Unit Test CLLocationManager with a Mock

In this article, I’ll describe how to mock CLLocationManager, so it can be used in unit tests.

Imagine that you are building a fitness app. To track the user’s running distance, you use CLLocationManager. Instances of CLLocationManager are used to configure, start and stop Core Location services in your app.

CLLocationManager has some characteristics, which make it not very friendly to unit test. For example, calling CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus() for the first time will trigger a request for user authorization to be displayed. A unit test that is dependent on that call will fail.

Such a dependency should be mocked. A mock object simulates the behavior of a real object and can be used in place of the real object in unit tests.

LocationManager Protocol Link to heading

Create a protocol named LocationManager:

protocol LocationManager {
    
}

To the protocol, add the properties and methods from CLLocationManager that you require:

protocol LocationManager {

    // CLLocationManager Properties
    var location: CLLocation? { get }
    var delegate: CLLocationManagerDelegate? { get set }
    var distanceFilter: CLLocationDistance { get set }
    var pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically: Bool { get set }
    var allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates: Bool { get set }

    // CLLocationManager Methods
    func requestWhenInUseAuthorization()
    func startUpdatingLocation()
    func stopUpdatingLocation()
}

CLLocationManager Extension Link to heading

Now create an extension on CLLocationManager that conforms to the LocationManager protocol:

extension CLLocationManager: LocationManager {

}

The extension is empty for now. To conform to the protocol, we don’t need to re-define the properties and methods in the protocol, because they are already defined by CLLocationManager. Later, we’ll add a couple of new methods to this extension.

MockLocationManager Link to heading

Create a new class named MockLocationManager that conforms to the LocationManager protocol. To conform to the protocol we need to re-define the protocol properties and give them values. We also have to re-define the protocol methods.

class MockLocationManager: LocationManager {

    var location: CLLocation? = CLLocation(
        latitude: 37.3317, 
        longitude: -122.0325086
    )

    var delegate: CLLocationManagerDelegate?
    var distanceFilter: CLLocationDistance = 10
    var pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically = false
    var allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates = true

    func requestWhenInUseAuthorization() { }
    func startUpdatingLocation() { }
    func stopUpdatingLocation() { }
}

CLLocationManager Class Methods Link to heading

You may also require some class methods from CLLocationManager. For example CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus() and CLLocationManager.locationServicesEnabled(). Class methods cannot be added to a protocol. So, we’ll add wrappers for those two methods to the protocol:

protocol LocationManager {

    // ...

    // Wrappers for CLLocationManager class functions.
    func getAuthorizationStatus() -> CLAuthorizationStatus
    func isLocationServicesEnabled() -> Bool
}

Update the CLLocationManager extension:

extension CLLocationManager: LocationManager {

    // ...    

    func getAuthorizationStatus() -> CLAuthorizationStatus {
        return CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus()
    }

    func isLocationServicesEnabled() -> Bool {
        return CLLocationManager.locationServicesEnabled()
    }
}

And update the MockLocationManager:

class MockLocationManager: LocationManager {

    // ...

    func getAuthorizationStatus() -> CLAuthorizationStatus {
        return .authorizedWhenInUse
    }

    func isLocationServicesEnabled() -> Bool {
        return true
    }
}

Replace CLLocationManager with LocationManager Link to heading

In general, refactoring is as simple as changing CLLocationManager to LocationManager:

// Old
let locationManager: CLLocationManager

// New
let locationManager: LocationManager

Since the LocationManager protocol replicates the properties and methods of CLLocationManager, much of your code won’t need to be updated.

If you are calling one of CLLocationManager’s class methods, then you will need to update it to call the appropriate wrapper method.

// Old
let authorizationStatus = CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus()

// New
let authorizationStatus = locationManager.getAuthorizationStatus()

Unit Testing Link to heading

In your unit tests, you can use MockLocationManager like so:

let locationManager = MockLocationManager()
let authorizationStatus = locationManager.getAuthorizationStatus()
let isEnabled = locationManager.isLocationServicesEnabled()

Conclusion Link to heading

So how does this all work in practice?

In a real-world app, we want to use CLLocationManager in release/debug builds and MockLocationManager in the unit tests. In a future article, I will describe how to use Dependency Injection to set the appropriate location manager.

Please checkout SwiftRun on GitHub for an example in a complete app.