How do I go about creating a mock request for my asp.net-mvc application for unit-testing?
What options do I have?
I am using FormsCollection in my Actions so I can simulate form input data also.
You just have to create a new instance of FormCollection and add the data inside of it.
So you can call something like this without mocking anything.
var result = controller.Create(new FormCollection { { "InvoiceId", "-1" } }) as RedirectToRouteResult;
Otherwise if your code calls something like Request or HttpContext you can use the following extension method (inspired from Scott Hanselman's example)
I am using RhinoMocks.
public static HttpContextBase SetHttpContext(this MockRepository mocks, Controller controller, HttpCookieCollection cookies) {
cookies = cookies ?? new HttpCookieCollection();
var request = mocks.StrictMock<HttpRequestBase>();
var context = mocks.StrictMock<HttpContextBase>();
var response = mocks.StrictMock<HttpResponseBase>();
SetupResult.For(context.Request).Return(request);
SetupResult.For(context.Response).Return(response);
SetupResult.For(request.Cookies).Return(cookies);
SetupResult.For(request.IsSecureConnection).Return(false);
SetupResult.For(response.Cookies).Return(cookies);
if (controller != null)
{
controller.ControllerContext = new ControllerContext(context, new RouteData(), controller);
}
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(requestUrl))
{
request.SetupRequestUrl(requestUrl);
SetupResult.For(response.ApplyAppPathModifier(null)).IgnoreArguments().Return(null);
}
return context;
}
Related
I know the difference between HttpContext and HttpContextWrapper is below...
HttpContext
This is the vintage asp.net context. The problem with this is that it has no base class and isn't virtual, and hence is unusable for testing (cannot mock it). It's recommended to not pass it around as function arguments, instead pass around variables of type HttpContextBase.
HttpContextBase
This is the (new to c# 3.5) replacement to HttpContext. Since it is abstract, it is now mockable. The idea is that your functions that expect to be passed a context should expect to receive one of these. It is concretely implemented by HttpContextWrapper
HttpContextWrapper
Also new in C# 3.5 - this is the concrete implementation of HttpContextBase. To create one of these in a normal webpage, use new HttpContextWrapper(HttpContext.Current).
The idea is that to make your code unit-testable, you declare all your variables and function parameters to be of type HttpContextBase, and use an IOC framework eg Castle Windsor to get it injected. In normal code, castle is to inject the equivalent of 'new HttpContextWrapper
(HttpContext.Current)', whereas in test code you're to be given a mock of HttpContextBase.
But I am not aware about its real use. I heard that it's useful in Unit Testing in comparing with Web Forms. but how it's useful ?
I also know that we can use it to execute the controller and Action as mentioned here
I heard that it's useful in Unit Testing in comparing with Web Forms. but how it's useful ?
Let's take an example of an ASP.NET MVC controller action which is adding a cookie to the response:
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
var cookie = new HttpCookie("foo", "bar");
this.Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);
return View();
}
}
Notice the Response property over there. It's an HttpResponseBase. So we can mock it in a unit test:
public class HttpResponseMock: HttpResponseBase
{
private HttpCookieCollection cookies;
public override HttpCookieCollection Cookies
{
get
{
if (this.cookies == null)
{
this.cookies = new HttpCookieCollection();
}
return this.cookies;
}
}
}
public class HttpContextMock: HttpContextBase
{
private HttpResponseBase response;
public override HttpResponseBase Response
{
get
{
if (this.response == null)
{
this.response = new HttpResponseMock();
}
return this.response;
}
}
}
and now we could write a unit test:
// arrange
var sut = new HomeController();
var httpContext = new HttpContextMock();
sut.ControllerContext = new ControllerContext(httpContext, new RouteData(), sut);
// act
var actual = sut.Index();
// assert
Assert.AreEqual("bar", sut.Response.Cookies["foo"].Value);
And since all members are virtual we could use a mocking framework which would avoid us the need to write those mock classes for the unit test. For example with NSubstitute here's how the test might look:
// arrange
var sut = new HomeController();
var context = Substitute.For<HttpContextBase>();
var response = Substitute.For<HttpResponseBase>();
var cookies = new HttpCookieCollection();
context.Response.Returns(response);
context.Response.Cookies.Returns(cookies);
sut.ControllerContext = new ControllerContext(context, new RouteData(), sut);
// act
var actual = sut.Index();
// assert
Assert.AreEqual("bar", sut.Response.Cookies["foo"].Value);
Now let's take a WebForm:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs)
{
var cookie = new HttpCookie("foo", "bar");
this.Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);
}
In this case the Response property is the concrete HttpResponse. So you are busted. Impossible to unit test in isolation.
