Verifying private constructor is not invoked/called using JMockit

Question

I have the following class.

public Task {

    public static Task getInstance(String taskName) {
        return new Task(taskName);
    }

    private Task(String taskName) {
        this.taskName = taskName;
    }
}

I am testing the Task.getInstance() using JMockit. While I test, I need to verify that the call to the private Task() was actually made. I have used the Verifications block earlier to verify the method execution on the test fixture object, but here I don't have that.

Answer 1

This can be done, although it very likely shouldn't be on any properly written test:

@Test
public void badTestWhichVerifiesPrivateConstructorIsCalled()
{
    new Expectations(Task.class) {{ // partially mocks `Task`
        // Records an expectation on a private constructor:
        newInstance(Task.class, "name");
    }};

    Task task = Task.getInstance("name");

    assertNotNull(task);
}

@Test
public void goodTestWhichVerifiesTheNameOfANewTask()
{
    String taskName = "name";

    Task task = Task.getInstance(taskName);

    assertNotNull(task);
    assertEquals(taskName, task.getName());
}

@Test
public void goodTestWhichVerifiesANewTaskIsCreatedEverytime()
{
    Task task1 = Task.getInstance("name1");
    Task task2 = Task.getInstance("name2");

    assertNotNull(task1);
    assertNotNull(task2);
    assertNotSame(task1, task2);
}

Again, both partial mocking and the mocking of private methods/constructors should be avoided in general.