Unit testing the (almost) untestable code.

2. Microsoft Fakes
Aleksandar Bozinovski
Technical Lead, Seavus
Unit Testing the (almost) Untestable Code

3. Agenda
Testing in software
Unit testing
• Why unit tests
• Unit tests conventions
• Dependencies, Coupling
Microsoft Fakes
• How does it help
• How does it work
• Stubs
• Shims
• How Do I choose
Q&A

4. Unit
Testing

5. Page 5
Strategy Description Visual Studio Tooling
Exploratory
Test
Tester tries to think of possible scenarios not covered by other test strategies and
tests. Useful when engaging users with the testing and observing their (expected)
usage of the system. There are no predefined tests.
Exploratory testing with Microsoft
test Manager (MTM)
Integration
Test
Testing different solution components working together as one. Visual Studio Unit Test features
Load Test Testing under load, in a controlled environment. Visual Studio Load Test Agent
Regression
Test
Regression testing ensures that the system still meets the quality bar after changes
such as bug fixes. Uses a mixture of unit tests and system tests.
Automated testing with MTM
Smoke Test Smoke testing is used to test a new feature or idea before committing the code
changes.
System Test Testing of the entire system against expected features and non-functional
requirements.
Visual Studio Lab Management
Unit Test A test of the smallest unit of code (method / class, and so on) that can be tested
in isolation from other units.
Visual Studio Test Explorer
Unit Test Frameworks
User
Acceptance
Test
Toward the end of the product cycles users are invited to perform acceptance
testing under real-world scenarios, typically based on test cases.
Automated testing with MTM
Testing types

6. Page 6
Testing types effort

7. Page 7
Unit testing?
• Unit testing is a software testing method by which individual units of
source code, are tested to determine whether they are fit for use.
• “Units of source code” are methods/functions. The unit test is simply
a method/function that calls another method and determines that
the later works correctly.
• How we can verify that our GetEmployeeById(int id) works correctly? Isolation, a
mechanism that will isolate the code under test, and resolve all dependencies
• Unit tests naming conventions:
• MethodName_StateUnderTest_ExpectedBehavior
• WithdrawMoney_InvalidAccount_ExceptionThrown
• MethodName_ExpectedBehavior_StateUnderTest
• Should_ExpectedBehavior_When_StateUnderTest

8. • Make sure the code works
• Refactor with confidence
• Support emerging design
• Reducing the cost of fixing bugs by fixing them earlier, rather than later
• Get a quick understanding of the quality of code
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Why Unit Tests?

9. Unit tests conventions
• Unit tests naming conventions (there are many)
• MethodName_StateUnderTest_ExpectedBehavior
• WithdrawMoney_InvalidAccount_ReturnsFalse()
• Login_InvalidCredentials_ReturnsErrorMessage()
• MethodName_ExpectedBehavior_StateUnderTest
• WithdrawMoney_ReturnsFalse_InvalidAccount ()
• The 3A of unit testing – Arrange, Act, Assert
• Arrange: Set up the object to be tested. We may need to surround the object with collaborators.
For testing purposes, those collaborators might be test objects (mocks, fakes, etc.) or the real
thing.
• Act: Act on the object (through some mutator). You may need to give it parameters (again,
possibly test objects).
• Assert: Make claims about the object, its collaborators, its parameters, and possibly (rarely!!)
global state.
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10. Demo
First unit test
Page 10

11. • In software engineering, coupling is the manner and degree of
interdependence between software modules. Much of unit tests is
solving dependencies and coupling.
• Practicing unit tests will improve code quality on the long run.
Some principles and patterns must be employed to improve
testability.
• Single responsibility principle (SRP)
• Open Closed Principle (OCP)
• Dependency Inversion Principle (DI)
• Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY)
• You Aren’t Going to Need It (YAGNI)
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Dependencies, Coupling

12. Microsoft
Fakes

13. • Microsoft Fakes is a framework that enables us to isolate the code we are
testing by replacing dependencies of our code with stubs or shims.
• The Fakes Framework in Visual Studio 2012 is the next generation of Moles
& Stubs. (Read: migrate not upgrade)
• Available in VS 2012/2013 Ultimate
• Works with .Net framework 2.0 and Above
• Newest version available with VS 2015 Enterprise
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What is the Microsoft Fakes Framework?

14. • Allows us to quickly implement doubles to support testing in isolation
• Allows us to decouple from slow running dependencies like DB, file system,
message system.
• Decoupling allows us to write order independent unit tests
• Stage data in test methods, not in a DB.
• One unit test failure will not cause a chain reaction
• No need to reset a database to a golden state.
• Allows us to intercept calls to dependencies we do not control.
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How the Fakes framework helps

15. • In Microsoft Fakes, the developer must right-click the assembly
reference they wish to mock and select Add Fakes Assembly. This will
generate a new assembly that must be referenced to create the fake
objects.
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Generated code

16. Demo
Intro to Stubs

17. • Should you, or should you not, change the design of
existing code to make it more testable?
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Question - Code isolation

18. Demo
Membership Provider

19. • For every public type in the referenced assembly which are included
into shim-based faking via configuration, the Microsoft Fakes
mechanism generates a shim class. The type name is the same as the
original type, with "Shim" as a prefix.
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Shims (all instances)

20. • Shim methods can be injected per instance of an object.
In this example myClass1.MyMethod() will return 5 while
myClass2.MyMethod() will return 10;
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Shims (one instance)

21. • Shims must be used within a ShimsContext.Create() using statement.
• If need to execute original code a call to
ShimsContext.ExecuteWithoutShims must be placed inside the
shimmed method.
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Shims Context and Behavior

22. Demo
Log Aggregator

23. Demo
WPF Clock

24. • Stubs
• Helps if you’re interface-driven
• Creates default() implementations of an interface
• including properties & methods
• Shims
• <magic/>
• Substitute hard-coded types with
*something else* at runtime
Dae Page 24
Stubs and Shims

25. • Stubs
• If you’ve got interfaces already
• You’re building from scratch
• If you want to save yourself some typing
• You aren’t battling “sealed” and “static” keywords
• Shims
• Stuff is hopelessly stuck together
• Stuff is hopelessly non-testable
• You’re supporting legacy code
• You are Ninja
• Shims are not a long-term solution (except when there is no other
solution).
Page 25
Stubs and Shims

26. Thank you for your attention!
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