Question

Consider this code:

public class DummyClass {
    public List<? extends Number> dummyMethod() {
        return new ArrayList<Integer>();
    }
}

public class DummyClassTest {
    public void testMockitoWithGenerics() {
        DummyClass dummyClass = Mockito.mock(DummyClass.class);
        List<? extends Number> someList = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        Mockito.when(dummyClass.dummyMethod()).thenReturn(someList); //Compiler complains about this
    }
}

The compiler complains about the line that’s trying to stub the behavior for dummyMethod(). Any pointers on how one goes about stubbing methods that return a type with bounded wild-cards?

Answer 1

You can also use the non-type safe method doReturn for this purpose,

@Test
public void testMockitoWithGenerics()
{
    DummyClass dummyClass = Mockito.mock(DummyClass.class);
    List<? extends Number> someList = new ArrayList<Integer>();

    Mockito.doReturn(someList).when(dummyClass).dummyMethod();

    Assert.assertEquals(someList, dummyClass.dummyMethod());
}

as discussed on Mockito’s google group.

While this is simpler than thenAnswer, again note that it is not type safe. If you’re concerned about type safety, millhouse’s answer is correct.

Additional Details

To be clear, here’s the observed compiler error,

The method thenReturn(List<capture#1-of ? extends Number>) in the type OngoingStubbing<List<capture#1-of ? extends Number>> is not applicable for the arguments (List<capture#2-of ? extends Number>)

I believe the compiler has assigned the first wildcard type during the when call and then cannot confirm that the second wildcard type in the thenReturn call is the same.

It looks like thenAnswer doesn’t run into this issue because it accepts a wildcard type while thenReturn takes a non-wildcard type, which must be captured. From Mockito’s OngoingStubbing,

OngoingStubbing<T> thenAnswer(Answer<?> answer);
OngoingStubbing<T> thenReturn(T value);