phpunit - mockbuilder - set mock object internal property

Question

Is it possible to create a mock object with disabled constructor and manually setted protected properties?

Here is an idiotic example:

class A {
             


        

Answer 1

It would be amazing if every codebase used DI and IoC, and never did stuff like this:

public function __construct(BlahClass $blah)
{
    $this->protectedProperty = new FooClass($blah);
}

You can use a mock BlahClass in the constructor, sure, but then the constructor sets a protected property to something you CAN'T mock.

So you're probably thinking "Well refactor the constructor to take a FooClass instead of a BlahClass, then you don't have to instantiate the FooClass in the constructor, and you can put in a mock instead!" Well, you'd be right, if that didn't mean you would have to change every usage of the class in the entire codebase to give it a FooClass instead of a BlahClass.

Not every codebase is perfect, and sometimes you just need to get stuff done. And that means, yes, sometimes you need to break the "only test public APIs" rule.