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Specifying a Call to Configure

One of the first steps in configuring a fake object's behavior is to specify which call to configure. Like most FakeItEasy actions, this is done using a method on the A class: A.CallTo.

Specifying a method call or property get using an Expression

A.CallTo(() => fakeShop.GetTopSellingCandy()).Returns(lollipop);
A.CallTo(() => fakeShop.Address).Returns("123 Fake Street");

The expressions in the above example are not evaluated by FakeItEasy: no call to GetTopSellingCandy or Address is made. The expressions are just used to identify which call to configure, after which A.CallTo returns an object that can be used to specify how the fake should behave when the call is made.

Many types of actions can be specified, including returning various values, throwing exceptions, and more.

Specifying a call to a property setter

Assignment operators can't be used in lambda expressions, so the A.CallTo overloads described above cannot be used to configure calls to property setters. Use A.CallToSet to configure the set behavior of read/write properties:

A.CallToSet(() => fakeShop.Address).To("123 Fake Street").CallsBaseMethod();
A.CallToSet(() => fakeShop.Address).To(() => A<string>.That.StartsWith("123")).DoesNothing();
A.CallToSet(() => fakeShop.Address).DoesNothing(); // ignores the value that's set

Argument constraints can be used to constrain the value that's set into the property, or the indexes that must be supplied when invoking an indexer.

Note that any customization of a read/write property's behavior will break the default behavior of having the getter return the last set value. To avoid this, a custom action may be used to preserve the behavior.

Specifying the invocation of a delegate

To specify the invocation of a delegate, just use A.CallTo, invoking the fake delegate as you normally would:

var deepThought = A.Fake<Func<string, int>>();
A.CallTo(() => deepThought.Invoke("What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?")).Returns(42);

// Note that the .Invoke part is optional:
A.CallTo(() => deepThought("What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?")).Returns(42);

Specifying a call to an explicitly implemented interface member

An explicitly implemented member is not directly visible on the concrete class. Instead, it has to be called (or overridden) via the interface. In addition, since fakes don't automatically intercept explicitly implemented interfaces, you need to explicitly specify that the fake implements the interface:

var fakeShop = A.Fake<CandyShop>(options => options.Implements<ICandyShop>());
A.CallTo(() => ((ICandyShop)fakeShop).GetTopSellingCandy()).Returns(lollipop);

Specifying a call to any method or property

Instead of supplying an expression to identify a specific method, pass the fake to A.CallTo to refer to any method on the fake:

A.CallTo(fakeShop).Throws(new Exception());

// Or limit the calls to void methods
A.CallTo(fakeShop).WithVoidReturnType().Throws("sugar overflow");

// Or limit the calls by return type
A.CallTo(fakeShop).WithReturnType<string>().Returns("sugar tastes good");

// Or limit the calls to methods that return a value. Note that it will throw at runtime
// if the configured return value doesn't match the called method's return type.
A.CallTo(fakeShop).WithNonVoidReturnType().Returns("sugar tastes good");

// Or create a sophisticated test with a predicate that acts on an IFakeObjectCall
A.CallTo(fakeShop).Where(call => call.Arguments.Count > 4)
                  .Throws(new Exception("too many arguments is bad");

A.CallTo(object) can also be used to specify write-only properties and protected members:

A.CallTo(fakeShop).Where(call => call.Method.Name == "ProtectedCalculateSalesForToday")
                  .WithReturnType<double>()
                  .Returns(4741.71);

// Use the conventional .NET prefix "get_" to refer to a property's getter:
A.CallTo(fakeShop).Where(call => call.Method.Name == "get_Address")
                  .WithReturnType<string>()
                  .Returns("123 Fake Street");

// Use the conventional .NET prefix "set_" to refer to a property's setter:
A.CallTo(fakeShop).Where(call => call.Method.Name == "set_Address")
                  .Throws(new Exception("we can't move"));

VB.Net

Special syntax is provided to specify Funcs and Subs in VB, using their respective keywords:

A.CallTo(Sub() fakeShop.SellSomething())
                       .DoesNothing()

A.CallTo(Func() fakeShop.GetTopSellingCandy())
                        .Returns(lollipop)