your test setup. Having them passed into the constructor allows your JUnit test case to create the Mocks and keep a reference to them for verification later.
public class MyService {
private MyRunnableFactory runFactory;
private MyRestClientFactory restFactory;
private MyRestDao dao;
// inject constructor arguments
public MyService(MyRunnableFactory runFactory, MyRestClientFactory restFactory, MyRestDao dao) {
this.runFactory = runFactory;
this.restFactory = restFactory;
this.dao = dao;
}
public void getData() {
MyRestClient restClient = restFactory.createInstance();
MyRunnable runner = runFactory.createInstance(restClient, dao);
executor.execute(runner);
}
}
MyRunnable is created so that it can be tested in isolation if required. Again we inject the Mock objects into the constructor. It is tempting to inline Runnables as you have written in your question, however you lose the ability to control the new instance being created within you tests.
public class MyRunnable implements Runnable {
private MyRestClient restClient;
private MyRestDao dao;
public MyRunnable(MyRestClient restClient, MyRestDao dao) {
this.restClient = restClient;
this.dao = dao;
}
public void run() {
Response resp = restClient.getFromServer();
dao.persist(resp.getData());
}
}
MyRestDao is created because this is the class that you want to Verify in your test case. I don't see where persist() is defined in your question so we create a Data Access Object (DAO) to implement it.
public class MyRestDao {
public void persist() {
// save to some repository
}
}
Now let's write the test case that uses the above classes. We want to verify that the persist() method has been called
#RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
public class MyServiceTest {
#Mock MyRestDao dao;
#Mock MyRestClient restClient;
#Mock MyRunnableFactory runFactory;
#Mock MyRestClientFactory restFactory;
#Test
public void testPersistIsCalled() {
Response expectedResponse = new Response("some data"); // real implementation, not mocked
MyRunnable runner = new MyRunnable(restClient, dao); // real implementation, not mocked
when(restFactory.createInstance()).thenReturn(restClient);
when(runFactory.createInstance(restClient, dao)).thenReturn(runner);
when(restClient.getFromServer()).thenReturn(expectedResponse);
when(restClient.getData()).thenReturn(myRunnable);
// method under test
MyService service = new MyService(runFactory, restFactory);
service.getData();
verify(dao).persist(expectedResponse.getData());
}
}
Note that this test case is brittle because it is tightly coupled to the actual implementation of the MyService class. Ideally you want tests that don't need to know about the internal workings of your class under test.