1# gMock for Dummies 2 3## What Is gMock? 4 5When you write a prototype or test, often it's not feasible or wise to rely on 6real objects entirely. A **mock object** implements the same interface as a real 7object (so it can be used as one), but lets you specify at run time how it will 8be used and what it should do (which methods will be called? in which order? how 9many times? with what arguments? what will they return? etc). 10 11It is easy to confuse the term *fake objects* with mock objects. Fakes and mocks 12actually mean very different things in the Test-Driven Development (TDD) 13community: 14 15* **Fake** objects have working implementations, but usually take some 16 shortcut (perhaps to make the operations less expensive), which makes them 17 not suitable for production. An in-memory file system would be an example of 18 a fake. 19* **Mocks** are objects pre-programmed with *expectations*, which form a 20 specification of the calls they are expected to receive. 21 22If all this seems too abstract for you, don't worry - the most important thing 23to remember is that a mock allows you to check the *interaction* between itself 24and code that uses it. The difference between fakes and mocks shall become much 25clearer once you start to use mocks. 26 27**gMock** is a library (sometimes we also call it a "framework" to make it sound 28cool) for creating mock classes and using them. It does to C++ what 29jMock/EasyMock does to Java (well, more or less). 30 31When using gMock, 32 331. first, you use some simple macros to describe the interface you want to 34 mock, and they will expand to the implementation of your mock class; 352. next, you create some mock objects and specify its expectations and behavior 36 using an intuitive syntax; 373. then you exercise code that uses the mock objects. gMock will catch any 38 violation to the expectations as soon as it arises. 39 40## Why gMock? 41 42While mock objects help you remove unnecessary dependencies in tests and make 43them fast and reliable, using mocks manually in C++ is *hard*: 44 45* Someone has to implement the mocks. The job is usually tedious and 46 error-prone. No wonder people go great distance to avoid it. 47* The quality of those manually written mocks is a bit, uh, unpredictable. You 48 may see some really polished ones, but you may also see some that were 49 hacked up in a hurry and have all sorts of ad hoc restrictions. 50* The knowledge you gained from using one mock doesn't transfer to the next 51 one. 52 53In contrast, Java and Python programmers have some fine mock frameworks (jMock, 54EasyMock, etc), which automate the creation of mocks. As a result, mocking is a 55proven effective technique and widely adopted practice in those communities. 56Having the right tool absolutely makes the difference. 57 58gMock was built to help C++ programmers. It was inspired by jMock and EasyMock, 59but designed with C++'s specifics in mind. It is your friend if any of the 60following problems is bothering you: 61 62* You are stuck with a sub-optimal design and wish you had done more 63 prototyping before it was too late, but prototyping in C++ is by no means 64 "rapid". 65* Your tests are slow as they depend on too many libraries or use expensive 66 resources (e.g. a database). 67* Your tests are brittle as some resources they use are unreliable (e.g. the 68 network). 69* You want to test how your code handles a failure (e.g. a file checksum 70 error), but it's not easy to cause one. 71* You need to make sure that your module interacts with other modules in the 72 right way, but it's hard to observe the interaction; therefore you resort to 73 observing the side effects at the end of the action, but it's awkward at 74 best. 75* You want to "mock out" your dependencies, except that they don't have mock 76 implementations yet; and, frankly, you aren't thrilled by some of those 77 hand-written mocks. 78 79We encourage you to use gMock as 80 81* a *design* tool, for it lets you experiment with your interface design early 82 and often. More iterations lead to better designs! 83* a *testing* tool to cut your tests' outbound dependencies and probe the 84 interaction between your module and its collaborators. 85 86## Getting Started 87 88gMock is bundled with googletest. 