I know this looks like a duplicate question, but please read the whole question before marking it as duplicate.
First of all, I'm simulating the windows service in my ASP web application to send weekly emails, so in Global.asax I'm running my function that will send the emails.
Now the emails content is in HTML and I want to render the views to get the content. The problem is that in my function, I don't have any of the following :
Controller
ControllerContext
HttpContext
RoutData
... & much more. Which makes sense, because the function was invoked as a callback not as a HTTP request action.
I tried to use the RazorEngine to use the partial as a template by reading the file then using Razor.Parse() method. But I faced a lot of problems from this approach, because nothing is included in the template. What I mean is: it keeps telling me that The name "Html" does not exist in the current context OR 'CompiledRazorTemplates.Dynamic.becdccabecff' does not contain a definition for 'Html' even if I include the System.Web.Mvc.Html.
how can I solve this issue?.
I think the best approach is assuming you developed a real NT service and use HttpClient to send a http request to your partial view and receive the response as string and use it to make up your email. However, you can have HttpContext in RunScheduledTasks method by making some changes in Scheduler class.
public delegate void Callback();
to
public delegate void Callback(HttpContext httpContext);
add cache.Current_HttpContext = HttpContext.Current; to the Run method
public static void Run(string name, int minutes, Callback callbackMethod)
{
_numberOfMinutes = minutes;
CacheItem cache = new CacheItem();
cache.Name = name;
cache.Callback = callbackMethod;
cache.Cache = HttpRuntime.Cache;
cache.LastRun = DateTime.Now;
cache.Current_HttpContext = HttpContext.Current;
AddCacheObject(cache);
}
change CacheCallback to
private static void CacheCallback(string key, object value, CacheItemRemovedReason reason)
{
CacheItem obj_cache = (CacheItem)value;
if (obj_cache.LastRun < DateTime.Now)
{
if (obj_cache.Callback != null)
{
obj_cache.Callback.Invoke(obj_cache.Current_HttpContext);
}
obj_cache.LastRun = DateTime.Now;
}
AddCacheObject(obj_cache);
}
Edited:
How to use HttpClient
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("http://localhost/controller/action/");
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
string responseBody = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Without using 3rd party library, one can use this method to generate string of view in Global.asax.cs file
public class EmptyController : Controller { }
public string GetView(string viewName)
{
//Create an instance of empty controller
Controller controller = new EmptyController();
//Create an instance of Controller Context
var ControllerContext = new ControllerContext(Request.RequestContext, controller);
//Create a string writer
using (var sw = new StringWriter())
{
//get the master layout
var master = Request.IsAuthenticated ? "_InternalLayout" : "_ExternalLayout";
//Get the view result using context controller, partial view and the master layout
var viewResult = ViewEngines.Engines.FindView(ControllerContext, viewName, master);
//Crete the view context using the controller context, viewResult's view, string writer and ViewData and TempData
var viewContext = new ViewContext(ControllerContext, viewResult.View, controller.ViewData, controller.TempData, sw);
//Render the view in the string writer
viewResult.View.Render(viewContext, sw);
//release the view
viewResult.ViewEngine.ReleaseView(ControllerContext, viewResult.View);
//return the view stored in string writer as string
return sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
}
}
I have a list of URLs that I obtained by querying Google Analytics data. I want to run each of these URLs through the MVC pipeline to get the ActionResult. The action result contains the view model from which I can extract some important information.
