[FIXED] Mockito - NullpointerException when stubbing Method

Issue

So I started writing tests for our Java-Spring-project.

What I use is JUnit and Mockito. It's said, that when I use the when()...thenReturn() option I can mock services, without simulating them or so. So what I want to do is, to set:

when(classIwantToTest.object.get().methodWhichReturnsAList(input))thenReturn(ListcreatedInsideTheTestClass)  

But no matter which when-clause I do, I always get a NullpointerException, which of course makes sense, because input is null.

Also when I try to mock another method from an object:

when(object.method()).thenReturn(true)

There I also get a Nullpointer, because the method needs a variable, which isn't set.

But I want to use when()..thenReturn() to get around creating this variable and so on. I just want to make sure, that if any class calls this method, then no matter what, just return true or the list above.

Is it a basically misunderstanding from my side, or is there something else wrong?

Code:

public class classIWantToTest implements classIWantToTestFacade{
        @Autowired
        private SomeService myService;

        @Override
        public Optional<OutputData> getInformations(final InputData inputData) {
            final Optional<OutputData> data = myService.getListWithData(inputData);
            if (data.isPresent()) {
                final List<ItemData> allData = data.get().getItemDatas();
                    //do something with the data and allData
                return data;
            }

            return Optional.absent();
        }   
}

And here is my test class:

public class Test {

    private InputData inputdata;

    private ClassUnderTest classUnderTest;

    final List<ItemData> allData = new ArrayList<ItemData>();

    @Mock
    private DeliveryItemData item1;

    @Mock
    private DeliveryItemData item2;



    @Mock
    private SomeService myService;


    @Before
    public void setUp() throws Exception {
        classUnderTest = new ClassUnderTest();
        myService = mock(myService.class); 
        classUnderTest.setService(myService);
        item1 = mock(DeliveryItemData.class);
        item2 = mock(DeliveryItemData.class);

    }


    @Test
    public void test_sort() {
        createData();
        when(myService.getListWithData(inputdata).get().getItemDatas());

        when(item1.hasSomething()).thenReturn(true);
        when(item2.hasSomething()).thenReturn(false);

    }

    public void createData() {
        item1.setSomeValue("val");
        item2.setSomeOtherValue("test");

        item2.setSomeValue("val");
        item2.setSomeOtherValue("value");

        allData.add(item1);
        allData.add(item2);


}

Solution

The default return value of methods you haven't stubbed yet is false for boolean methods, an empty collection or map for methods returning collections or maps and null otherwise.

This also applies to method calls within when(...). In you're example when(myService.getListWithData(inputData).get()) will cause a NullPointerException because myService.getListWithData(inputData) is null - it has not been stubbed before.

One option is create mocks for all intermediate return values and stub them before use. For example:

ListWithData listWithData = mock(ListWithData.class);
when(listWithData.get()).thenReturn(item1);
when(myService.getListWithData()).thenReturn(listWithData);

Or alternatively, you can specify a different default answer when creating a mock, to make methods return a new mock instead of null: RETURNS_DEEP_STUBS

SomeService myService = mock(SomeService.class, Mockito.RETURNS_DEEP_STUBS);
when(myService.getListWithData().get()).thenReturn(item1);

You should read the Javadoc of Mockito.RETURNS_DEEP_STUBS which explains this in more detail and also has some warnings about its usage.

I hope this helps. Just note that your example code seems to have more issues, such as missing assert or verify statements and calling setters on mocks (which does not have any effect).

Answered By - ahu
Answer Checked By - Terry (JavaFixing Volunteer)