title: How to use moq to test code that calls protected helpers
body: <p>I currently run tests that look like the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>// In Blah.cs
  public class ClassUnderTest
  
  {
  
      public bool MethodUnderTest()
  
      {
  
          // Do a bunch of stuff...
  
          return HelperMethod();
  
      }
  
  
  
      protected virtual bool HelperMethod()
  
      {
  
          bool success = false;
  
          // Proprietary Hardware Access.
  
          // Database Calls.
  
          // File System Modifications.
  
          return success;
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  // In TestBlah.cs
  
  public class TestStub : ClassUnderTest
  
  {
  
      public bool HelperMethodReturnValue;
  
  
  
      protected override bool HelperMethod()
  
      {
  
          return HelperMethodReturnValue;
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  [TestClass]
  
  public class TestingClass
  
  {
  
      [TestMethod]
  
      public void ClassUnderTest_MethodUnderTest_TestHelperReturnsTrue()
  
      {
  
          var stub = new TestStub();
  
          stub.HelperMethodReturnValue = true;
  
          Assert.IsTrue(stub.MethodUnderTest());
  
      }
  
  
  
      [TestMethod]
  
      public void ClassUnderTest_MethodUnderTest_TestHelperReturnsFalse()
  
      {
  
          var stub = new TestStub();
  
          stub.HelperMethodReturnValue = false;
  
          Assert.IsFalse(stub.MethodUnderTest());
  
      }
  
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The above looks fine for simple things, however the stub class gets exponentially bigger and more complex quickly.
  I'd like to replace the stub class using Moq.  However this won't compile because for some reason I can't set a return value on a protected method.</p>
  
  <pre><code>[TestMethod]
  
  public void ClassUnderTest_MethodUnderTest_TestHelperReturnsFalse()
  
  {
  
      var mockClass = new Mock&lt;ClassUnderTest&gt;();
      mockClass.Protected().Setup("HelperMethod").Returns(false);
  
      Assert.IsFalse(mockClass.Object.MethodUnderTest());
  
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Anyone know how I'd go about doing this?  Can I do this with moq?</p>