Google Mock: Mock private variable member that is

Question

My question is the same as Mockito: Mock private field initialization but for Google Mock framework. In a nutshell:

class Target {
private:
    Person person = new Person();

public:
    void testMethod() {
        person.someMethod();
    }
};

How can I mock the person instance while making unit tests for Target class?

Answer 1

A non-answer here: simply don't do it this way.

Your problem is the call to new here. Thing is: that makes testing hard, and it also creates a very tight coupling between the Target and the Person class.

The default alternative is: provide a factory to the Target class that creates Person objects for you.

By going for that solution, you

• avoid to need to mock the call to new
• you end up with a better design!

And unless I am misreading the documentation, mocking calls to new isn't possible with C++ mocking anyway.