Call a private method in a test.

[jwize]

Can I (or does it make sense) call a private method from a unit test? 

The setup code is getting really big to test a little piece of code within a private method. Instead it seems like it might be a good idea to just mock the parameters and then call the private method as follows (incomplete since I don't know if this works). I want to call a piece of the private implementation with defined parameters and then test for results. This would be a replacement for having to walk through the code in the debugger over and over again. 

// Arrange mock data.

var service = new ScheduledTaskService();

var start = new DateTime(2014, 08, 15);

var due = start.Next(DayOfWeek.Thursday);

var assignee = new SimpleEmployeeView {Id = 1, LastNameFirstName = "Test User", IsActive = true};

var taskModel = new ScheduledTaskModel()

{

    DaysBeforeDue = 5,

    Start = start,

    End = due,

    Title = "Test Subject",

    Description = "Test Description",

    Id = 999

};

 
// This is the method I would like to call somehow if possible. 

Mock.NonPublic.Arrange(service, "CreateTaskForAssignee", taskModel, assignee);

 
// Ignore db changes. 

var database = Mock.Create<Database>();

Mock.Arrange(database, d => d.SaveChanges()).DoNothing();

// TODO test for changes in the result.

[jwize]

Figured it out

// Act
var instance = Mock.NonPublic.MakePrivateAccessor(service);
instance.CallMethod("CreateTaskForAssignee", taskModel, assignee);

[Todor]

Hello Jaime,

I confirm that this is the right API for mocking private members. If you need more assistance, do not hesitate to contact us!

Regards,
Todor
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