PHPUnit, mock constructor?

Question

I want to mock the constructor like any other methods. I also added a willReturnCallback clause, which does not seem to work. I mean, it all works with methods, but not with the constructor.

$mock = $this->getMock ('MyClass', array(), array(), '', false);
$mock->expects($this->once())->method('__construct')->willReturnCallback(function() { echo 'outputt'; });

so mocking constructor has no effect.

possible duplicate of [phpunit avoid constructor arguments for mock](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/279493/phpunit-avoid-constructor-arguments-for-mock) — Willem Renzema, Aug 23 '15 at 20:55
The original constructor is called during mock construction (it just calls the baseclass' constructor). If you don't want that, you can also disable it. However, I wonder why you want to mock the constructor? The point is that unless you explicitly call it (which would be a code smell), creating the mock does the construction, so it's too late to expect a constructor call! — Ulrich Eckhardt, Aug 23 '15 at 20:55
Besides all limitations of mocking, a controller can *never* return anything, so the mock doesn't mean anything at the moment. — Wouter J, Aug 24 '15 at 09:41
yea, in kind you are all true. The problem is, the constructor does more than initialization, it actually "echo"-es something. Nevertheless, I refractored that "legacy" code, I guess that was the only solution — John Smith, Aug 25 '15 at 10:13

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Adding the relevant comments as community wiki answer because there will never be another answer than "not logically possibly":

The original constructor is called during mock construction (it just calls the baseclass' constructor). If you don't want that, you can also disable it. However, I wonder why you want to mock the constructor? The point is that unless you explicitly call it (which would be a code smell), creating the mock does the construction, so it's too late to expect a constructor call

Besides all limitations of mocking, a ~~controller~~constructor can never return anything, so the mock doesn't mean anything at the moment

PHPUnit, mock constructor?

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