How to configure AutoMoq to set up all properties by Mark Seemann

This post explains how to configure AutoFixture.AutoMoq to setup all interface properties to behave like normal properties.

From time to time, people want the AutoFixture.AutoMoq Auto-Mocking Container to set up all mock instances to have 'normal' property behavior.

By default, Moq doesn't implement any members of an interface. You have to explicitly configure the desired behavior using the Setup methods. This is also true for properties (which are really only special methods).

Consider, as an example, this interface:

public interface IHasProperties
{
    string Text { get; set; }
 
    int Number { get; set; }
}

Personally, I think such an interface design is a design smell, but that's not the issue here.

Moq behavior #

The issue is that by default, Moq behaves like this:

[Fact]
public void DefaultMoqDoesNotSetupProperties()
{
    var h = new Mock<IHasProperties>().Object;
 
    h.Text = "foo";
    h.Number = 42;
 
    Assert.Equal(default(string), h.Text);
    Assert.Equal(default(int), h.Number);
}

As you can infer from this test, the IHasProperties instance completely ignores any attempt at assigning values to the properties. When you attempt to read the property values, Moq returns the default value for the property type - often null.

You can configure each property individually, but you can also configure the Mock instance to implement all properties as thought they are normal, well-behaved properties:

[Fact]
public void ManualSetupProperties()
{
    var td = new Mock<IHasProperties>();
    td.SetupAllProperties();
    var h = td.Object;
 
    h.Text = "foo";
    h.Number = 42;
 
    Assert.Equal("foo", h.Text);
    Assert.Equal(42, h.Number);
}

Notice the use of the SetupAllProperties method. So far, this is all about Moq, and really has nothing to do with AutoFixture.

AutoFixture.AutoMoq and interface property behavior #

Adhering to the Principle of least surprise, the AutoFixture.AutoMoq glue library doesn't change this behavior:

[Fact]
public void DefaultAutoMoqDoesNotSetupProperties()
{
    var fixture = new Fixture().Customize(new AutoMoqCustomization());
    var h = fixture.Create<IHasProperties>();
 
    h.Text = "foo";
    h.Number = 42;
 
    Assert.Equal(default(string), h.Text);
    Assert.Equal(default(int), h.Number);
}

However, it's easy to change the behavior in an ad hoc manner:

[Fact]
public void ManualSetupPropertiesOnAutoMoq()
{
    var fixture = new Fixture().Customize(new AutoMoqCustomization());
    var h = fixture.Create<IHasProperties>();
    Mock.Get(h).SetupAllProperties();
 
    h.Text = "foo";
    h.Number = 42;
 
    Assert.Equal("foo", h.Text);
    Assert.Equal(42, h.Number);
}

As you can see, you can use the static Mock.Get method to get the underlying Mock<IHasProperties> and explicitly invoke the SetupAllProperties method.

If you prefer AutoFixture to automate this for you, it's fairly easy to do. First, you'll need to write an ISpecimenBuilder that hooks into the Mock creation process and invokes the SetupAllProperties method:

public class PropertiesPostprocessor : ISpecimenBuilder
{
    private readonly ISpecimenBuilder builder;
 
    public PropertiesPostprocessor(ISpecimenBuilder builder)
    {
        this.builder = builder;
    }
 
    public object Create(object request, ISpecimenContext context)
    {
        dynamic s = this.builder.Create(request, context);
        if (s is NoSpecimen)
            return s;
 
        s.SetupAllProperties();
        return s;
    }
}

This class must decorate another ISpecimenBuilder, whose responsibility it is to create Mock<T> instances. The example code shown here is only a proof of concept, so it only does the bare minimum of defensive coding, assuming that if the object returned from the decorated ISpecimenBuilder is not a NoSpecimen, then it must be a Mock instance. In that case, it invokes SetupAllProperties on it.

You'll need to compose this PropertiesPostprocessor class together with all the other building blocks of the AutoMoq glue library. Currently, there's no specific hook into AutoMoqCustomization that enables you to do that, but if you decompose AutoMoqCustomization, you'll realize how easy it is to replicate the behavior while adding your new PropertiesPostprocessor class:

public class AutoMoqPropertiesCustomization : ICustomization
{
    public void Customize(IFixture fixture)
    {
        fixture.Customizations.Add(
            new PropertiesPostprocessor(
                new MockPostprocessor(
                    new MethodInvoker(
                        new MockConstructorQuery()))));
        fixture.ResidueCollectors.Add(new MockRelay());
    }
}

The only difference from the AutoMoqCustomization implementation is the addition of PropertiesPostprocessor decorating MockPostprocessor.

This test now passes:

[Fact]
public void AutoSetupProperties()
{
    var fixture = new Fixture().Customize(
        new AutoMoqPropertiesCustomization());
    var h = fixture.Create<IHasProperties>();
 
    h.Text = "foo";
    h.Number = 42;
 
    Assert.Equal("foo", h.Text);
    Assert.Equal(42, h.Number);
}

As you can see, the Mock object created by AutoFixture now implements properties as normal, well-behaved properties.

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