Based on the extensibility of MVC, I thought this would be easy. I thought I could mock up a HttpRequest using the string URL and pass it through the routing and controller. My end point would be invoking the action method which would return the ActionResult. I'm finding bits and pieces of what I need, but a lot of the methods are protected within the various classes and the documentation on them is pretty sparse.
I somehow want to reach in to the ControllerActionInvoker and get the result of the call to the protected function InvokeActionMethod.
First of all, Darin's answer got me started, but there's a lot more detail to the final solution, so I'm adding a separate answer. This one is complex, so bear with me.
There are 4 steps to getting the ViewResult from a URL:
Mock the RequestContext via the routing system (Darin's answer got me started on this).
Uri uri = new Uri(MyStringUrl);
var request = new HttpRequest(null, uri.Scheme + "://" + uri.Authority + uri.AbsolutePath, string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(uri.Query) ? null : uri.Query.Substring(1));
var response = new HttpResponse(new StringWriter());
var context = new HttpContext(request, response);
var contextBase = new HttpContextWrapper(context);
var routeData = System.Web.Routing.RouteTable.Routes.GetRouteData(contextBase);
// We shouldn't have to do this, but the way we are mocking the request doesn't seem to pass the querystring data through to the route data.
foreach (string key in request.QueryString.Keys)
{
if (!routeData.Values.ContainsKey(key))
{
routeData.Values.Add(key, request.QueryString[key]);
}
}
var requestContext = new System.Web.Routing.RequestContext(contextBase, routeData);
Subclass your controller. Add a public method that allows you to call the protected Execute(RequestContext) method.
public void MyExecute(System.Web.Routing.RequestContext requestContext)
{
this.Execute(requestContext);
}
In the same subclassed controller, Add a public event that hooks in to the protected OnActionExecuted event. This allows you to reach in a grab the ViewResult via the ActionExecutedContext.
public delegate void MyActionExecutedHandler(ActionExecutedContext filterContext);
public event MyActionExecutedHandler MyActionExecuted;
protected override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
{
base.OnActionExecuted(filterContext);
if (MyActionExecuted != null)
{
MyActionExecuted(filterContext);
}
}
Tie everything together by instantiating an instance of the new controller subclass, adding an event handler, and calling the new public execute method (passing in the mocked RequestContext). The event handler will give you access to the ViewResult.
using (MyCompany.Controllers.MyController c = new Controllers.MyController())
{
c.MyActionExecuted += GrabActionResult;
try
{
c.MyExecute(requestContext);
}
catch (Exception)
{
// Handle an exception.
}
}
and here's the event handler:
private void GrabActionResult(System.Web.Mvc.ActionExecutedContext context)
{
if (context.Result.GetType() == typeof(ViewResult))
{
ViewResult result = context.Result as ViewResult;
}
else if (context.Result.GetType() == typeof(RedirectToRouteResult))
{
// Handle.
}
else if (context.Result.GetType() == typeof(HttpNotFoundResult))
{
// Handle.
}
else
{
// Handle.
}
}
The difficulty here consists into parsing the url into its constituent controller and action. Here's how this could be done:
var url = "http://example.com/Home/Index";
var request = new HttpRequest(null, url, "");
var response = new HttpResponse(new StringWriter.Null);
var context = new HttpContext(request, response);
var routeData = RouteTable.Routes.GetRouteData(new HttpContextWrapper(context));
var values = routeData.Values;
var controller = values["controller"];
var action = values["action"];
Now that you know the controller and the action you could use reflection to instantiate and execute it.
