Getting Started #

In this article we are going to learn how to use GoMock to generate mock implementations of interfaces in Go.

Installing GoMock #

GoMock works as a command line application to generate mocked source code, but you also have to install it in your application to use the generated mock code.

Installing the cli tool:

go install github.com/golang/mock/[email protected]

Installing gomock in your go project:

go get github.com/golang/mock/gomock

Generating mock code #

Let's say we have the following code in your main.go file.

package main

// 👇 an interface acting as API Client
type ApiClient interface {
	GetData() string
}

// 👇 a function using the ApiClient interface
func Process(client ApiClient) int {
	data := client.GetData()
	return len(data)
}

func main() {

}

In the above piece of code we have an interface ApiClient that is being used by the Process function. Lets say we want to test the Process function and we require a mock implementation of ApiClient when doing so.

To generate mock implementation of ApiClient run the following code in the project root:

mockgen -source=main.go -destination=mocks/main.go

This will generate a mock implementation of the interfaace ApiClient and write the code into mocks/main.go file.

We don't really care about the generated code but here is the generated code to satisfy your curiosity (don't bother to understand it, just glance over it).

// Code generated by MockGen. DO NOT EDIT.
// Source: main.go

// Package mock_main is a generated GoMock package.
package mock_main

import (
	reflect "reflect"

	gomock "github.com/golang/mock/gomock"
)

// MockApiClient is a mock of ApiClient interface.
type MockApiClient struct {
	ctrl     *gomock.Controller
	recorder *MockApiClientMockRecorder
}

// MockApiClientMockRecorder is the mock recorder for MockApiClient.
type MockApiClientMockRecorder struct {
	mock *MockApiClient
}

// NewMockApiClient creates a new mock instance.
func NewMockApiClient(ctrl *gomock.Controller) *MockApiClient {
	mock := &MockApiClient{ctrl: ctrl}
	mock.recorder = &MockApiClientMockRecorder{mock}
	return mock
}

// EXPECT returns an object that allows the caller to indicate expected use.
func (m *MockApiClient) EXPECT() *MockApiClientMockRecorder {
	return m.recorder
}

// GetData mocks base method.
func (m *MockApiClient) GetData() string {
	m.ctrl.T.Helper()
	ret := m.ctrl.Call(m, "GetData")
	ret0, _ := ret[0].(string)
	return ret0
}

// GetData indicates an expected call of GetData.
func (mr *MockApiClientMockRecorder) GetData() *gomock.Call {
	mr.mock.ctrl.T.Helper()
	return mr.mock.ctrl.RecordCallWithMethodType(mr.mock, "GetData", reflect.TypeOf((*MockApiClient)(nil).GetData))
}

Look closely we have an struct called MockApiClient that has all the functions of ApiClient (GetData in this case). Additionally we have a function called NewMockApiClient that we can use to get an instance of MockApiClient in our tests.

Using the mock code #

Create a new file called mock_test.go and add the following code:

package main

import (
	"github.com/golang/mock/gomock"
	mock_main "github.com/gurleensethi/playground/mocks"
	"testing"
)

func TestProcess(t *testing.T) {
	ctrl := gomock.NewController(t)
    
    // 👇 create new mock client
	mockApiClient := mock_main.NewMockApiClient(ctrl)
    
    // 👇 configure our mock `GetData` function to return mock data
	mockApiClient.EXPECT().GetData().Return("Hello World")

	length := Process(mockApiClient)

	if length != 11 {
		t.Fatalf("want: %d, got: %d\n", 11, length)
	}
}

We use the NewMockApiClient function to get an instance that we can use wherever ApiClient interface is expected.

mockApiClient := mock_main.NewMockApiClient(ctrl)

Pay attention to how we configure the GetData function on the mock client to return the data that we want.

mockApiClient.EXPECT().GetData().Return("Hello World")

Check out GoMock documentation it has a lot more options to configure mocks, it has a reflection mode which allows you to generate mocks of interfaces from packages that you have not written yourself and much more.

Thank your for reading this article 🙏🏻 hopefully you learned something new.