89 90## A Case for Mock Turtles 91 92Let's look at an example. Suppose you are developing a graphics program that 93relies on a [LOGO](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_programming_language)-like 94API for drawing. How would you test that it does the right thing? Well, you can 95run it and compare the screen with a golden screen snapshot, but let's admit it: 96tests like this are expensive to run and fragile (What if you just upgraded to a 97shiny new graphics card that has better anti-aliasing? Suddenly you have to 98update all your golden images.). It would be too painful if all your tests are 99like this. Fortunately, you learned about 100[Dependency Injection](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection) and know the right thing 101to do: instead of having your application talk to the system API directly, wrap 102the API in an interface (say, `Turtle`) and code to that interface: 103 104```cpp 105class Turtle { 106 ... 107 virtual ~Turtle() {} 108 virtual void PenUp() = 0; 109 virtual void PenDown() = 0; 110 virtual void Forward(int distance) = 0; 111 virtual void Turn(int degrees) = 0; 112 virtual void GoTo(int x, int y) = 0; 113 virtual int GetX() const = 0; 114 virtual int GetY() const = 0; 115}; 116``` 117 118(Note that the destructor of `Turtle` **must** be virtual, as is the case for 119**all** classes you intend to inherit from - otherwise the destructor of the 120derived class will not be called when you delete an object through a base 121pointer, and you'll get corrupted program states like memory leaks.) 122 123You can control whether the turtle's movement will leave a trace using `PenUp()` 124and `PenDown()`, and control its movement using `Forward()`, `Turn()`, and 125`GoTo()`. Finally, `GetX()` and `GetY()` tell you the current position of the 126turtle. 127 128Your program will normally use a real implementation of this interface. In 129tests, you can use a mock implementation instead. This allows you to easily 130check what drawing primitives your program is calling, with what arguments, and 131in which order. Tests written this way are much more robust (they won't break 132because your new machine does anti-aliasing differently), easier to read and 133maintain (the intent of a test is expressed in the code, not in some binary 134images), and run *much, much faster*. 135 136## Writing the Mock Class 137 138If you are lucky, the mocks you need to use have already been implemented by 139some nice people. If, however, you find yourself in the position to write a mock 140class, relax - gMock turns this task into a fun game! (Well, almost.) 141 142### How to Define It 143 144Using the `Turtle` interface as example, here are the simple steps you need to 145follow: 146 147* Derive a class `MockTurtle` from `Turtle`. 148* Take a *virtual* function of `Turtle` (while it's possible to 149 [mock non-virtual methods using templates](gmock_cook_book.md#MockingNonVirtualMethods), 150 it's much more involved). 151* In the `public:` section of the child class, write `MOCK_METHOD();` 152* Now comes the fun part: you take the function signature, cut-and-paste it 153 into the macro, and add two commas - one between the return type and the 154 name, another between the name and the argument list. 155* If you're mocking a const method, add a 4th parameter containing `(const)` 156 (the parentheses are required). 157* Since you're overriding a virtual method, we suggest adding the `override` 158 keyword. For const methods the 4th parameter becomes `(const, override)`, 159 for non-const methods just `(override)`. This isn't mandatory. 160* Repeat until all virtual functions you want to mock are done. (It goes 161 without saying that *all* pure virtual methods in your abstract class must 162 be either mocked or overridden.) 163 164After the process, you should have something like: 165 166```cpp 167#include "gmock/gmock.h" // Brings in gMock. 168 169class MockTurtle : public Turtle { 170 public: 171 ... 172 MOCK_METHOD(void, PenUp, (), (override)); 173 MOCK_METHOD(void, PenDown, (), (override)); 174 MOCK_METHOD(void, Forward, (int distance), (override)); 175 MOCK_METHOD(void, Turn, (int degrees), (override)); 176 MOCK_METHOD(void, GoTo, (int x, int y), (override)); 177 MOCK_METHOD(int, GetX, (), (const, override)); 178 MOCK_METHOD(int, GetY, (), (const, override)); 179}; 180``` 181 182You don't need to define these mock methods somewhere else - the `MOCK_METHOD` 183macro will generate the definitions for you. It's that simple! 