spring 3 autowiring and junit testing

Question

My code:

@Component
public class A {
    @Autowired
    private B b;

    public void method() {}
}

public interface X {...}

@Component
public class B implements X {
    ...
}

I want to test in isolation class A. Do I have to mock class B? If yes, how? Because it is autowired and there is no setter where i could send the mocked object.

Answer 1

You can inject the field via reflection using Spring's ReflectionTestUtils.setField (or the junit extension PrivateAccessor) or you can create a mock application context and load that. Though for a simple unit (non-integration) test, I favor using reflection for simplicity.

Answer 2

This forum discussion makes sense to me. You can declare your private member b as a type of InterfaceB which is implemented by the class B (ie: service-oriented) then declare a MockB class would also implement the same interface. In your test environment application context, you declare MockB class and your production application context you declare the normal B class and in either case, the code for class A does not need to be changed since it will be auto-wired.

Answer 3

I want to test in isolation class A.

You should absolutely mock B, rather than instantiate and inject an instance of B. The point is to test A whether or not B works, so you should not allow a potentially broken B interfere with the testing of A.

That said, I highly recommend Mockito. As mocking frameworks go, it is extremely easy to use. You would write something like the following:

@Test
public void testA() {
    A a = new A();
    B b = Mockito.mock(B.class); // create a mock of B
    Mockito.when(b.getMeaningOfLife()).thenReturn(42); // define mocked behavior of b
    ReflectionTestUtils.setField(a, "b", b); // inject b into the B attribute of A

    a.method();

    // call whatever asserts you need here
}