Sinon.js, only stub a method once?

Question

I am wondering is there is a possibility in sinon.js to stub a method only once?

For example:

sinon.stub(module, 'randomFunction', 'returnValue/function');

In my test this module.randomFunction will be called multiple times in the same test, but I only want the stub to trigger once and then restore it so the function goes back to its normal behaviour.

Simulation of the real code:

myModule.putItem(item, function (err, data) {
  if (err) {
    // do stuff
    return callback();
  } else {
    // do other stuff
    return callback(null, data);
  }
});

The first time I want to trigger the error, the other times I just want it to continue the real flow.

Is this possible in sinon?

Kind regards,

Jimmy

Edit: I posted a solution I found for my problem based on the answer of @Grimurd

Answer 1

Yes it is possible. Assuming you are using mocha as your testing framework.

describe('some tests', function() {    
    afterEach(function() {
        sinon.restore();
    })

    it('is a test with a stub', function() {
        // This gets restored after each test.
        sinon.stub(module, 'randomFunction', 'returnValue/function');
    })
})

Check out the sinon sandbox api for more info.

UPDATE

To answer your actual problem,

describe('some tests', function() {
    afterEach(function() {
        sinon.restore();
    })

    it('is a test with a stub', function() {
        // This gets restored after each test.
        sinon.stub(module, 'randomFunction')
            .onFirstCall().returns('foo')
            .onSecondCall().returns('bar')
            .onThirdCall().returns('foobar');
    })
})

Documented on http://sinonjs.org/docs/ search for stub.onCall(n)

Update 2: Since v5 sinon now creates a sandbox by default so it's no longer necessary to explicitly create a sandbox. See the migration guide from v4 to v5 for more information

Answer 2

Solution:

sandbox.stub(module, 'putItem')
  .onFirstCall().yields('ERROR')
  .onSecondCall().yields(null, item)

Based on the answer of @grimurd I managed to get it working with 'yields'. Yields triggers the first callback function it finds in the original method signature.

So on the first call I basically say callback('error') and on the second call I say callback(null, item).

Somehow I do wonder if callback would have been a better method name than yields ;)

Thanks for the answers!