For me to use Moq, do all my classes have to implement an interface?

Question

I want to use Moq, but I am using Nhibernate and I didn't create interfaces for all my Model classes (POCO classes).

Do I have to create an interface for each class for me to be able to moq my POCO classes?

Answer 1

You can mock virtual methods, but its best if you use an interface.

Reason I say this is as follows:

var mockObject = new Mock<IMyObject>();

If you use a virtual method it becomes:

var mockObject = new Mock<MyObject>(params...);

You are forced to include the parameters for concrete objects, but you obviously don't need to for interfaces. All tests using concrete classes will require updating if you decide to change the class' constructor at a later date. I've been burned by this in a past so try not to use virtual methods for testing anymore.

I should add that by attempting to mock concrete types you are defeating the purpose of mocking frameworks. You should be mocking roles, not types. Therefore working to an abstraction, in this case an interface is a great thing to do.

Another reason is how interfaces work, interfaces state a contract but not behavior. They should be used when you have multiple implementations, and I class testing as a behavior hence the valid reason to introduce a new interface.