Typically this pattern is composed by two or more classes, one that is an abstract class providing template methods (non-abstract) that have calls to abstract methods implemented by one or more concrete subclasses.
Often template abstract class and concrete implementations reside in the same project, but depending on the scope of the project, these concrete objects will be implemented into another project.
In this post we are going to see how to test template method pattern when concrete classes are implemented on external project, or more general how to test abstract classes.
Let’s see a simple example of template method pattern. Consider a class which is responsible of receiving a vector of integers and calculate the Euclidean norm. These integers could be received from multiple sources, and is left to each project to provide a way to obtain them.
The template class looks like:
public abstract class AbstractCalculator {
public double euclideanNorm() {
int[] vector = this.read();
int total = 0;
for(int element:vector) {
total+= (element*element);
}
return Math.sqrt(total);
}
public abstract int[] read();
}
Now another project could extend previous class and make an implementation of abstract calculator by providing an implementation of read() method .
public class ConsoleCalculator extends AbstractCalculator {
public int[] read() {
int [] data = new int[0];
Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
//data = read requried data from console
return data;
}
}
Developer that has written a concrete implementation will test only read() method, he can “trust” that developer of abstract class has tested non-abstract methods.
But how are we going to write unit tests over calculate method if class is abstract and an implementation of read() method is required?
The first approach could be creating a fake implementation:
public class FakeCalculator extends AbstractCalculator {
private int[] data;
public FakeCalculator(int[] data) {
this.data = data;
}
public int[] read() {
return this.data;
}
}
This is not a bad approach, but has some disadvantages:
- Test will be less readable, readers should know the existence of these fake classes and must know exactly what are they doing.
- As a test writer you will spend time in implementing fake classes, in this case it is simple, but your project could have more than one abstract class without implementation, or even with more than one abstract method.
- Behaviour of fake classes are “hard-coded”.
A better way is using Mockito to mock only abstract method meanwhile implementation of non-abstract methods are called.
public class WhenCalculatingEuclideanNorm {
@Test
public void should_calculate_correctly() {
AbstractCalculator abstractCalculator = mock(AbstractCalculator.class, Mockito.CALLS_REAL_METHODS);
doReturn(new int[]{2,2}).when(abstractCalculator).read();
assertThat(abstractCalculator.euclideanNorm(), is(2.8284271247461903));
}
@Test
public void should_calculate_correctly_with_negative_values() {
AbstractCalculator abstractCalculator = mock(AbstractCalculator.class, Mockito.CALLS_REAL_METHODS);
doReturn(new int[]{-2,-2}).when(abstractCalculator).read();
assertThat(abstractCalculator.euclideanNorm(), is(2.8284271247461903));
}
}
Mockito simplifies the testing of abstract classes by calling real methods, and only stubbing abstract methods. See that in this case because we are calling real methods by default, instead of using the typical when() then() structure, doReturn schema must be used.
Of course this approach can be only used if your project does not contain a concrete implementation of algorithm or your project will be a part of a 3rd party library on another project. In the other cases the best way of attacking the problem is by testing the implemented class.
Reference: Testing Abstract Classes (and Template Method Pattern in Particular) from our JCG partner Alex Soto at the One Jar To Rule Them All blog.
thanks for sharing it.
Mockito rocks! Nevertheless always consider using Delegation instead of Template Method (Inheritance).
In your example, if AbtrsctaCalculator class was a concreate class with an injectable Reader instance, it should be easier to test:
public class Calculator {
private final Reader reader;
public Calculator(Reader reader){
this.reader = reader;
}
public double euclideanNorm() {
int[] vector = this.reader.read();
int total = 0;
for(int element:vector) {
total+= (element*element);
}
return Math.sqrt(total);
}
//no more abstract method to implement}
What is the best approach when there are a few implemented classes?
How to test without duplicating code in tests?