Mock Library Comparison

(flexmock for Mox or Mock users.)

This document shows a side-by-side comparison of how to accomplish some basic tasks with flexmock as well as other popular Python mocking libraries.

Simple fake object (attributes only)

# flexmock
mock = flexmock(some_attribute="value", some_other_attribute="value2")
assertEquals("value", mock.some_attribute)
assertEquals("value2", mock.some_other_attribute)

# Mox
mock = mox.MockAnything()
mock.some_attribute = "value"
mock.some_other_attribute = "value2"
assertEquals("value", mock.some_attribute)
assertEquals("value2", mock.some_other_attribute)

# Mock
my_mock = mock.Mock()
my_mock.some_attribute = "value"
my_mock.some_other_attribute = "value2"
assertEquals("value", my_mock.some_attribute)
assertEquals("value2", my_mock.some_other_attribute)

Simple fake object (with methods)

# flexmock
mock = flexmock(some_method=lambda: "calculated value")
assertEquals("calculated value", mock.some_method())

# Mox
mock = mox.MockAnything()
mock.some_method().AndReturn("calculated value")
mox.Replay(mock)
assertEquals("calculated value", mock.some_method())

# Mock
my_mock = mock.Mock()
my_mock.some_method.return_value = "calculated value"
assertEquals("calculated value", my_mock.some_method())

Simple mock

# flexmock
mock = flexmock()
mock.should_receive("some_method").and_return("value").once()
assertEquals("value", mock.some_method())

# Mox
mock = mox.MockAnything()
mock.some_method().AndReturn("value")
mox.Replay(mock)
assertEquals("value", mock.some_method())
mox.Verify(mock)

# Mock
my_mock = mock.Mock()
my_mock.some_method.return_value = "value"
assertEquals("value", mock.some_method())
my_mock.some_method.assert_called_once_with()

Creating partial mocks

# flexmock
flexmock(SomeObject).should_receive("some_method").and_return('value')
assertEquals("value", mock.some_method())

# Mox
mock = mox.MockObject(SomeObject)
mock.some_method().AndReturn("value")
mox.Replay(mock)
assertEquals("value", mock.some_method())
mox.Verify(mock)

# Mock
with mock.patch("SomeObject") as my_mock:
  my_mock.some_method.return_value = "value"
  assertEquals("value", mock.some_method())

Ensure calls are made in specific order

# flexmock
mock = flexmock(SomeObject)
mock.should_receive('method1').once().ordered().and_return('first thing')
mock.should_receive('method2').once().ordered().and_return('second thing')
# exercise the code

# Mox
mock = mox.MockObject(SomeObject)
mock.method1().AndReturn('first thing')
mock.method2().AndReturn('second thing')
mox.Replay(mock)
# exercise the code
mox.Verify(mock)

# Mock
mock = mock.Mock(spec=SomeObject)
mock.method1.return_value = 'first thing'
mock.method2.return_value = 'second thing'
# exercise the code
assert mock.method_calls == [('method1',) ('method2',)]

Raising exceptions

# flexmock
mock = flexmock()
mock.should_receive("some_method").and_raise(SomeException("message"))
assertRaises(SomeException, mock.some_method)

# Mox
mock = mox.MockAnything()
mock.some_method().AndRaise(SomeException("message"))
mox.Replay(mock)
assertRaises(SomeException, mock.some_method)
mox.Verify(mock)

# Mock
my_mock = mock.Mock()
my_mock.some_method.side_effect = SomeException("message")
assertRaises(SomeException, my_mock.some_method)

Override new instances of a class

# flexmock
flexmock(some_module.SomeClass).new_instances(some_other_object)
assertEqual(some_other_object, some_module.SomeClass())

# Mox
# (you will probably have mox.Mox() available as self.mox in a real test)
mox.Mox().StubOutWithMock(some_module, 'SomeClass', use_mock_anything=True)
some_module.SomeClass().AndReturn(some_other_object)
mox.ReplayAll()
assertEqual(some_other_object, some_module.SomeClass())

# Mock
with mock.patch('somemodule.Someclass') as MockClass:
  MockClass.return_value = some_other_object
  assert some_other_object == some_module.SomeClass()

Verify a method was called multiple times

# flexmock (verifies that the method gets called at least twice)
flexmock(some_object).should_receive('some_method').at_least().twice()
# exercise the code

# Mox
# (does not support variable number of calls, so you need to create a new entry for each explicit call)
mock = mox.MockObject(some_object)
mock.some_method(mox.IgnoreArg(), mox.IgnoreArg())
mock.some_method(mox.IgnoreArg(), mox.IgnoreArg())
mox.Replay(mock)
# exercise the code
mox.Verify(mock)

# Mock
my_mock = mock.Mock(spec=SomeObject)
# exercise the code
assert my_mock.some_method.call_count >= 2

Mock chained methods

# flexmock
# (intermediate method calls are automatically assigned to temporary fake objects
# and can be called with any arguments)
(flexmock(some_object)
    .should_receive('method1.method2.method3')
    .with_args(arg1, arg2)
    .and_return('some value'))
assertEqual('some_value', some_object.method1().method2().method3(arg1, arg2))

# Mox
mock = mox.MockObject(some_object)
mock2 = mox.MockAnything()
mock3 = mox.MockAnything()
mock.method1().AndReturn(mock1)
mock2.method2().AndReturn(mock2)
mock3.method3(arg1, arg2).AndReturn('some_value')
self.mox.ReplayAll()
assertEqual("some_value", some_object.method1().method2().method3(arg1, arg2))
self.mox.VerifyAll()

# Mock
my_mock = mock.Mock()
my_mock.method1.return_value.method2.return_value.method3.return_value = 'some value'
method3 = my_mock.method1.return_value.method2.return_value.method3
method3.assert_called_once_with(arg1, arg2)
assertEqual('some_value', my_mock.method1().method2().method3(arg1, arg2))

Mock context manager

# flexmock
my_mock = flexmock()
with my_mock:
    pass

# Mock
my_mock = mock.MagicMock()
with my_mock:
    pass

# Mox
my_mock = mox.MockAnything()
with my_mock:
    pass

Mocking the builtin open used as a context manager

The following examples work in an interactive Python session but may not work quite the same way in a script, or with Python 3.0+. See examples in the Builtin functions section for more specific flexmock instructions on mocking builtins.

# flexmock
(flexmock(__builtins__)
    .should_receive('open')
    .once()
    .with_args('file_name')
    .and_return(flexmock(read=lambda: 'some data')))
with open('file_name') as f:
    assertEqual('some data', f.read())

# Mox
self_mox = mox.Mox()
mock_file = mox.MockAnything()
mock_file.read().AndReturn('some data')
self_mox.StubOutWithMock(__builtins__, 'open')
__builtins__.open('file_name').AndReturn(mock_file)
self_mox.ReplayAll()
with mock_file:
    assertEqual('some data', mock_file.read())
self_mox.VerifyAll()

# Mock
with mock.patch('__builtin__.open') as my_mock:
    my_mock.return_value.__enter__ = lambda s: s
    my_mock.return_value.__exit__ = mock.Mock()
    my_mock.return_value.read.return_value = 'some data'
    with open('file_name') as h:
        assertEqual('some data', h.read())
my_mock.assert_called_once_with('foo')

A possibly more up-to-date version of this document, featuring more mocking libraries, is availale at:

http://garybernhardt.github.com/python-mock-comparison/