Verifying a specific parameter with Moq

Question

public void SubmitMessagesToQueue_OneMessage_SubmitSuccessfully()
{
    var messageServiceClientMock = new Mock<IMessageServiceClient>();
    var queueableMessage = CreateSingleQueueableMessage();
    var message = queueableMessage[0];
    var xml = QueueableMessageAsXml(queueableMessage);
    messageServiceClientMock.Setup(proxy => proxy.SubmitMessage(xml)).Verifiable();
    //messageServiceClientMock.Setup(proxy => proxy.SubmitMessage(It.IsAny<XmlElement>())).Verifiable();

    var serviceProxyFactoryStub = new Mock<IMessageServiceClientFactory>();
    serviceProxyFactoryStub.Setup(proxyFactory => proxyFactory.CreateProxy()).Returns(essageServiceClientMock.Object);
    var loggerStub = new Mock<ILogger>();

    var client = new MessageClient(serviceProxyFactoryStub.Object, loggerStub.Object);
    client.SubmitMessagesToQueue(new List<IMessageRequestDTO> {message});

    //messageServiceClientMock.Verify(proxy => proxy.SubmitMessage(xml), Times.Once());
    messageServiceClientMock.Verify();
}

I'm starting using Moq and struggling a bit. I'm trying to verify that messageServiceClient is receiving the right parameter, which is an XmlElement, but I can't find any way to make it work. It works only when I don't check a particular value.

Any ideas?

Partial answer: I've found a way to test that the xml sent to the proxy is correct, but I still don't think it's the right way to do it.

public void SubmitMessagesToQueue_OneMessage_SubmitSuccessfully()
{
    var messageServiceClientMock = new Mock<IMessageServiceClient>();
    messageServiceClientMock.Setup(proxy => proxy.SubmitMessage(It.IsAny<XmlElement>())).Verifiable();
    var serviceProxyFactoryStub = new Mock<IMessageServiceClientFactory>();
    serviceProxyFactoryStub.Setup(proxyFactory => proxyFactory.CreateProxy()).Returns(messageServiceClientMock.Object);
    var loggerStub = new Mock<ILogger>();

    var client = new MessageClient(serviceProxyFactoryStub.Object, loggerStub.Object);
    var message = CreateMessage();
    client.SubmitMessagesToQueue(new List<IMessageRequestDTO> {message});

    messageServiceClientMock.Verify(proxy => proxy.SubmitMessage(It.Is<XmlElement>(xmlElement => XMLDeserializer<QueueableMessage>.Deserialize(xmlElement).Messages.Contains(message))), Times.Once());
}

By the way, how could I extract the expression from the Verify call?

Answer 1

If the verification logic is non-trivial, it will be messy to write a large lambda method (as your example shows). You could put all the test statements in a separate method, but I don't like to do this because it disrupts the flow of reading the test code.

Another option is to use a callback on the Setup call to store the value that was passed into the mocked method, and then write standard Assert methods to validate it. For example:

// Arrange
MyObject saveObject;
mock.Setup(c => c.Method(It.IsAny<int>(), It.IsAny<MyObject>()))
        .Callback<int, MyObject>((i, obj) => saveObject = obj)
        .Returns("xyzzy");

// Act
// ...

// Assert
// Verify Method was called once only
mock.Verify(c => c.Method(It.IsAny<int>(), It.IsAny<MyObject>()), Times.Once());
// Assert about saveObject
Assert.That(saveObject.TheProperty, Is.EqualTo(2));

Answer 2

I've been verifying calls in the same manner - I believe it is the right way to do it.

mockSomething.Verify(ms => ms.Method(
    It.IsAny<int>(), 
    It.Is<MyObject>(mo => mo.Id == 5 && mo.description == "test")
  ), Times.Once());

If your lambda expression becomes unwieldy, you could create a function that takes MyObject as input and outputs true/false...

mockSomething.Verify(ms => ms.Method(
    It.IsAny<int>(), 
    It.Is<MyObject>(mo => MyObjectFunc(mo))
  ), Times.Once());

private bool MyObjectFunc(MyObject myObject)
{
  return myObject.Id == 5 && myObject.description == "test";
}

Also, be aware of a bug with Mock where the error message states that the method was called multiple times when it wasn't called at all. They might have fixed it by now - but if you see that message you might consider verifying that the method was actually called.

EDIT: Here is an example of calling verify multiple times for those scenarios where you want to verify that you call a function for each object in a list (for example).

foreach (var item in myList)
  mockRepository.Verify(mr => mr.Update(
    It.Is<MyObject>(i => i.Id == item.Id && i.LastUpdated == item.LastUpdated),
    Times.Once());

Same approach for setup...

foreach (var item in myList) {
  var stuff = ... // some result specific to the item
  this.mockRepository
    .Setup(mr => mr.GetStuff(item.itemId))
    .Returns(stuff);
}

So each time GetStuff is called for that itemId, it will return stuff specific to that item. Alternatively, you could use a function that takes itemId as input and returns stuff.

this.mockRepository
    .Setup(mr => mr.GetStuff(It.IsAny<int>()))
    .Returns((int id) => SomeFunctionThatReturnsStuff(id));

One other method I saw on a blog some time back (Phil Haack perhaps?) had setup returning from some kind of dequeue object - each time the function was called it would pull an item from a queue.

Answer 3

A simpler way would be to do:

ObjectA.Verify(
    a => a.Execute(
        It.Is<Params>(p => p.Id == 7)
    )
);

Answer 4

I believe that the problem in the fact that Moq will check for equality. And, since XmlElement does not override Equals, it's implementation will check for reference equality.

Can't you use a custom object, so you can override equals?

Answer 5

Had one of these as well, but the parameter of the action was an interface with no public properties. Ended up using It.Is() with a seperate method and within this method had to do some mocking of the interface

public interface IQuery
{
    IQuery SetSomeFields(string info);
}

void DoSomeQuerying(Action<IQuery> queryThing);

mockedObject.Setup(m => m.DoSomeQuerying(It.Is<Action<IQuery>>(q => MyCheckingMethod(q)));

private bool MyCheckingMethod(Action<IQuery> queryAction)
{
    var mockQuery = new Mock<IQuery>();
    mockQuery.Setup(m => m.SetSomeFields(It.Is<string>(s => s.MeetsSomeCondition())
    queryAction.Invoke(mockQuery.Object);
    mockQuery.Verify(m => m.SetSomeFields(It.Is<string>(s => s.MeetsSomeCondition(), Times.Once)
    return true
}