[Rmock-developer] Annotations to control assserts

[Joakim O. <joa...@ag...>]

I have been thinking a little bit about features in java 1.5 that
could be used in rMock. One feature that I think would be very cool is
to use annotations on your live interfaces that are also understood by
rMock.

The idea is perhaps best illustrated by an example:

public interface MyInterface {
     @constraint(argument=3D0 constraints=3D {"NOT_NULL", ">12", "<4711"})
     void myCannotBeNullMethod(Integer value);
}

The in rMock when you writhe this code:


MyInterface myMock =3D mock(MyInterface.class, "myInterface");
myMock.myCannotBeNullMethod(null);

startVerification();


The expectation will be:

myInterface.myCannotBeNullMethod(!NULL && greaterThan(12) && lessThan(4711)=
)


The pros:

* less modifications
* The contract is visible on the interface and in the javadoc.
* The contract is automatically adhered to in tests

The cons:

* Only works in java 1.5
* Java 1.5 annotations does have a limited syntax (although I am not
yet fluent in it).

Any thoughs?