184 185### Where to Put It 186 187When you define a mock class, you need to decide where to put its definition. 188Some people put it in a `_test.cc`. This is fine when the interface being mocked 189(say, `Foo`) is owned by the same person or team. Otherwise, when the owner of 190`Foo` changes it, your test could break. (You can't really expect `Foo`'s 191maintainer to fix every test that uses `Foo`, can you?) 192 193So, the rule of thumb is: if you need to mock `Foo` and it's owned by others, 194define the mock class in `Foo`'s package (better, in a `testing` sub-package 195such that you can clearly separate production code and testing utilities), put 196it in a `.h` and a `cc_library`. Then everyone can reference them from their 197tests. If `Foo` ever changes, there is only one copy of `MockFoo` to change, and 198only tests that depend on the changed methods need to be fixed. 199 200Another way to do it: you can introduce a thin layer `FooAdaptor` on top of 201`Foo` and code to this new interface. Since you own `FooAdaptor`, you can absorb 202changes in `Foo` much more easily. While this is more work initially, carefully 203choosing the adaptor interface can make your code easier to write and more 204readable (a net win in the long run), as you can choose `FooAdaptor` to fit your 205specific domain much better than `Foo` does. 206 207## Using Mocks in Tests 208 209Once you have a mock class, using it is easy. The typical work flow is: 210 2111. Import the gMock names from the `testing` namespace such that you can use 212 them unqualified (You only have to do it once per file). Remember that 213 namespaces are a good idea. 2142. Create some mock objects. 2153. Specify your expectations on them (How many times will a method be called? 216 With what arguments? What should it do? etc.). 2174. Exercise some code that uses the mocks; optionally, check the result using 218 googletest assertions. If a mock method is called more than expected or with 219 wrong arguments, you'll get an error immediately. 2205. When a mock is destructed, gMock will automatically check whether all 221 expectations on it have been satisfied. 222 223Here's an example: 224 225```cpp 226#include "path/to/mock-turtle.h" 227#include "gmock/gmock.h" 228#include "gtest/gtest.h" 229 230using ::testing::AtLeast; // #1 231 232TEST(PainterTest, CanDrawSomething) { 233 MockTurtle turtle; // #2 234 EXPECT_CALL(turtle, PenDown()) // #3 235 .Times(AtLeast(1)); 236 237 Painter painter(&turtle); // #4 238 239 EXPECT_TRUE(painter.DrawCircle(0, 0, 10)); // #5 240} 241``` 242 243As you might have guessed, this test checks that `PenDown()` is called at least 244once. If the `painter` object didn't call this method, your test will fail with 245a message like this: 246 247```text 248path/to/my_test.cc:119: Failure 249Actual function call count doesn't match this expectation: 250Actually: never called; 251Expected: called at least once. 252Stack trace: 253... 254``` 255 256**Tip 1:** If you run the test from an Emacs buffer, you can hit `<Enter>` on 257the line number to jump right to the failed expectation. 258 259**Tip 2:** If your mock objects are never deleted, the final verification won't 260happen. Therefore it's a good idea to turn on the heap checker in your tests 261when you allocate mocks on the heap. You get that automatically if you use the 262`gtest_main` library already. 263 264**Important note:** gMock requires expectations to be set **before** the mock 265functions are called, otherwise the behavior is **undefined**. In particular, 266you mustn't interleave `EXPECT_CALL()s` and calls to the mock functions. 267 268This means `EXPECT_CALL()` should be read as expecting that a call will occur 269*in the future*, not that a call has occurred. Why does gMock work like that? 270Well, specifying the expectation beforehand allows gMock to report a violation 271as soon as it rises, when the context (stack trace, etc) is still available. 272This makes debugging much easier. 273 274Admittedly, this test is contrived and doesn't do much. You can easily achieve 275the same effect without using gMock. However, as we shall reveal soon, gMock 276allows you to do *so much more* with the mocks. 277 278## Setting Expectations 279 280The key to using a mock object successfully is to set the *right expectations* 281on it. If you set the expectations too strict, your test will fail as the result 282of unrelated changes. If you set them too loose, bugs can slip through. You want 283to do it just right such that your test can catch exactly the kind of bugs you 284intend it to catch. gMock provides the necessary means for you to do it "just 285right." 