How to bypass base class method call in MSTest?

Question

I have the following code in c#:

public class MyChildClass : AbstractBaseClass
{
public void myMethod()
{
abstractBaseClassMethodCall();
if(condition)
........
}
}

I have to write a unit test for the above code using MSTest. Here, baseClassMethodCall() fails with error message, "System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
I cannot change anything in the base class as it is a predefined class with the protected constructor.

Is there a way to bypass the base class method call and continue testing the next line? Maybe by using mocks or shims?

Answer 1

Maybe you can use a parameter:

public void myMethod( bool isTesting = false )
{
   if( ! isTesting) abstractBaseClassMethodCall();
   . . .
}

Or divide it, and test myMethod2 separately:

public void myMethod( )
{
   abstractBaseClassMethodCall();
   myMethod2( );
}

void myMethod2( )
{
   . . .
}

Answer 2

A debug session is in order as attempting test is no different from attempting to test something private. Any unit test that uses the abstract class is for testing functionality, not if the method will break somehow.