When should I stub out a type by manually creating a "stub" version, rather than using a mocking framework

Are there any circumstances where it is favourable to manually create a stub type, as opposed to using a mocking framework (such as Rhino Mocks) at the point of test.

We take both these approaches in our projects. My gut feel when I look at the long list of stub versions of objects is that it will add maintenance overhea开发者_运维知识库d, and moves the implementation of the stub away from the point of test.

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When you reach the point where stubs take up too much maintenance time, it's time to move on to a stub/mock framework. So I think you have given the answer already yourself.

Currently I'm still using stubs with my current project, for the sake of simplicity. There are only a few types for which I use a stub, and usually there's only one stub, sometimes two to recreate errors, but no more.

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For the purposes of automated unit tests, mocks are almost always the better option. Because they use reflection to mock an object, they will stay up-to-date when you make changes.

The only time I create a stub is for integration testing - for example, you might stub an SMS Sending Service so you can run a period of integration / user testing without being charged for sending out SMS Messages (instead, the messages are stored so they can be checked).