286 287### General Syntax 288 289In gMock we use the `EXPECT_CALL()` macro to set an expectation on a mock 290method. The general syntax is: 291 292```cpp 293EXPECT_CALL(mock_object, method(matchers)) 294 .Times(cardinality) 295 .WillOnce(action) 296 .WillRepeatedly(action); 297``` 298 299The macro has two arguments: first the mock object, and then the method and its 300arguments. Note that the two are separated by a comma (`,`), not a period (`.`). 301(Why using a comma? The answer is that it was necessary for technical reasons.) 302If the method is not overloaded, the macro can also be called without matchers: 303 304```cpp 305EXPECT_CALL(mock_object, non-overloaded-method) 306 .Times(cardinality) 307 .WillOnce(action) 308 .WillRepeatedly(action); 309``` 310 311This syntax allows the test writer to specify "called with any arguments" 312without explicitly specifying the number or types of arguments. To avoid 313unintended ambiguity, this syntax may only be used for methods that are not 314overloaded. 315 316Either form of the macro can be followed by some optional *clauses* that provide 317more information about the expectation. We'll discuss how each clause works in 318the coming sections. 319 320This syntax is designed to make an expectation read like English. For example, 321you can probably guess that 322 323```cpp 324using ::testing::Return; 325... 326EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetX()) 327 .Times(5) 328 .WillOnce(Return(100)) 329 .WillOnce(Return(150)) 330 .WillRepeatedly(Return(200)); 331``` 332 333says that the `turtle` object's `GetX()` method will be called five times, it 334will return 100 the first time, 150 the second time, and then 200 every time. 335Some people like to call this style of syntax a Domain-Specific Language (DSL). 336 337{: .callout .note} 338**Note:** Why do we use a macro to do this? Well it serves two purposes: first 339it makes expectations easily identifiable (either by `grep` or by a human 340reader), and second it allows gMock to include the source file location of a 341failed expectation in messages, making debugging easier. 342 343### Matchers: What Arguments Do We Expect? 344 345When a mock function takes arguments, we may specify what arguments we are 346expecting, for example: 347 348```cpp 349// Expects the turtle to move forward by 100 units. 350EXPECT_CALL(turtle, Forward(100)); 351``` 352 353Oftentimes you do not want to be too specific. Remember that talk about tests 354being too rigid? Over specification leads to brittle tests and obscures the 355intent of tests. Therefore we encourage you to specify only what's necessary—no 356more, no less. If you aren't interested in the value of an argument, write `_` 357as the argument, which means "anything goes": 358 359```cpp 360using ::testing::_; 361... 362// Expects that the turtle jumps to somewhere on the x=50 line. 363EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GoTo(50, _)); 364``` 365 366`_` is an instance of what we call **matchers**. A matcher is like a predicate 367and can test whether an argument is what we'd expect. You can use a matcher 368inside `EXPECT_CALL()` wherever a function argument is expected. `_` is a 369convenient way of saying "any value". 370 371In the above examples, `100` and `50` are also matchers; implicitly, they are 372the same as `Eq(100)` and `Eq(50)`, which specify that the argument must be 373equal (using `operator==`) to the matcher argument. There are many 374[built-in matchers](reference/matchers.md) for common types (as well as 375[custom matchers](gmock_cook_book.md#NewMatchers)); for example: 376 377```cpp 378using ::testing::Ge; 379... 380// Expects the turtle moves forward by at least 100. 381EXPECT_CALL(turtle, Forward(Ge(100))); 382``` 383 384If you don't care about *any* arguments, rather than specify `_` for each of 385them you may instead omit the parameter list: 386 387```cpp 388// Expects the turtle to move forward. 389EXPECT_CALL(turtle, Forward); 390// Expects the turtle to jump somewhere. 391EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GoTo); 392``` 393 394This works for all non-overloaded methods; if a method is overloaded, you need 395to help gMock resolve which overload is expected by specifying the number of 396arguments and possibly also the 397[types of the arguments](gmock_cook_book.md#SelectOverload). 