iOS Unit Testing With OCMock
Mock objects are an important driver of test driven development (TDD). They give developers the ability to craft unit tests involving complex objects without risking the possible complications inherent in instantiating those objects. They can be used to test code’s behavior when things go wrong, when infrequent things happen, or when a complex system of objects needs to be in a specific state. They are good for testing methods that return non-deterministic results (like the current time), and standing in for objects you plan to build, but haven’t built yet. In short, they’re useful, but xCode does not support them out of the box.
Apple’s xCode ships with OCUnit which is “a faithful implementation of xUnit patterns for Objective-C”[Vollmer]. Though useful for testing (it provides the various combinations of assertions covering nulls, exceptions, true, false, and equality), it lacks the capability to produce mock objects. That’s where OCMock comes in. OCMock is a library that works with Objective-c and provides methods that allow you to employ mock objects throughout your own applications. In this post, I’ll be walking through the setup of OCMock in Apple’s xCode environment and running through a few basic use cases for the OCMock library.
What Would Steve Do?
I purchased the original iPhone in July of 2007, just after it’s release. My favorite core applications have always been Maps, Safari and Mail. Oh, yeah, I also like the Phone App. I was so impressed with the iPhone I purchased some additional AAPL stock.
Owning the stock I have followed Apple’s progress over the years. I was saddened when I learned of Steve Jobs’s health turning for the worse and his subsequent death at age 56 on October 5, 2011. I wondered the same thing I’m sure many others did, what will happen to Apple?
The “Beautifully designed from the ground up,” Maps in iOS 6, one of the ‘new’ features available on the iPhone 5 was the first major misstep since Jobs stepped down as CEO. Directions are wrong and key features such a public transit are missing. And it’s not like they didn’t know there were problems.
How do you like them Apples?
In a little less than a week, Apple will unveil the latest generation of the iPhone. I’m going to go ahead and predict that Apple-fans will think it’s the greatest thing ever and find themselves in a spot where they suddenly need one. Most non-Apple fans will probably deride it for not being fast enough, big enough, small enough, or just plain too “Apple.”
In any event, watching Apple prime the PR wires and get “buzz” serves as a nice reminder that technical products need to continually advance and evolve to remain relevant. There’s always some other company out there coming up with a bigger/smaller/faster/better, version of your product. If you’re not constantly evolving, you’re falling behind.
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