Unit test akka actor method

Question

I have an actor of the form:

class TestActor(repo: Repo) extends Actor {
  implicit val executionContext: ExecutionContext = context.dispatcher

  def receive: Receive = {
    ...
  }

  def testMethod(stringSeq: Seq[String]): String =
       ...
    }
}

I want to test the method testMethod only.

I am trying to write the test case as:

class TestActorSpec
    extends TestKit(ActorSystem("TestActorSpec"))
    with WordSpecLike
    with Matchers
    with JsonSupport
    with MockitoSugar
    with BeforeAndAfterAll
    with ImplicitSender {
  override def afterAll: Unit = TestKit.shutdownActorSystem(system)

  implicit val futureDuration: FiniteDuration = 60.seconds
  implicit val timeout: Timeout               = 10.seconds
  val mockedRepo               = mock[Repo]

  val testActorRef: ActorRef = system.actorOf(
    TestActor.props(mockedRepo)
  )

  "TestActorSpec" should {
    "be able to get data " in {

    }
  }
}

How can i access the method testMethod from testActorRef?

I also tried:

 TestActorRef[TestActor].underlyingActor.testMethod(Seq("data"))

It does not work for me.

Answer 1

Actors should be tested via messages you send to them. But you still can test methods in isolation if the method is not accessing any actor specific values, like context .

You can move testMethod into companion object and test it from there.

class TestActor(repo: Repo) extends Actor {
  implicit val executionContext: ExecutionContext = context.dispatcher

  def receive: Receive = {
//    call  TestActor.testMethod
  }

}

object TestActor {
  def testMethod(stringSeq: Seq[String]): String = ???
}