One often encountered feature of legacy is a tight coupling to an external framework or SDK. It may be in the form of a “ ” or “ApiClient” singleton, used throughout the application in the most critical areas. Or it may be more subtle, like making use of a “DateUtil” class provided by the framework. code Manager You may ask “What’s your problem? Why should I reinvent the wheel?”. No, you shouldn’t. Hear me out. Using libraries, SDKs, frameworks etc. is a good thing, especially when they are mature and battle-tested. . The problem is when they are used without thinking how you would replace them. There is no point in rolling your own HTTP client or date util Because sometimes libraries are deprecated. Or new versions contain breaking changes. Or a newer and fancier library is released, and you are stuck with code written when the dinosaurs were still a thing. Or you just want to write some unit tests. And when you have legacy code peppered with framework method calls, that’s when the fun starts. Singletons Oh, yes, everybody loves to . It’s even worse when the code uses singletons from an external library. hate on singletons public void loadImage(){Picasso.with(context).load(url).into(view);} This is a beautiful line of code. Any Android developer will tell you that. The day Jake Wharton published should be year zero in the Android community. Picasso But try to write a unit test for that method. Or even better, imagine how real code looks, for example a well aged list adapter, bearing the scars of countless bug fixes and cleanups. You could modify the code to supply a reference to Picasso through dependency injection, and mock it in the unit tests. It will work pretty well. But imagine you have to switch to another library, like ( ). You would need to change your code to something like this: Volley why would anyone use anything else than Picasso? Anyway… public void loadImage(){imageLoader.get(url, ImageLoader.getImageListener(view,R.drawable.default, R.drawable.error));} And of course, your tests will have to be rewritten as well. What if you used a thin wrapper around Picasso, like this: public interface GenericImageLoader {void loadImage(String url, ImageView imageView);} public class PicassoImageLoader implements GenericImageLoader {public void loadImage(url, view){Picasso.with(context).load(url).into(view);}} /// usage in the code:private GenericImageLoader loader = new PicassoImageLoader();public void initializeStuff(){this.loader.loadImage("http://...", profileImageView);} You would have to accept a compromise and not unit test the wrapper. If you use it only as a wrapper, the method calls will map directly to library methods. As long as you don’t do anything wild in there, you should be safe. Now, unit testing the method is more straightforward. And if you had to switch to Volley, well, you would just create a different implementation of the interface: initializeStuff() GenericImageLoader public class VolleyImageLoader implements GenericImageLoader {public void loadImage(url, view){imageLoader.get(url, ImageLoader.getImageListener(view,R.drawable.default, R.drawable.error));}} // usage in the code:private GenericImageLoader loader = new VolleyImageLoader();public void initializeStuff(){this.loader.loadImage("http://...", profileImageView);} The method remains unchanged, but there’s a ( behind the interface. Yay polymorphism! initializeStuff() whole new world ahem!) GenericImageLoader Static methods Now, imagine you have a utility class with static methods in a method you want to test. Normally, if the static methods don’t do anything magic, they are not a problem. But then you have and API designed by someone that loves static methods. Like this way of in Android: reeealy requesting location updates public void startLocationUpdates() {LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(mGoogleApiClient, mLocationRequest, this);} Good luck testing that. You cannot even mock it. Your only chance is to create a wrapper around the API: public interface LocationApi {void requestLocationUpdates(GoogleApiClient client,LocationRequest request, LocationListener listener);} public class FusedLocationApiWrapper implements LocationApi { public void requestLocationUpdates(GoogleApiClient client,LocationRequest request, LocationListener listener) {LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(client, request, listener);}} // usage in codeprivate LocationApi wrapper = new FusedLocationApiWrapper(); public void startLocationUpdates() {wrapper.requestLocationUpdates(mGoogleApiClient, mLocationRequest, this);} Again, as long as you’re only wrapping the static methods, you can live without tests. However, you will probably realize that the interface is still tightly coupled to the It uses the class, needs a and a all part of Google’s Play Services. LocationApi FusedLocationApi. LocationRequest GoogleApiClient LocationListener, To create a truly abstract layer over the location API, you have to define your own way of supplying the information contained in the . LocationRequest public interface LocationApi {void requestQuickLocation();void requestPreciseLocation();} public class FusedLocationApiWrapper implements LocationApi {private OnLocationListener listener; public FusedLocationApiWrapper(GoogleApiClient client){this.client = client;} public void requestQuickLocation(GoogleApiClient client,LocationRequest request, LocationListener listener) {LocationRequest request = LocationRequest.create();request.setMaxWaitTime(ONE_SECOND);request.setPriority( );LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(client, request, listener);} PRIORITY_BALANCED_POWER_ACCURACY public void requestPreciseLocation(GoogleApiClient client,LocationRequest request, LocationListener listener) {LocationRequest request = LocationRequest.create();request.setMaxWaitTime(FIVE_SECONDS);request.setPriority( );LocationServices.FusedLocationApi.requestLocationUpdates(client, request, listener);}} PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY // usage in codeprivate GoogleApiClient client;private LocationApi wrapper = new FusedLocationApiWrapper(client); public void startLocationUpdates() {wrapper.requestQuickLocation();} The client code looks a lot cleaner, is easier to unit test and it’s easier to swap in another location provider. And you get to write a lot of extra code! What’s not to like? ( ). Don’t answer that Final classes and methods Libraries and frameworks sometimes mark their public classes and methods as final. This makes a lot of sense from a security point of view. As an API creator, you don’t want developers to have too much fun with the internals of your API. So you try to keep your public facing interface as airtight as possible: final methods, singletons to enforce a single instance etc. But you cannot mock them. See the above. Conclusion is important. is important. is important. is important. Encapsulation Separation of concerns Low coupling Dependency inversion But it’s more important to know they are important. You don’t always have the time to abstract away everything. And neither you should. Just remember that external libraries are powerful beasts. It’s best to keep them at arm’s length. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Harmony

Facebook

Testing Legacy Code: Frameworks

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

Where I rant against code comments

Java bits: 0xFF and 0xFFL

10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Google Keep

10 Things to check on Android code reviews

10 Mistakes In Mobile App Development That Make You Look Dumb

10 good rules for bad App

Where I rant against code comments

Java bits: 0xFF and 0xFFL

10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Google Keep

10 Things to check on Android code reviews

10 Mistakes In Mobile App Development That Make You Look Dumb

10 good rules for bad App

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Minty

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps