Sandboxes removes the need to keep track of every fake created, which greatly simplifies cleanup.

var sandbox = require("sinon").createSandbox();
var myAPI = { hello: function () {} };

describe("myAPI.hello method", function () {
  beforeEach(function () {
    // stub out the `hello` method
    sandbox.stub(myAPI, "hello");
  });

  afterEach(function () {
    // completely restore all fakes created through the sandbox
    sandbox.restore();
  });

  it("should be called once", function () {
    myAPI.hello();
    sandbox.assert.calledOnce(myAPI.hello);
  });

  it("should be called twice", function () {
    myAPI.hello();
    myAPI.hello();
    sandbox.assert.calledTwice(myAPI.hello);
  });
});

Sandbox API

Default sandbox

Since sinon@5.0.0, the sinon object is a default sandbox. Unless you have a very advanced setup or need a special configuration, you probably want to just use that one.

const myObject = {
  hello: "world",
};

sinon.stub(myObject, "hello").value("Sinon");

console.log(myObject.hello);
// Sinon

sinon.restore();
console.log(myObject.hello);
// world

var sandbox = sinon.createSandbox();

Creates a new sandbox object with spies, stubs, and mocks.

var sandbox = sinon.createSandbox(config);

The sinon.createSandbox(config) method is often an integration feature, and can be used for scenarios including a global object to coordinate all fakes through.

Sandboxes are partially configured by default such that calling:

var sandbox = sinon.createSandbox({});

will merge in extra defaults analogous to:

var sandbox = sinon.createSandbox({
  // ...
  injectInto: null,
  properties: ["spy", "stub", "mock"],
  useFakeTimers: false,
  useFakeServer: false,
});

The useFakeTimers and useFakeServers are false as opposed to the defaults in sinon.defaultConfig:

sinon.defaultConfig = {
  // ...
  injectInto: null,
  properties: ["spy", "stub", "mock", "clock", "server", "requests"],
  useFakeTimers: true,
  useFakeServer: true,
};

To get a full sandbox with stubs, spies, etc. and fake timers and servers, you can call:

// Inject the sinon defaults explicitly.
var sandbox = sinon.createSandbox(sinon.defaultConfig);

// (OR) Add the extra properties that differ from the sinon defaults.
var sandbox = sinon.createSandbox({
  useFakeTimers: true,
  useFakeServer: true,
});
injectInto

The sandbox’s methods can be injected into another object for convenience. The injectInto configuration option can name an object to add properties to.

properties

What properties to inject. Note that simply naming “server” here is not sufficient to have a server property show up in the target object, you also have to set useFakeServer to true.

useFakeTimers

If set to true, the sandbox will have a clock property. You can optionally pass in a configuration object that follows the specification for fake timers, such as { toFake: ["setTimeout", "setInterval"] }.

useFakeServer

If true, server and requests properties are added to the sandbox. Can also be an object to use for fake server. The default one is sinon.fakeServer, but if you’re using jQuery 1.3.x or some other library that does not set the XHR’s onreadystatechange handler, you might want to do:

sinon.config = {
  useFakeServer: sinon.fakeServerWithClock,
};

sandbox.assert();

A convenience reference for sinon.assert

Since sinon@2.0.0

sandbox.replace(object, property, replacement);

Replaces property on object with replacement argument. Attempts to replace an already replaced value cause an exception.

replacement can be any value, including spies, stubs and fakes.

This method only works on non-accessor properties, for replacing accessors, use sandbox.replaceGetter() and sandbox.replaceSetter().

var myObject = {
  myMethod: function () {
    return "apple pie";
  },
};

sandbox.replace(myObject, "myMethod", function () {
  return "strawberry";
});

console.log(myObject.myMethod());
// strawberry

sandbox.replaceGetter();

Replaces getter for property on object with replacement argument. Attempts to replace an already replaced getter cause an exception.

replacement must be a Function, and can be instances of spies, stubs and fakes.

var myObject = {
    get myProperty: function() {
        return 'apple pie';
    }
};

sandbox.replaceGetter(myObject, 'myMethod', function () {
    return 'strawberry';
});

console.log(myObject.myProperty);
// strawberry

sandbox.replaceSetter();

Replaces setter for property on object with replacement argument. Attempts to replace an already replaced setter cause an exception.

replacement must be a Function, and can be instances of spies, stubs and fakes.

var object = {
  set myProperty(value) {
    this.prop = value;
  },
};

sandbox.replaceSetter(object, "myProperty", function (value) {
  this.prop = "strawberry " + value;
});

object.myProperty = "pie";

console.log(object.prop);
// strawberry pie

sandbox.spy();

Works exactly like sinon.spy

sandbox.createStubInstance();

Works almost exactly like sinon.createStubInstance, only also adds the returned stubs to the internal collection of fakes for easy restoring through sandbox.restore().

sandbox.stub();

Works exactly like sinon.stub.

Stubbing a non-function property
const myObject = {
  hello: "world",
};

sandbox.stub(myObject, "hello").value("Sinon");

console.log(myObject.hello);
// Sinon

sandbox.restore();
console.log(myObject.hello);
// world

sandbox.mock();

Works exactly like sinon.mock

sandbox.useFakeTimers();

Fakes timers and binds the clock object to the sandbox such that it too is restored when calling sandbox.restore().

Access through sandbox.clock.

sandbox.useFakeXMLHttpRequest();

Fakes XHR and binds the resulting object to the sandbox such that it too is restored when calling sandbox.restore().

Since 2.x, you can no longer access requests through sandbox.requests - use sandbox.useFakeServer to do this. This function maps to sinon.useFakeXMLHttpRequest, only with sandboxing.

sandbox.useFakeServer();

Fakes XHR and binds a server object to the sandbox such that it too is restored when calling sandbox.restore().

Access requests through sandbox.requests and server through sandbox.server

sandbox.usingPromise(promiseLibrary);

Causes all stubs and mocks created from the sandbox to return promises using a specific Promise library instead of the global one when using stub.rejects or stub.resolves. Returns the stub to allow chaining.

Since sinon@2.0.0

sandbox.restore();

Restores all fakes created through sandbox.

sandbox.reset();

Resets the internal state of all fakes created through sandbox.

sandbox.resetBehavior();

Resets the behaviour of all stubs created through the sandbox.

Since sinon@2.0.0

sandbox.resetHistory();

Resets the history of all stubs created through the sandbox.

Since sinon@2.0.0

sandbox.verify();

Verifies all mocks created through the sandbox.

sandbox.verifyAndRestore();

Verifies all mocks and restores all fakes created through the sandbox.