415

Is there a clean method of mocking a class with generic parameters? Say I have to mock a class Foo<T> which I need to pass into a method that expects a Foo<Bar>. I can do the following easily enough:

Foo mockFoo = mock(Foo.class); when(mockFoo.getValue).thenReturn(new Bar()); 

Assuming getValue() returns the generic type T. But that's going to have kittens when I later pass it into a method expecting Foo<Bar>. Is casting the only means of doing this?

0

12 Answers 12

381

I think you do need to cast it, but it shouldn't be too bad:

Foo<Bar> mockFoo = (Foo<Bar>) mock(Foo.class); when(mockFoo.getValue()).thenReturn(new Bar()); 
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

8 Comments

Yes but you still have a warning. Is that possible to avoid the warning?
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
good call, then why we do explicit type casting?
I think this is fully acceptable since we are talking about a mock object in a unit test.
@demaniak It doesn't work at all. Argument matchers can't be used in that context.
@demaniak That will compile just fine, but when running the test it will throw InvalidUseOfMatchersException (which is a RuntimeException)
|
369

One other way around this is to use @Mock annotation instead. Doesn't work in all cases, but looks much sexier :)

Here's an example:

@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class) public class FooTests { @Mock public Foo<Bar> fooMock; @Test public void testFoo() { when(fooMock.getValue()).thenReturn(new Bar()); } } 

The MockitoJUnitRunner initializes the fields annotated with @Mock.

9 Comments

@CodeNovitiate I couldn't find any deprecation annotations on MockitoJUnitRunner and Mock in 1.9.5. So, what is deprecated? (Yes, org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations.Mock is deprecated, but you should use org.mockito.Mock instead)
Well done, this worked perfectly for me. It's not just "sexier", it avoids a warning without using SuppressWarnings. Warnings exist for a reason, it's better to not be in the habit of suppressing them. Thanks!
There is one thing I don't like about using @Mock instead of mock(): the fields are still null during construction time, so I cannot insert dependencies at that time and cannot make the fields final. The former can be solved by a @Before-annotated method of course.
For initiation just call MockitoAnnotations.initMocks(this);
FYI: Mockito is just doing the cast and suppressing the warning behind the scenes. I also prefer this, but, functionally, it's not any better. I use @Mock + MockitoAnnotations.initMocks(this) when I know all the mocks I need statically. I use mock(Class.class) + casting when I need to generate mocks dynamically/on-the-fly.
|
60

You could always create an intermediate class/interface that would satisfy the generic type that you are wanting to specify. For example, if Foo was an interface, you could create the following interface in your test class.

private interface FooBar extends Foo<Bar> { } 

In situations where Foo is a non-final class, you could just extend the class with the following code and do the same thing:

public class FooBar extends Foo<Bar> { } 

Then you could consume either of the above examples with the following code:

Foo<Bar> mockFoo = mock(FooBar.class); when(mockFoo.getValue()).thenReturn(new Bar()); 

2 Comments

Provided Foo is an interface or non-final class, this appears to be a reasonably elegant solution. Thanks.
I updated the answer to include examples for non-final classes as well. Ideally you would be coding against an interface, but that's not always going to be the case. Good catch!
24

Create a test utility method. Specially useful if you need it for more than once.

@Test public void testMyTest() { // ... Foo<Bar> mockFooBar = mockFoo(); when(mockFooBar.getValue).thenReturn(new Bar()); Foo<Baz> mockFooBaz = mockFoo(); when(mockFooBaz.getValue).thenReturn(new Baz()); Foo<Qux> mockFooQux = mockFoo(); when(mockFooQux.getValue).thenReturn(new Qux()); // ... } @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") // still needed :( but just once :) private <T> Foo<T> mockFoo() { return mock(Foo.class); } 

2 Comments

Could extend your answer to make a general utility method passing in the class you want to mock.
@WilliamDutton static <T> T genericMock(Class<? super T> classToMock) { return (T)mock(classToMock); } it doesn't even need a single suppression :) But be careful, Integer num = genericMock(Number.class) compiles, but throws ClassCastException. This is only useful for the most common G<P> mock = mock(G.class) case.
20

I agree that one shouldn't suppress warnings in classes or methods as one could overlook other, accidentally suppressed warnings. But IMHO it's absolutely reasonable to suppress a warning that affects only a single line of code.

