Mockito UnfinishedStubbingException

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From what I read on “Issue 53” of mockito (https://code.google.com/p/mockito/issues/detail?id=53) , my code was experiencing a problem due to the validation framework involved in Mockito. Precisely the following code was causing the exception per se.

private ConstantNode getConstantNode(NumericalValue value){
    ConstantNode node = Mockito.mock(ConstantNode.class);
    Mockito.when(node.evaluate()).thenReturn(value);
    Mockito.when(node.toString()).thenReturn(value.toString());
    return node;
}

If you remember from my code, the parameter value is ALSO A MOCK, so that when value.toString() is called on the thenReturn(), I believe (and someone please correct me if I am wrong) that the validation framework is triggered and makes sure that every “when” has had its thenReturn() called/validated/etc. So that if this happenes, the Mockito.when(node.toString()).thenReturn(value.toString() will not be validated because it hasn´t returned from the valute.toString(), which started the whole “validate everything” chain.

How I fixed it:

private ConstantNode getConstantNode(NumericalValue value){
    ConstantNode node = Mockito.mock(ConstantNode.class);
    Mockito.when(node.evaluate()).thenReturn(value);

    String numberToString = value.toString();

    Mockito.when(node.toString()).thenReturn(numberToString);
    return node;
}

This way, it can be validated. I find this a complete code smell because I will literally have to leave a comment that explains why I am using a seemingly useless intermediate variable in the code.

Thanks for the help.

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