ASP.NET MVC Controllers properly initialized when testing

Question

How do I get an ASP.NET MVC controller properly initialized for an integration test?

My current problem is that when I try to access the User member of a controller I get:

System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is not implemented.

What I want is what Ruby on Rails provides out of the box with the Functional Tests.

Answer 1

You'll need to fire up an instance of the webserver, whether it be IIS or the built-in Visual Studio one. The unit testing in Visual Studio doesn't initiate a instance of the site by default.

Answer 2

To fire up Cassini from a unit test

 [TestMethod()]

 [HostType("ASP.NET")]

 [UrlToTest("http://localhost:25153/WebSite1")]

More information on MSDN

Kindness,

Dan

Answer 3

How about having a gander at this from Steve Sanderson - MVCIntegrationTestFramework

Looks pretty freakin cool!

HTHs,
Charles

Answer 4

You have few choices:

1. Mock HttpContextBase - there're plenty of articles on the subject
2. Use injection - pass IUserContext to controller, and mock it in tests (in real app it will be something HttpUserContext)
3. Use model binder: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IPrincipalUserModelBinderInASPNETMVCForEasierTesting.aspx

And I'm sure there's more, for example, make your BaseController and fake GetUser() there as needed.