Difference between stub and when in mockito

java unit-testing junit4 mockito
Ramya picture Ramya · Feb 6, 2013 · Viewed 13k times · Source

I am new to mockito.

need to know difference between stub and when

      1. stub(cpproxy.getBinList()).toReturn(gettestbins());
      2. when(cpproxy.getBinList()).thenReturn(gettestbins());

whats the difference between these two?

Answer

Brice picture Brice · Feb 6, 2013

Actually they are technically the same. When Mockito was first created, we were talking about stubs, so the vocabulary followed that idea. Later people thought it was better to think in interactions rather that technical terms, so the vocabulary followed the when ... then ... style. This change in vocabulary helps people to think about interactions, messaging between object. Which is the most interesting idea (message passing) thing in an object oriented language (quoting Alan Kay).

Nowadays testing approach has evolved to Behavior Driven Development (from Dan North), which is almost the same thing but focus even more on the behavior at design time. To reflect that thinking, people asked Mockito to offer an API that reflect that change. So you also use given ... will ... style from BDDMockito

given(the_type.performs_that()).willReturn(something)

This is my preferred vocabulary now as I use tests to drive my objects design.

Related questions

Mock class in class under test

How I can mock with Mockito other classes in my class which is under test? For example: MyClass.java class MyClass { public boolean performAnything() { AnythingPerformerClass clazz = new AnythingPerformerClass(); return clazz.doSomething(); } } AnythingPerformerClass.java class AnythingPerformerClass { public boolean doSomething() { //very very …

Read More
How to run test methods in specific order in JUnit4?

I want to execute test methods which are annotated by @Test in specific order. For example: public class MyTest { @Test public void test1(){} @Test public void test2(){} } I want to ensure to run test1() before test2() each time I run …

Read More
How to test that no exception is thrown?

I know that one way to do it would be: @Test public void foo(){ try{ //execute code that you expect not to throw Exceptions. } catch(Exception e){ fail("Should not have thrown any exception"); } } Is there any cleaner way of …

Read More