Try this:
object result = null;
Type controller = Type.GetType("MvcApplication4.Controllers.HomeController");
if (controller != null)
{
object controllerObj = Activator.CreateInstance(controller, null);
if (controller.GetMethod("ActionName") != null)
{
result = ((ViewResult)controller.GetMethod("ActionName").Invoke(controllerObj, null)).ViewData.Model;
}
}
I assumed normal routes are configured in the application and can be retrieved using regex or string operations. Following your discussion, I learned that you guys want to really follow through the MVC pipeline by digging into the framework by not using reflection or any hardcording techniques. However, I tried to search to minimize hardcoding by trying to match the url with the routes configured in the application by following this thread
How to determine if an arbitrary URL matches a defined route
Also, I came across other thread which creates httprequest to access routedata object but again reflection needs to be used for this.
String URL to RouteValueDictionary
Thanks Ben Mills, this got me started with my own problem. However I found that I didn't have to do 2, 3 or 4, by doing the following.
Uri uri = new Uri(MyStringUrl);
var absoluteUri = uri.Scheme + "://" + uri.Authority + uri.AbsolutePath;
var query = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(uri.Query) ? null : uri.Query.Substring(1);
var request = new HttpRequest(null, absoluteUri, query);
Getting access to the string writer is important.
var sw = new StringWriter();
var response = new HttpResponse(sw);
var context = new HttpContext(request, response);
var contextBase = new HttpContextWrapper(context);
var routeData = System.Web.Routing.RouteTable.Routes.GetRouteData(contextBase);
If we assign the RouteData to the request context we can use the MVC pipeline as intended.
request.RequestContext.RouteData = routeData;
var controllerName = routeData.GetRequiredString("controller");
var factory = ControllerBuilder.Current.GetControllerFactory();
var contoller = factory.CreateController(request.RequestContext, controllerName);
controller.Execute(request.RequestContext);
var viewResult = sw.ToString(); // this is our view result.
factory.ReleaseController(controller);
sw.Dispose();
I hope this helps someone else wanting to achieve similar things.
I am new in unit test and MVC development.
I have a question for using moq for unit testing in asp.net mvc. I have a controller which accepts an ajax action:
[HttpPost,Authorize]
public ActionResult GrabLink()
{
string username = HttpContext.User.Identity.Name;
string rssUrl = Request.Params["Grablink"].ToString();
...}
This action deals with the http request which I generate from the view:
var mockRequest = new Moq.Mock<HttpRequestBase>();
but I can not find a way to define the parameters I used in the class. Also, is there any way to use the value binding provider directly to pass the value to the controller if I would like to do an ajax post?
I am a newbie in handling web request. If you have some good tutorial for better understanding the Http request (as well as the Httpcontext and related classes in asp.net) please post here. Thank you very much!
This works very well for me:
var controller = new HomeController();
var context = new Mock<HttpContextBase>(MockBehavior.Strict);
var controllerContext = new Mock<ControllerContext>();
controllerContext.SetupGet(x => x.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name)
.Returns("TestUser");
controllerContext.SetupGet(x => x.HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
.Returns(true);
controllerContext.SetupGet(x => x.HttpContext.Request.IsAuthenticated)
.Returns(true);
controller.ControllerContext = controllerContext.Object;
// As a bonus, instantiate the Url helper to allow creating links
controller.Url = new UrlHelper(
new RequestContext(context.Object, new RouteData()), new RouteCollection());
This will allow you to initialize any user you want as an authenticated user, and the last line will allow you to user the Url helper within the controller even though you're calling it from a unit test.
As Scott said HttpContext makes Controllers hard to test. Anyway he's got a pretty solution at here.
BTW why didn't you make rssUrl a parameter if it is assigning by POST or GET?
e.g.
//POST: /GrabLink?rssUrl=bla bla...
[HttpPost,Authorize]
public ActionResult GrabLink(IPrincipal user, string rssUrl) {
string userName = user.Name;
}
Ok, #cem covered your second question very well.
For your first, nerddinner, and If I'm not mistaken, when you create a new Internet Application with Unit test, in Visual Studio, have the following mock classes for HttpContext. Its at the bottom of this file.
