EasyMock for Unit Tests

One of the basic requirements for unit testing is the creation of mock objects. Easy mock is a library that helps to dynamically create mock objects. This way we can avoid much of the tedious work involved in manually coding mock objects. However, EasyMock itself is not the silver bullet, we still have to define expectations in test cases. Using EasyMock also means that you have make certain design changes (if your design follows the usual design principles you may not have to change much. Here's a sample Unit Test using EasyMock. You can download easymock from here.

• Class Under Test:

  
   
  
  package sample;
  
  import java.text.DateFormat;
  import java.text.ParseException;
  import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
  import java.util.Date;
  
  public class DateFormatter {
    public static final String DATE_FORMAT = "MM/dd/yyyy";
  
    private DateFormatterHelper helper = null;
  
    public DateFormatter() {
    }
  
    public String convertToStandardFormat(String dateString, String format) throws ParseException {
      if (dateString == null || dateString.equals(""))
        return "";
      dateString = dateString == null ? "" : dateString;
      DateFormat df = helper.getDateFormat(format);
      Date date = df.parse(dateString);
      SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT);
      return sdf.format(date);
    }
  
    public DateFormatterHelper getHelper() {
      return helper;
    }
  
    public void setHelper(DateFormatterHelper helper) {
      this.helper = helper;
    }
  } 
   

  DateFormatter.java
• Helper Class and Interface: If you are to mock any class using EasyMock, it is required that you have an interface for the class. If you are following the old design principle "program to an interface, not an implementation", you are good here.

   
   
    
  package sample;
  
  import java.text.DateFormat;
  
  public interface DateFormatterHelper {
    public DateFormat getDateFormat(String format);
  } 
   

  DateFormatterHelper.java

  
   
   
    
  package sample;
  
  import java.text.DateFormat;
  import java.text.ParseException;
  import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
  import java.util.Calendar;
  
  public class DateFormatterHelperImpl implements DateFormatterHelper {
  
    public DateFormatterHelperImpl() {
    }
  
    public DateFormat getDateFormat(String format) {
      SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
      sdf.setCalendar(Calendar.getInstance());
      sdf.setLenient(false);
      return sdf;
    }
    
  
    public static void main(String args[]) {
      DateFormatterHelper helper = new DateFormatterHelperImpl();
      try {
            System.out.println(helper.getDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy").parse("11/27/2008"));
          } catch (ParseException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
          }
      
    }
  
  } 
   

  DateFormatterHelperImpl.java
• The test class:

  
   
   
    
  package tests;
  
  import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
  
  import java.text.ParseException;
  import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
  
  import org.easymock.EasyMock;
  import org.junit.Assert;
  import org.junit.Before;
  import org.junit.Test;
  
  import sample.DateFormatter;
  import sample.DateFormatterHelper;
  
  public class DateFormatterTests {
  
    private DateFormatter formatter = null;
  
    DateFormatterHelper helper = null;
  
    @Before
    public void setUp() throws Exception {
      helper = EasyMock.createMock(DateFormatterHelper.class);
      formatter = new DateFormatter();
      formatter.setHelper(helper);
    }
  
    @Test
    public void testConvertToStandardFormat() {
      
      String formatted = null;
      try {
        EasyMock.expect(helper.getDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy")).andReturn(new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy"));
        EasyMock.replay(helper);
        formatted = formatter.convertToStandardFormat("11-27-2008", "MM-dd-yyyy");
      } catch (ParseException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        fail("Exception");
      }
      Assert.assertEquals(formatted, "11/27/2008");
  
    }
  } 
   

  DateFormatterTests.java
  Note that in the EasyMock.expect method line, we use the "andReturn" method. This is to define the expected behavior when the method under test is invoked by the testcase. As can be expected, the replay method simply replays the pre-defined behavior when the actual call is made on the mock object.