phpunit - mockbuilder - set mock object internal property

Question

Is it possible to create a mock object with disabled constructor and manually setted protected properties?

Here is an idiotic example:

class A {
             


        

Answer 1

Based on @rsahai91 answer above, created a new helper for making multiple methods accessible. Can be private or protected

/**
 * Makes any properties (private/protected etc) accessible on a given object via reflection
 *
 * @param $object - instance in which properties are being modified
 * @param array $properties - associative array ['propertyName' => 'propertyValue']
 * @return void
 * @throws ReflectionException
 */
public function setProperties($object, $properties)
{
    $reflection = new ReflectionClass($object);
    foreach ($properties as $name => $value) {
        $reflection_property = $reflection->getProperty($name);
        $reflection_property->setAccessible(true);
        $reflection_property->setValue($object, $value);
    }
}

Example use:

$mock = $this->createMock(MyClass::class);

$this->setProperties($mock, [
    'propname1' => 'valueOfPrivateProp1',
    'propname2' => 'valueOfPrivateProp2'
]);

Answer 2

You can make the property public by using Reflection, and then set the desired value:

$a = new A;
$reflection = new ReflectionClass($a);
$reflection_property = $reflection->getProperty('p');
$reflection_property->setAccessible(true);

$reflection_property->setValue($a, 2);

Anyway in your example you don't need to set p value for the Exception to be raised. You are using a mock for being able to take control over the object behaviour, without taking into account it's internals.

So, instead of setting p = 2 so an Exception is raised, you configure the mock to raise an Exception when the blah method is called:

$mockA = $this->getMockBuilder('A')
        ->disableOriginalConstructor()
        ->getMock();
$mockA->expects($this->any())
         ->method('blah')
         ->will($this->throwException(new Exception));

Last, it's strange that you're mocking the A class in the ATest. You usually mock the dependencies needed by the object you're testing.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

It would be amazing if every codebase used DI and IoC, and never did stuff like this:

public function __construct(BlahClass $blah)
{
    $this->protectedProperty = new FooClass($blah);
}

You can use a mock BlahClass in the constructor, sure, but then the constructor sets a protected property to something you CAN'T mock.

So you're probably thinking "Well refactor the constructor to take a FooClass instead of a BlahClass, then you don't have to instantiate the FooClass in the constructor, and you can put in a mock instead!" Well, you'd be right, if that didn't mean you would have to change every usage of the class in the entire codebase to give it a FooClass instead of a BlahClass.

Not every codebase is perfect, and sometimes you just need to get stuff done. And that means, yes, sometimes you need to break the "only test public APIs" rule.

Answer 4

Thought i'd leave a handy helper method that could be quickly copy and pasted here:

/**
 * Sets a protected property on a given object via reflection
 *
 * @param $object - instance in which protected value is being modified
 * @param $property - property on instance being modified
 * @param $value - new value of the property being modified
 *
 * @return void
 */
public function setProtectedProperty($object, $property, $value)
{
    $reflection = new ReflectionClass($object);
    $reflection_property = $reflection->getProperty($property);
    $reflection_property->setAccessible(true);
    $reflection_property->setValue($object, $value);
}

Answer 5

Based on the accepted answer from @gontrollez, since we are using a mock builder we do not have the need to call new A; since we can use the class name instead.

    $a = $this->getMockBuilder(A::class)
        ->disableOriginalConstructor()
        ->getMock();

    $reflection = new ReflectionClass(A::class);
    $reflection_property = $reflection->getProperty('p');
    $reflection_property->setAccessible(true);

    $reflection_property->setValue($a, 2);