398 399### Cardinalities: How Many Times Will It Be Called? 400 401The first clause we can specify following an `EXPECT_CALL()` is `Times()`. We 402call its argument a **cardinality** as it tells *how many times* the call should 403occur. It allows us to repeat an expectation many times without actually writing 404it as many times. More importantly, a cardinality can be "fuzzy", just like a 405matcher can be. This allows a user to express the intent of a test exactly. 406 407An interesting special case is when we say `Times(0)`. You may have guessed - it 408means that the function shouldn't be called with the given arguments at all, and 409gMock will report a googletest failure whenever the function is (wrongfully) 410called. 411 412We've seen `AtLeast(n)` as an example of fuzzy cardinalities earlier. For the 413list of built-in cardinalities you can use, see 414[here](gmock_cheat_sheet.md#CardinalityList). 415 416The `Times()` clause can be omitted. **If you omit `Times()`, gMock will infer 417the cardinality for you.** The rules are easy to remember: 418 419* If **neither** `WillOnce()` **nor** `WillRepeatedly()` is in the 420 `EXPECT_CALL()`, the inferred cardinality is `Times(1)`. 421* If there are *n* `WillOnce()`'s but **no** `WillRepeatedly()`, where *n* >= 422 1, the cardinality is `Times(n)`. 423* If there are *n* `WillOnce()`'s and **one** `WillRepeatedly()`, where *n* >= 424 0, the cardinality is `Times(AtLeast(n))`. 425 426**Quick quiz:** what do you think will happen if a function is expected to be 427called twice but actually called four times? 428 429### Actions: What Should It Do? 430 431Remember that a mock object doesn't really have a working implementation? We as 432users have to tell it what to do when a method is invoked. This is easy in 433gMock. 434 435First, if the return type of a mock function is a built-in type or a pointer, 436the function has a **default action** (a `void` function will just return, a 437`bool` function will return `false`, and other functions will return 0). In 438addition, in C++ 11 and above, a mock function whose return type is 439default-constructible (i.e. has a default constructor) has a default action of 440returning a default-constructed value. If you don't say anything, this behavior 441will be used. 442 443Second, if a mock function doesn't have a default action, or the default action 444doesn't suit you, you can specify the action to be taken each time the 445expectation matches using a series of `WillOnce()` clauses followed by an 446optional `WillRepeatedly()`. For example, 447 448```cpp 449using ::testing::Return; 450... 451EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetX()) 452 .WillOnce(Return(100)) 453 .WillOnce(Return(200)) 454 .WillOnce(Return(300)); 455``` 456 457says that `turtle.GetX()` will be called *exactly three times* (gMock inferred 458this from how many `WillOnce()` clauses we've written, since we didn't 459explicitly write `Times()`), and will return 100, 200, and 300 respectively. 460 461```cpp 462using ::testing::Return; 463... 464EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetY()) 465 .WillOnce(Return(100)) 466 .WillOnce(Return(200)) 467 .WillRepeatedly(Return(300)); 468``` 469 470says that `turtle.GetY()` will be called *at least twice* (gMock knows this as 471we've written two `WillOnce()` clauses and a `WillRepeatedly()` while having no 472explicit `Times()`), will return 100 and 200 respectively the first two times, 473and 300 from the third time on. 474 475Of course, if you explicitly write a `Times()`, gMock will not try to infer the 476cardinality itself. What if the number you specified is larger than there are 477`WillOnce()` clauses? Well, after all `WillOnce()`s are used up, gMock will do 478the *default* action for the function every time (unless, of course, you have a 479`WillRepeatedly()`.). 480 481What can we do inside `WillOnce()` besides `Return()`? You can return a 482reference using `ReturnRef(*variable*)`, or invoke a pre-defined function, among 483[others](gmock_cook_book.md#using-actions). 484 485**Important note:** The `EXPECT_CALL()` statement evaluates the action clause 486only once, even though the action may be performed many times. Therefore you 487must be careful about side effects. The following may not do what you want: 488 489```cpp 490using ::testing::Return; 491... 