need help in understanding if the way I am testing a function is correct - scala

Question

I have written this function which is called when a user clicks a link. The function basically creates a copy of the user data with one field altered (thus keeping the original value unchanged i.e. not-mutable) and then updates the database with the new value
def confirmSignupforUser(user:User):Future[Option[User]] = {
println("confirming user: "+user)
val newInternalProfile = user.profile.internalProfileDetails.get.copy(confirmed=true)//new data which should be added in the database
println("old internal profile: "+user.profile.internalProfileDetails.get)
println("new internal profile: "+newInternalProfile)
val newProfile = UserProfile(Some(newInternalProfile),user.profile.externalProfileDetails)
println("old profile: "+user.profile)
println("new profile: "+newProfile)
val confirmedUser = user.copy(profile=newProfile)
for(userOption <- userRepo.update(confirmedUser)) yield { //database operation
println("returning modified user:"+userOption)
userOption
}
}
To test the code, I have written the following spec
"confirmSignupforUser" should {
"change confirmed status to True" in {
val testEnv = new TestEnv(components.configuration)
val externalProfile = testEnv.externalUserProfile
val internalUnconfirmedProfile = InternalUserProfile(testEnv.loginInfo,1,false,None)
val internalConfirmedProfile = internalUnconfirmedProfile.copy(confirmed=true)
val unconfirmedProfile = UserProfile(Some(internalUnconfirmedProfile),externalProfile)
val confirmedProfile = UserProfile(Some(internalConfirmedProfile),externalProfile)
val origUser = User(testEnv.mockHelperMethods.getUniqueID(),unconfirmedProfile)
val confirmedUser = origUser.copy(profile = confirmedProfile)
//the argument passed to update is part of test. The function confirmSignupforUser should pass a confirmed profile
when(testEnv.mockUserRepository.update(confirmedUser)).thenReturn(Future{Some(confirmedUser)})
//// await is from play.api.test.FutureAwaits
val updatedUserOption:Option[User] = await[Option[User]](testEnv.controller.confirmSignupforUser(origUser))
println(s"received updated user option ${updatedUserOption}")
updatedUserOption mustBe Some(confirmedUser)
}
}
I am not confident if I am testing the method correctly. The only way I can check that the confirmed field got changed is by looking at the return value of confirmSignupforUser. But I am actually mocking the value and I have already set the field confirmed to true in the mocked value (when(testEnv.mockUserRepository.update(confirmedUser)).thenReturn(Future{Some(confirmedUser)}).
I know the code works because in the above mock, the update method expects confirmedUser or in other words, a user with confirmed field set to true. So if my code wasn't working, update would have been called with user whose confirmed field was false and mockito would have failed.
Is this the right way to test the method or is there a better way?

Answer 1

You don't need to intialize internalConfirmedProfile in your test. The whole point is to start with confirmed=false, run the confirmSignupforUser method, and make sure that the output is confirmed=true.
You should check 2 things:
check that the return value has confirmed=true (which you do)
check that the repository has that user saved with confirmed=true (which you don't check). To check that you would need to load the user back from the repository at the end.