How to mock dependency classes for unit testing with mocha.js?

Question

Given that I have two ES6 classes.

This is class A:

import B from 'B';

class A {
    someFunction(){
        var dependency = new B();
        dependency.doSomething();
    }
}

And class B:

class B{
    doSomething(){
        // does something
    }
}

I am unit testing using mocha (with babel for ES6), chai and sinon, which works really great. But how can I provide a mock class for class B when testing class A?

I want to mock the entire class B (or the needed function, doesn't actually matter) so that class A doesn't execute real code but I can provide testing functionality.

This is, what the mocha test looks like for now:

var A = require('path/to/A.js');

describe("Class A", () => {

    var InstanceOfA;

    beforeEach(() => {
        InstanceOfA = new A();
    });

    it('should call B', () => {
        InstanceOfA.someFunction();
        // How to test A.someFunction() without relying on B???
    });
});

read about [DI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection) — Mritunjay, Sep 21 '15 at 12:31

victorkt · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-13T11:46:32.050

49

You can use SinonJS to create a stub to prevent the real function to be executed.

For example, given class A:

import B from './b';

class A {
    someFunction(){
        var dependency = new B();
        return dependency.doSomething();
    }
}

export default A;

And class B:

class B {
    doSomething(){
        return 'real';
    }
}

export default B;

The test could look like: (sinon < v3.0.0)

describe("Class A", () => {

    var InstanceOfA;

    beforeEach(() => {
        InstanceOfA = new A();
    });

    it('should call B', () => {
        sinon.stub(B.prototype, 'doSomething', () => 'mock');
        let res = InstanceOfA.someFunction();

        sinon.assert.calledOnce(B.prototype.doSomething);
        res.should.equal('mock');
    });
});

EDIT: for sinon versions >= v3.0.0, use this:

describe("Class A", () => {

    var InstanceOfA;

    beforeEach(() => {
        InstanceOfA = new A();
    });

    it('should call B', () => {
        sinon.stub(B.prototype, 'doSomething').callsFake(() => 'mock');
        let res = InstanceOfA.someFunction();

        sinon.assert.calledOnce(B.prototype.doSomething);
        res.should.equal('mock');
    });
});

You can then restore the function if necessary using object.method.restore();:

var stub = sinon.stub(object, "method");
Replaces object.method with a stub function. The original function can be restored by calling object.method.restore(); (or stub.restore();). An exception is thrown if the property is not already a function, to help avoid typos when stubbing methods.

edited Jan 13 '21 at 11:46

answered Sep 21 '15 at 13:31

victorkt

13,992
9
52
51

Woa. That easy. Didn't think of altering the prototype. Thanks! :) Do you have a tip on how to mock the constructor? Seems not to work the same way? – mvmoay Sep 21 '15 at 14:28
1

Check this answer I gave a few days ago http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32550115/mocking-javascript-constructor-with-sinon-js/32551410#32551410 – victorkt Sep 21 '15 at 14:34
How would you do this for the constructor of B? – Willwsharp Dec 05 '17 at 21:59
1

[ts-mock-imports](https://www.npmjs.com/package/ts-mock-imports) Is a library I created that allows you to mock out a class import without running the class constructor. – EmandM May 28 '18 at 09:57
This seems to be deprecated https://github.com/sinonjs/sinon/issues/1761 The right aproach is on this docs https://sinonjs.org/releases/v5.0.3/stubs/ – nicoramirezdev Jan 12 '21 at 11:37
That link is now bad. Use this: https://sinonjs.org/releases/latest/stubs/ – zumalifeguard May 11 '22 at 14:59

How to mock dependency classes for unit testing with mocha.js?

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