Question

I have methods like this:

public static bool ChangeCaseEstimatedHours(int caseID, decimal? time)
   {
       Case c = Cases.Get(caseID);

       if (c != null)
       {
           c.EstimatedHours = time;
           return Cases.Update(c);
       }

       return false;
   }

   public static bool RemoveCase(int caseID)
   {
       return Cases.Remove(caseID);
   }

which internally uses LINQ to do the queries.

I am wondering how I should go about testing these. They do not have a state so they are static. They also modify the database.

Thus, I would have to create a case, then remove it in the same test, but a unit test should only be doing 1 thing. What is usually done in these situations?

How do I test database queries, updates and deletes?

Thanks

Answer 1

There is a difference between “Knowing the path and walking the path”. What you want to test would class as an integration test not a unit test. A unit test is something that is carried out in isolation without any external dependencies and therefore makes the test runnable even if the machine you are running it on does not have a physical database instance present on it. See more differences here.

That’s why patterns like Repository are really popular when it comes to doing persistence based applications as they promote unit test-ability of the data layer via Mocking. See a sample here.

So, you have 2 options (the blue pill Or the red pill):

Blue Pill: Buy a tool like TypeMock Isolator essential or JustMock and you’ll be able to mock anything in your code “and the story ends”.

Red Pill: Refactor existing design of the data layer to one of the interface based patterns and use free Mocking frameworks like Moq or RhinoMocks and “see how deep the rabbit hole goes”

All the best.