492int n = 100; 493EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetX()) 494 .Times(4) 495 .WillRepeatedly(Return(n++)); 496``` 497 498Instead of returning 100, 101, 102, ..., consecutively, this mock function will 499always return 100 as `n++` is only evaluated once. Similarly, `Return(new Foo)` 500will create a new `Foo` object when the `EXPECT_CALL()` is executed, and will 501return the same pointer every time. If you want the side effect to happen every 502time, you need to define a custom action, which we'll teach in the 503[cook book](gmock_cook_book.md). 504 505Time for another quiz! What do you think the following means? 506 507```cpp 508using ::testing::Return; 509... 510EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetY()) 511 .Times(4) 512 .WillOnce(Return(100)); 513``` 514 515Obviously `turtle.GetY()` is expected to be called four times. But if you think 516it will return 100 every time, think twice! Remember that one `WillOnce()` 517clause will be consumed each time the function is invoked and the default action 518will be taken afterwards. So the right answer is that `turtle.GetY()` will 519return 100 the first time, but **return 0 from the second time on**, as 520returning 0 is the default action for `int` functions. 521 522### Using Multiple Expectations {#MultiExpectations} 523 524So far we've only shown examples where you have a single expectation. More 525realistically, you'll specify expectations on multiple mock methods which may be 526from multiple mock objects. 527 528By default, when a mock method is invoked, gMock will search the expectations in 529the **reverse order** they are defined, and stop when an active expectation that 530matches the arguments is found (you can think of it as "newer rules override 531older ones."). If the matching expectation cannot take any more calls, you will 532get an upper-bound-violated failure. Here's an example: 533 534```cpp 535using ::testing::_; 536... 537EXPECT_CALL(turtle, Forward(_)); // #1 538EXPECT_CALL(turtle, Forward(10)) // #2 539 .Times(2); 540``` 541 542If `Forward(10)` is called three times in a row, the third time it will be an 543error, as the last matching expectation (#2) has been saturated. If, however, 544the third `Forward(10)` call is replaced by `Forward(20)`, then it would be OK, 545as now #1 will be the matching expectation. 546 547{: .callout .note} 548**Note:** Why does gMock search for a match in the *reverse* order of the 549expectations? The reason is that this allows a user to set up the default 550expectations in a mock object's constructor or the test fixture's set-up phase 551and then customize the mock by writing more specific expectations in the test 552body. So, if you have two expectations on the same method, you want to put the 553one with more specific matchers **after** the other, or the more specific rule 554would be shadowed by the more general one that comes after it. 555 556{: .callout .tip} 557**Tip:** It is very common to start with a catch-all expectation for a method 558and `Times(AnyNumber())` (omitting arguments, or with `_` for all arguments, if 559overloaded). This makes any calls to the method expected. This is not necessary 560for methods that are not mentioned at all (these are "uninteresting"), but is 561useful for methods that have some expectations, but for which other calls are 562ok. See 563[Understanding Uninteresting vs Unexpected Calls](gmock_cook_book.md#uninteresting-vs-unexpected). 564 565### Ordered vs Unordered Calls {#OrderedCalls} 566 567By default, an expectation can match a call even though an earlier expectation 568hasn't been satisfied. In other words, the calls don't have to occur in the 569order the expectations are specified. 570 571Sometimes, you may want all the expected calls to occur in a strict order. To 572say this in gMock is easy: 573 574```cpp 575using ::testing::InSequence; 576... 577TEST(FooTest, DrawsLineSegment) { 578 ... 579 { 580 InSequence seq; 581 582 EXPECT_CALL(turtle, PenDown()); 583 EXPECT_CALL(turtle, Forward(100)); 584 EXPECT_CALL(turtle, PenUp()); 585 } 586 Foo(); 587} 588``` 589 590By creating an object of type `InSequence`, all expectations in its scope are 591put into a *sequence* and have to occur *sequentially*. Since we are just 592relying on the constructor and destructor of this object to do the actual work, 593its name is really irrelevant. 