UPDATE: I have recently posted a newer and better version of this code on my blog.
As I’ve stated before, I’m a big fan of completely self-contained unit tests. When unit testing ASP.NET pages, base classes, controls and such, I use the technique outlined by Scott Hanselman in this post. In fact, several of the unit tests for RSS Bandit use this technique in order to test RSS auto-discovery and similar features.
However, there are cases when I want a “lightweight” quick and dirty way to test library code that will be used by an ASP.NET project. For example, take a look at this very contrived example that follows a common pattern...
/// <summary>
/// Obtains some very important information.
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public SomeInfo GetSomeInfo()
{
SomeInfo info = HttpContext.Current.Items["CacheKey"] as SomeInfo;
if(info == null)
{
info = new SomeInfo();
HttpContext.Current.Items["CacheKey"] = info;
}
return info;
}
The main purpose of this method is to get some information in the form of the SomeInfo class. Normally, this would be very straightforward to unit test except for one little problem. This method has a side-effect. Apparently, it’ll cost you to obtain this information, so the method checks the Context’s Items dictionary (which serves as the current request’s cache) first before paying the cost to create the SomeInfo instance. Afterwards it places that instance in the Items dictionary.
If I try and test this method in NUnit, I’ll run into a NullReferenceException when attempting to access the static Current property of HttpContext.
One option around this is to factor the logic between the caching into its own method and test that. But in this case, I want to test that the caching works and doesn’t cause any unintended consequences.
Another option is to fire up Cassini in my unit test, create a website that uses this code, and test the method that way, but that’s a “heavy” (and potentially very indirect) way to test this method.
As I stated before, I wanted a “lightweight” means to test this method. There wouldn’t be a problem if HttpContext.Current was a valid instance of HttpContext. Luckily, the static Current property of HttpContext is both readable and writeable. All it takes is to set that property to a properly created instance of HttpContext. However, creating that instance wasn’t as straightforward as my first attempt. I’ll spare you the boring details and just show you what I ended up with.
I wrote the following static method in my UnitTestHelper class. All the write statements to the console shows the values for commonly accessed properties of the HttpContext Note that this method could be made more general for your use. This is the version within Subtext.
/// <summary>
/// Sets the HTTP context with a valid simulated request
/// </summary>
/// <param name="host">Host.</param>
/// <param name="application">Application.</param>
public static void SetHttpContextWithSimulatedRequest(string host, string application)
{
string appVirtualDir = "/";
string appPhysicalDir = @"c:\projects\SubtextSystem\Subtext.Web\";
string page = application.Replace("/", string.Empty) + "/default.aspx";
string query = string.Empty;
TextWriter output = null;
SimulatedHttpRequest workerRequest = new SimulatedHttpRequest(appVirtualDir, appPhysicalDir, page, query, output, host);
HttpContext.Current = new HttpContext(workerRequest);
Console.WriteLine("Request.FilePath: " + HttpContext.Current.Request.FilePath);
Console.WriteLine("Request.Path: " + HttpContext.Current.Request.Path);
Console.WriteLine("Request.RawUrl: " + HttpContext.Current.Request.RawUrl);
Console.WriteLine("Request.Url: " + HttpContext.Current.Request.Url);
Console.WriteLine("Request.ApplicationPath: " + HttpContext.Current.Request.ApplicationPath);
Console.WriteLine("Request.PhysicalPath: " + HttpContext.Current.Request.PhysicalPath);
}
You’ll notice this code makes use of a class named SimulatedHttpRequest. This is a class that inherits from SimpleWorkRequest which itself inherits from HttpWorkerRequest. Using Reflector, I spent a bit of time looking at how the HttpContext class implements certain properties. This allows me to tweak the SimulatedHttpRequest to mock up the type of request I want. The code for this class is...
/// <summary>
/// Used to simulate an HttpRequest.
/// </summary>
public class SimulatedHttpRequest : SimpleWorkerRequest
{
string _host;
/// <summary>
/// Creates a new <see cref="SimulatedHttpRequest"/> instance.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="appVirtualDir">App virtual dir.</param>
/// <param name="appPhysicalDir">App physical dir.</param>
/// <param name="page">Page.</param>
/// <param name="query">Query.</param>
/// <param name="output">Output.</param>
/// <param name="host">Host.</param>
public SimulatedHttpRequest(string appVirtualDir, string appPhysicalDir, string page, string query, TextWriter output, string host) : base(appVirtualDir, appPhysicalDir, page, query, output)
{
if(host == null || host.Length == 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException("host", "Host cannot be null nor empty.");
_host = host;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets the name of the server.
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public override string GetServerName()
{
return _host;
}
/// <summary>
/// Maps the path to a filesystem path.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="virtualPath">Virtual path.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public override string MapPath(string virtualPath)
{
return Path.Combine(this.GetAppPath(), virtualPath);
}
}
Within the SetUp method of my TestFixture, I call this method like so...
[SetUp]
public void SetUp()
{
_hostName = UnitTestHelper.GenerateUniqueHost();
UnitTestHelper.SetHttpContextWithBlogRequest(_hostName, "MyBlog");
}
Unfortunately, this so called “lightweight” approach has its limits. Any call in your code to HttpContext.Currert.Request.MapPath will throw an exception. I tried working around this, but it looks like I’m at an impasse. The MapPath method makes use of the HttpRuntime.AppDomainAppPath property. Unfortunately, I cannot simulate the HttpRuntime in a lightweight manner. There is a way to run the code being tested within an HttpRuntime, but that, of course, is the heavyweight Cassini method mentioned above.
[Listening to: The Joint/Wavefrint - DJ Hyper - Bedrock Breaks CD1 (5:35)]