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked") Foo<Bar> mockFoo = mock(Foo.class); 

2 Comments

Sorry to necro this post, but I've never seen annotations on a statement like this in Java, and the docs don't say anything about it either. Am I missing something?
@Rabadash8820 "Annotations can be applied to declarations: declarations of classes, fields, methods, and other program elements. When used on a declaration, each annotation often appears, by convention, on its own line." The reason the examples don't show that is because they're demonstrating new uses of annotations from Java 8 on that page. See the JLS (Java Language Standard) for specifics. docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se21/html/jls-9.html#jls-9.7.4
13

With JUnit5 I think the best way is to @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) with @Mock in the method parameter or the field.

The following example demonstrates that with Hamcrest matchers.

package com.vogella.junit5; import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat; import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasItem; import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify; import java.util.Arrays; import java.util.List; import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test; import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith; import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor; import org.mockito.Captor; import org.mockito.Mock; import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension; @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) public class MockitoArgumentCaptureTest { @Captor private ArgumentCaptor<List<String>> captor; @Test public final void shouldContainCertainListItem(@Mock List<String> mockedList) { var asList = Arrays.asList("someElement_test", "someElement"); mockedList.addAll(asList); verify(mockedList).addAll(captor.capture()); List<String> capturedArgument = captor.getValue(); assertThat(capturedArgument, hasItem("someElement")); } } 

See https://www.vogella.com/tutorials/Mockito/article.html for the required Maven/Gradle dependencies.

Comments

9

As the other answers mentioned, there's not a great way to use the mock() & spy() methods directly without unsafe generics access and/or suppressing generics warnings.

There is currently an open issue in the Mockito project (#1531) to add support for using the mock() & spy() methods without generics warnings. The issue was opened in November 2018, but there aren't any indications that it will be prioritized. Per one of the Mockito contributor's comments on the issue:

Given that .class does not play well with generics, I don't think there is any solution we can do in Mockito. You can already do @Mock (the JUnit5 extension also allows method parameter @Mocks) and that should be a suitable alternative. Therefore, we can keep this issue open, but it is unlikely ever to be fixed, given that @Mock is a better API.

1 Comment

For some cases spy() is alright, because you can pass an instance to it. Obviously doesn't cover all your bases but if you can instantiate a generic instance you're good to go.
7

So you have this:

Foo mockFoo = mock(Foo.class); 

Ways to fix it, starting from my least favourite to most:

  1. Use @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") annotation. Doesn't really fix it, but you'll stop getting the warnings.
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked") Foo mockFoo = mock(Foo.class); when(mockFoo.getValue).thenReturn(new Bar()); 
  1. Cast it. Though it still gives warnings, unfortunately. So you need to use the annotation here as well:
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked") Foo<Bar> mockFoo = (Foo<Bar>) mock(Foo.class); when(mockFoo.getValue).thenReturn(new Bar()); 
  1. Use @Mock annotation. There will be no warnings. Here, when can be added in actual tests.
@Mock public Foo<Bar> fooMock; 
  1. Use @MockBean annotation. This will create a mocked bean directly. No warnings.
@MockBean public Foo<Bar> fooMock; 

Comments

6

JUnit5: use @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) on the test class then add this field:

@Mock Foo<Bar> barMock; 

3 Comments

This solution is already detailed in several other answers, I'm unsure how it adds any value.
@Pyves this covers JUnit5 which does not work with @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
I am seeing at least one other answer that already covered @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class), and other answers that work regardless of the version of JUnit in use. This isn't really the key point of the question/answer anyway.
5

The (in my opinion) most easiest and most readable approach is to use method level injection.

This will result in having all test data within the test method. This will keep your test classes clean as there are no 'floating' mock's.

@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) public class SomeClassTest { @Test void someTestMethod(@Mock Foo<Bar> fooMock) { // do something with your mock } } 

Comments

4

Here is an interesting case: method receieves generic collection and returns generic collection of same base type. For example:

Collection<? extends Assertion> map(Collection<? extends Assertion> assertions); 

This method can be mocked with combination of Mockito anyCollectionOf matcher and the Answer.

when(mockedObject.map(anyCollectionOf(Assertion.class))).thenAnswer( new Answer<Collection<Assertion>>() { @Override public Collection<Assertion> answer(InvocationOnMock invocation) throws Throwable { return new ArrayList<Assertion>(); } }); 

Comments

0

why not using spy

var mock = spy(new Foo<Bar>()); when(mockFoo.getValue()).thenReturn(new Bar()); 

1 Comment

This will still lead to warnings,as highlighted by other answers.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.