Mocking Static Method in c++ - c++11

Question

I just started working on unit testing using googleTest.
I have a situation where I have a static method of one class is calling inside the other class
class A {
public:
static bool retriveJsonData(std::string name, Json::Value& responseJsonData);
}
In other class i am using the Class A retriveJsonData method.
class B {
public:
bool Method1 (std::string name) {
Json::Value sampleJsonData;
return A::retriveJsonData(name, sampleJsonData);
}
Mocking of class A
class MockA : public A {
public:
MOCK_MEHTOD2(retriveJsonData, bool(std::string, Json::Value));
}
Now I have to mock retriveJsonData in Testing of Method2 of class B using EXPECT_CALL.
Please help me to resolve how can I test this situation?

Answer 1

Google Mock's mock types provide ways to check expected calls for non-static member functions, where either virtual function polymorphism or templates can be used as a "seam" to swap in the mock functions for real functions. Which is great if you can design or refactor everything to use one of those techniques. But sometimes it would be cumbersome to get things working that way in messy legacy code or in code using an external library, etc.
In that case, another option is to define a dependency function which is not a non-static member function (so either a free function or a static member) to redirect to some singleton mock object. Assume we have some translation unit (B.cpp) to be unit tested, and it calls some non-member or static member function (A::retrieveJsonData) not defined in that translation unit.
Normally, to unit test B.cpp, we would note its required linker symbols and provide fake definitions for them that stub them out, just to get the object file B.o to link into the unit test program:
// Fake definition:
bool A::retrieveJsonData(std::string, Json::Value&)
{ return false; }
In this case, we don't want that fake definition; we'll define it later to redirect to a mock object.
Start with a mock class specifically for the problematic function calls. If there are other non-static member functions to test the ordinary way, this class is NOT the same as those classes. (If this is needed for more than one function, these mock classes could be done per function, per class and/or one for free functions, per library, one for everything; however you want to set it up.)
class Mock_A_Static {
public:
Mock_A_Static() {
EXPECT_EQ(instance, nullptr);
instance = this;
}
~Mock_A_Static() {
EXPECT_EQ(instance, this);
instance = nullptr;
}
MOCK_METHOD2(retrieveJsonData, bool(std::string, Json::Value&));
private:
static Mock_A_Static* instance;
friend class A;
};
Mock_A_Static* Mock_A_Static::instance = nullptr;
// The function code in B.cpp will actually be directly calling:
bool A::retrieveJsonData(std::string name, Json::Value& responseJsonData)
{
EXPECT_NE(Mock_A_Static::instance, nullptr)
<< "Mock_A_Static function called but not set up";
if (!Mock_A_Static::instance) return false;
return Mock_A_Static::instance->retrieveJsonData(name, responseJsonData);
}
Then just put an object of that type local to a test, or in a fixture class. (Only one at a time, though!)
TEST(BTest, Method1GetsJson)
{
Mock_A_Static a_static;
B b;
EXPECT_CALL(a_static, retrieveJsonData(StrEq("data_x"), _));
b.Method1("data_x");
}

Answer 2

Use A as a template parameter in class B (see Modern C++ Design).
template <class T>
class B {
public:
bool Method1 (std::string name) {
Json::Value sampleJsonData;
return T::retriveJsonData(name, sampleJsonData);
}
}
then in your tests use:
B<MockA> b;
In production code:
B<A> b;

Answer 3

You can't use MOCK_MEHTOD2 with static methods.
You can define a private method in B that just call retriveJsonData:
Class B
{
public:
bool Method1 (std::string name) {
Json::Value sampleJsonData;
return retriveJsonData(name, sampleJsonData); };
private:
bool retriveJsonData(std::string name, Json::Value& responseJsonData) {
return A::retriveJsonData(name, responseJsonData); };
};
Then you can write a test class to be used in your test instead of B:
Class Test_B : public B
{
MOCK_METHOD2( retriveJsonData, bool(std::string name, Json::Value& responseJsonData));
};

Answer 4

This situation is very common in real development. To isolate a target class the gmock is very useful but also very limitted.
However, if you don't want to change any of the class A and B, here is the one of the solution by using "jomock" without changing A and B at all.
// let's say there are class A and B in legacy code.
class A {
public:
static bool retriveJsonData(std::string name, Json::Value& responseJsonData);
}
class B {
public:
bool Method1 (std::string name) {
Json::Value sampleJsonData;
return A::retriveJsonData(name, sampleJsonData);
}
// unit test code below
#include "jomock.h"
TEST(JoMock, staticFnTest)
{
EXPECT_CALL(JOMOCK(A::retriveJsonData), JOMOCK_FUNC(_,_))
.Times(Exactly(1))
.WillOnce(Return(false)); // return false once.
EXPECT_EQ(B::Method1("arg"), false);
}