Assigning out/ref parameters in Moq

Moq version 4.8 (or later) has much improved support for by-ref parameters:

public interface IGobbler
{
    bool Gobble(ref int amount);
}

delegate void GobbleCallback(ref int amount);     // needed for Callback
delegate bool GobbleReturns(ref int amount);      // needed for Returns

var mock = new Mock<IGobbler>();
mock.Setup(m => m.Gobble(ref It.Ref<int>.IsAny))  // match any value passed by-ref
    .Callback(new GobbleCallback((ref int amount) =>
     {
         if (amount > 0)
         {
             Console.WriteLine("Gobbling...");
             amount -= 1;
         }
     }))
    .Returns(new GobbleReturns((ref int amount) => amount > 0));

int a = 5;
bool gobbleSomeMore = true;
while (gobbleSomeMore)
{
    gobbleSomeMore = mock.Object.Gobble(ref a);
}

The same pattern works for out parameters.

It.Ref<T>.IsAny also works for C# 7 in parameters (since they are also by-ref).


For 'out', the following seems to work for me.

public interface IService
{
    void DoSomething(out string a);
}

[TestMethod]
public void Test()
{
    var service = new Mock<IService>();
    var expectedValue = "value";
    service.Setup(s => s.DoSomething(out expectedValue));

    string actualValue;
    service.Object.DoSomething(out actualValue);
    Assert.AreEqual(expectedValue, actualValue);
}

I'm guessing that Moq looks at the value of 'expectedValue' when you call Setup and remembers it.

For ref, I'm looking for an answer also.

I found the following QuickStart guide useful: https://github.com/Moq/moq4/wiki/Quickstart