Mocking file reading/writing via JUnit

Question

How do you mock file reading/writing via JUnit?

Here is my scenario

MyHandler.java

public abstract class MyHandler {

    private String path = //..path/to/file/here

    public synchronized void writeToFile(String infoText) {
        // Some processing
        // Writing to File Here
        File file = FileUtils.getFile(filepath);
        file.createNewFile();
        // file can't be written, throw FileWriteException
        if (file.canWrite()) {
            FileUtils.writeByteArrayToFile(file, infoText.getBytes(Charsets.UTF_8));
        } else {
            throw new FileWriteException();
        }
    }

    public String readFromFile() {
        // Reading from File here
        String infoText = "";
        File file = new File(path);
        // file can't be read, throw FileReadException
        if (file.canRead()) {
            infoText = FileUtils.readFileToString(file, Charsets.UTF_8);        
        } else {
            throw FileReadException();
        }

        return infoText
    }

}

MyHandlerTest.java

@RunWith(PowerMockRunner.class)
@PrepareForTest({
    MyHandler.class
})
public class MyHandlerTest {

    private static MyHandler handler = null;
    // Some Initialization for JUnit (i.e @Before, @BeforeClass, @After, etc)

    @Test(expected = FileWriteException.class)
    public void writeFileTest() throws Exception {

       handler.writeToFile("Test Write!");

    }

    @Test(expected = FileReadException.class)
    public void readFileTest() throws Exception {

       handler.readFromFile();

    }
}

Given above source, Scenario when file is not writable (write permission not allowed) is OK, However, when i try to do scenario wherein file is not readable (read permission not allowed). It always read the file, i have already tried to modify the file permission on the test code via below

File f = new File("..path/to/file/here");
f.setReadable(false);

However, I did some reading, setReadable() always returns false (failed) when run on Windows machine.

Is there a way to modify the file permission of the target file programmatically in relation to JUnit?

Note

Target source code to test cannot be modified, meaning Myhandler.class is a legacy code which is not to be modified.

Answer 1

Instead of relying on the operating system file permissions, use PowerMock to mock FileUtils.getFile(...) and make it return an instance of File (e.g. anonymous sub class) that returns a specific value for canWrite()/canRead().

Mocking static methods with Mockito