Re: [MO-java-dev] DynaMocks for interfaces only?

[Nat P. <nat...@b1...>]

From: "Eli Tucker" <sou...@ne...>
> Are DynaMocks for use only with interfaces?  If so, it sure would be
> nice to have a DynaInterface that is generated on the fly from a class.

At the moment yes, because of limitations of the java.lang.reflect.Proxy
class.

Generating mocks that extend real classes causes a number of tricky issues.
For example, what should mocks pass as arguments to constructors of the base
class?  What if the constructor of the base class does "real" work, that you
don't want to happen at test time?

Automatically generating an interface from a class would not work because
the mock must be interchangeable with the class to be mocked at compile
time.

So, if you want to mock an existing class I would recommend changing the
design of that class so that it follows interface/implementation separation
and then using the dynamic mocks. If you don't want to do that, you can
write a mock by hand using the core com.mockobjects classes.

> Also, is there any more information about DynaMocks available besides
> what is shown on the wiki at these locations?
>
> http://www.mockobjects.com/wiki/SimpleServletTest
> http://www.mockobjects.com/wiki/DynamicMockObjects

There are also the unit tests in the test.mockobjects.dynamic package.  On
the wiki, you can also read:

http://www.mockobjects.com/wiki/InterestingThreadsFromTheMailingLists

Cheers,
            Nat.
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Dr. Nathaniel Pryce
B13media Ltd.
http://www.b13media.com
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