594 595In this example, we test that `Foo()` calls the three expected functions in the 596order as written. If a call is made out-of-order, it will be an error. 597 598(What if you care about the relative order of some of the calls, but not all of 599them? Can you specify an arbitrary partial order? The answer is ... yes! The 600details can be found [here](gmock_cook_book.md#OrderedCalls).) 601 602### All Expectations Are Sticky (Unless Said Otherwise) {#StickyExpectations} 603 604Now let's do a quick quiz to see how well you can use this mock stuff already. 605How would you test that the turtle is asked to go to the origin *exactly twice* 606(you want to ignore any other instructions it receives)? 607 608After you've come up with your answer, take a look at ours and compare notes 609(solve it yourself first - don't cheat!): 610 611```cpp 612using ::testing::_; 613using ::testing::AnyNumber; 614... 615EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GoTo(_, _)) // #1 616 .Times(AnyNumber()); 617EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GoTo(0, 0)) // #2 618 .Times(2); 619``` 620 621Suppose `turtle.GoTo(0, 0)` is called three times. In the third time, gMock will 622see that the arguments match expectation #2 (remember that we always pick the 623last matching expectation). Now, since we said that there should be only two 624such calls, gMock will report an error immediately. This is basically what we've 625told you in the [Using Multiple Expectations](#MultiExpectations) section above. 626 627This example shows that **expectations in gMock are "sticky" by default**, in 628the sense that they remain active even after we have reached their invocation 629upper bounds. This is an important rule to remember, as it affects the meaning 630of the spec, and is **different** to how it's done in many other mocking 631frameworks (Why'd we do that? Because we think our rule makes the common cases 632easier to express and understand.). 633 634Simple? Let's see if you've really understood it: what does the following code 635say? 636 637```cpp 638using ::testing::Return; 639... 640for (int i = n; i > 0; i--) { 641 EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetX()) 642 .WillOnce(Return(10*i)); 643} 644``` 645 646If you think it says that `turtle.GetX()` will be called `n` times and will 647return 10, 20, 30, ..., consecutively, think twice! The problem is that, as we 648said, expectations are sticky. So, the second time `turtle.GetX()` is called, 649the last (latest) `EXPECT_CALL()` statement will match, and will immediately 650lead to an "upper bound violated" error - this piece of code is not very useful! 651 652One correct way of saying that `turtle.GetX()` will return 10, 20, 30, ..., is 653to explicitly say that the expectations are *not* sticky. In other words, they 654should *retire* as soon as they are saturated: 655 656```cpp 657using ::testing::Return; 658... 659for (int i = n; i > 0; i--) { 660 EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetX()) 661 .WillOnce(Return(10*i)) 662 .RetiresOnSaturation(); 663} 664``` 665 666And, there's a better way to do it: in this case, we expect the calls to occur 667in a specific order, and we line up the actions to match the order. Since the 668order is important here, we should make it explicit using a sequence: 669 670```cpp 671using ::testing::InSequence; 672using ::testing::Return; 673... 674{ 675 InSequence s; 676 677 for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) { 678 EXPECT_CALL(turtle, GetX()) 679 .WillOnce(Return(10*i)) 680 .RetiresOnSaturation(); 681 } 682} 683``` 684 685By the way, the other situation where an expectation may *not* be sticky is when 686it's in a sequence - as soon as another expectation that comes after it in the 687sequence has been used, it automatically retires (and will never be used to 688match any call). 689 690### Uninteresting Calls 691 692A mock object may have many methods, and not all of them are that interesting. 693For example, in some tests we may not care about how many times `GetX()` and 694`GetY()` get called. 695 696In gMock, if you are not interested in a method, just don't say anything about 697it. If a call to this method occurs, you'll see a warning in the test output, 698but it won't be a failure. This is called "naggy" behavior; to change, see 699[The Nice, the Strict, and the Naggy](gmock_cook_book.md#NiceStrictNaggy). 700