Example of Mockito's argumentCaptor

Question

Can anyone please provide me an example showing how to use the org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor class and how it is different from simple matchers that are provided with mockito.

I read the provided mockito documents but those doesn't illustrate it clearly, none of them are able to explain it with clarity.

Answer 1

I agree with what @fge said, more over. Lets look at example. Consider you have a method:

class A {
    public void foo(OtherClass other) {
        SomeData data = new SomeData("Some inner data");
        other.doSomething(data);
    }
}

Now if you want to check the inner data you can use the captor:

// Create a mock of the OtherClass
OtherClass other = mock(OtherClass.class);

// Run the foo method with the mock
new A().foo(other);

// Capture the argument of the doSomething function
ArgumentCaptor<SomeData> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(SomeData.class);
verify(other, times(1)).doSomething(captor.capture());

// Assert the argument
SomeData actual = captor.getValue();
assertEquals("Some inner data", actual.innerData);

Answer 2

The two main differences are:

• when you capture even a single argument, you are able to make much more elaborate tests on this argument, and with more obvious code;
• an ArgumentCaptor can capture more than once.

To illustrate the latter, say you have:

final ArgumentCaptor<Foo> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(Foo.class);

verify(x, times(4)).someMethod(captor.capture()); // for instance

Then the captor will be able to give you access to all 4 arguments, which you can then perform assertions on separately.

This or any number of arguments in fact, since a VerificationMode is not limited to a fixed number of invocations; in any event, the captor will give you access to all of them, if you wish.

This also has the benefit that such tests are (imho) much easier to write than having to implement your own ArgumentMatchers -- particularly if you combine mockito with assertj.

Oh, and please consider using TestNG instead of JUnit.

Answer 3

The steps in order to make a full check are :

First, prepare the argument captor :

ArgumentCaptor<ArgumentClass> argumentCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(ArgumentClass.class);

Second, verify the call to the dependent on component (collaborator of subject under test).

times(1) is the default value, so ne need to add it.

verify(dependentOnComponent, times(1)).method(argumentCaptor.capture());

Third, get the argument passed to collaborator using getValue() of the captor

ArgumentClass someArgument = messageCaptor.getValue();

Fourth, use someArgument for assertions

Answer 4

I created this example that simulates a very simple service that uses a repository to save a String (no dependency injection, no entities), just to teach ArgumentCaptor quickly.

• The service receives, converts to uppercase and trim a name, then invoke the repository.
• The repository "saves" the String.
• With ArgumentCaptor I want to know which value is passed to the repository and then check if it's trimmed and in uppercase, as expected

3 classes: PersonService, PersonRepository and PersonServiceTest (packages omitted)

public class PersonService {

    private PersonRepository personRepository;

    public void setPersonRepository(final PersonRepository personRepository) {
        this.personRepository = personRepository;
    }

    public void savePerson(final String name) {
        this.personRepository.save(name.toUpperCase().trim());
    }

}

public class PersonRepository {

    public void save(final String person) {
        System.out.println(".. saving person ..");
    }
}


import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;

class PersonServiceTest {

    @Test
    void testPersonService() {

        // Create the repository mock
        final PersonRepository personRepositoryMock = mock(PersonRepository.class);

        // Create the service and set the repository mock
        final PersonService personService = new PersonService();
        personService.setPersonRepository(personRepositoryMock);

        // Save a person
        personService.savePerson("Mario ");

        // Prepare an ArgumentCaptor to capture the value passed to repo.saveMethod
        final ArgumentCaptor<String> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(String.class);

        // Capture the argument passed in the unique method invocation
        verify(personRepositoryMock, times(1)).save(captor.capture());

        // Check if the captured value is the expected one
        final String capturedParameter = captor.getValue();
        assertEquals("MARIO", capturedParameter);
    }
}

Answer 5

You might want to use verify() in combination with the ArgumentCaptor to assure execution in the test and the ArgumentCaptor to evaluate the arguments:

ArgumentCaptor<Document> argument = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(Document.class);
verify(reader).document(argument.capture());
assertEquals(*expected value here*, argument.getValue());
    

The argument's value is obviously accessible via the argument.getValue() for further manipulation / checking or whatever you wish to do.

Answer 6

Use annotations for this and most things @Spy, @Mock, @Captor, etc.

Here is a sample (using JUnit 5):

public class Blam
{
  public void foo(final OtherClass other)
  {
    final SomeData data = new SomeData("Some inner data");
    other.doSomething(data);
  }
}

@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
public class TestBlam
{
  @Captor
  private ArgumentCaptor<SomeData> captorSomeData;

  private Blam classToTest;

  @Mock
  private OtherClass mockOtherClass;

  @BeforeEach
  void beforeEach()
  {
    classToTest = new Blam();
  }

  @Test
  void foo_allGood_success()
  {
    SomeData actualSomeData;

    classToTest.foo(mockOtherClass);
    
    verify(mockOtherClass).doSomething(captorSomeData.capture());
    
    actualSomeData = captorSomeData.getValue();
    
    assert(stuff about actualSomeData);
  }
}

Answer 7

Here I am giving you a proper example of one callback method . so suppose we have a method like method login() :

 public void login() {
    loginService = new LoginService();
    loginService.login(loginProvider, new LoginListener() {
        @Override
        public void onLoginSuccess() {
            loginService.getresult(true);
        }

        @Override
        public void onLoginFaliure() {
            loginService.getresult(false);

        }
    });
    System.out.print("@@##### get called");
}

I also put all the helper class here to make the example more clear: loginService class

public class LoginService implements Login.getresult{
public void login(LoginProvider loginProvider,LoginListener callback){

    String username  = loginProvider.getUsername();
    String pwd  = loginProvider.getPassword();
    if(username != null && pwd != null){
        callback.onLoginSuccess();
    }else{
        callback.onLoginFaliure();
    }

}

@Override
public void getresult(boolean value) {
    System.out.print("login success"+value);
}}

and we have listener LoginListener as :

interface LoginListener {
void onLoginSuccess();

void onLoginFaliure();

}

now I just wanted to test the method login() of class Login

 @Test
public void loginTest() throws Exception {
    LoginService service = mock(LoginService.class);
    LoginProvider provider = mock(LoginProvider.class);
    whenNew(LoginProvider.class).withNoArguments().thenReturn(provider);
    whenNew(LoginService.class).withNoArguments().thenReturn(service);
    when(provider.getPassword()).thenReturn("pwd");
    when(provider.getUsername()).thenReturn("username");
    login.getLoginDetail("username","password");

    verify(provider).setPassword("password");
    verify(provider).setUsername("username");

    verify(service).login(eq(provider),captor.capture());

    LoginListener listener = captor.getValue();

    listener.onLoginSuccess();

    verify(service).getresult(true);

also dont forget to add annotation above the test class as

@RunWith(PowerMockRunner.class)
@PrepareForTest(Login.class)