You could use these (or create a new Internet App +Tests with VS) and copy all the fake classes for your tests. (I wrote a Moq example below)
It looks like this:
public class MockHttpContext : HttpContextBase {
private IPrincipal _user;
public override IPrincipal User {
get {
if (_user == null) {
_user = new MockPrincipal();
}
return _user;
}
set {
_user = value;
}
}
public override HttpResponseBase Response
{
get
{
return new MockHttpResponse();
}
}
}
public class MockHttpResponse : HttpResponseBase {
public override HttpCookieCollection Cookies
{
get
{
return new HttpCookieCollection();
}
}
}
Not tested, but to Use mock it would look like this:
var fakeReqBase = new Mock<HttpRequestBase>();
fakeReqBase.Setup(f => f.User).Returns(new GenericIdentity("FakeUser"));
//generic identity implements IIdentity
fakeUserRepo.Object;//this returns fake object of type HttpRequestBase
Checkout the Moq Quickstart. Its quite easy to get used to, and the fluent interface really helps.
Due to a prinitng error in some promotional material I have a site that is receiving a lot of requests which should be for one site arriving at another.
i.e.
The valid sites are http://site1.com/abc & http://site2.com/def but people are being told to go to http://site1.com/def.
I have control over site1 but not site2.
site1 contains logic for checking that the first part of the route is valid in an actionfilter, like this:
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
if ((!filterContext.ActionParameters.ContainsKey("id"))
|| (!manager.WhiteLabelExists(filterContext.ActionParameters["id"].ToString())))
{
if (filterContext.ActionParameters["id"].ToString().ToLowerInvariant().Equals("def"))
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Redirect("http://site2.com/def", true);
}
filterContext.Result = new ViewResult { ViewName = "NoWhiteLabel" };
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Clear();
}
}
I'm not sure how to test the redirection to the other site though.
I already have tests for redirecting to "NoWhiteLabel" using the MvcContrib Test Helpers, but these aren't able to handle (as far as I can see) this situation.
How do I test the redirection to antoher site?
I would recommend you using RedirectResult instead of calling Response.Redirect:
if (youWantToRedirect)
{
filterContext.Result = new RedirectResult("http://site2.com/def")
}
else
{
filterContext.Result = new ViewResult { ViewName = "NoWhiteLabel" };
}
Now if you know how to test ViewResult with MVCContrib TestHelper you will be able to test the RedirectResult the same way. The tricky part is mocking the manager to force it to satisfy the if condition.
UPDATE:
Here's how a sample test might look like:
// arrange
var mock = new MockRepository();
var controller = mock.StrictMock<Controller>();
new TestControllerBuilder().InitializeController(controller);
var sut = new MyFilter();
var aec = new ActionExecutingContext(
controller.ControllerContext,
mock.StrictMock<ActionDescriptor>(),
new Dictionary<string, object>());
// act
sut.OnActionExecuting(aec);
// assert
aec.Result.ShouldBe<RedirectResult>("");
var result = (RedirectResult)aec.Result;
result.Url.ShouldEqual("http://site2.com/def", "");
Update (By Matt Lacey)
Here's how I actually got this working:
// arrange
var mock = new MockRepository();
// Note that in the next line I create an actual instance of my real controller - couldn't get a mock to work correctly
var controller = new HomeController(new Stubs.BlankContextInfoProvider(), new Stubs.BlankWhiteLabelManager());
new TestControllerBuilder().InitializeController(controller);
var sut = new UseBrandedViewModelAttribute(new Stubs.BlankWhiteLabelManager());
var aec = new ActionExecutingContext(
controller.ControllerContext,
mock.StrictMock<ActionDescriptor>(),
// being sure to specify the necessary action parameters
new Dictionary<string, object> { { "id", "def" } });
// act
sut.OnActionExecuting(aec);
// assert
aec.Result.ShouldBe<RedirectResult>("");
var result = (RedirectResult)aec.Result;
result.Url.ShouldEqual("http://site2.com/def", "");