Populate HTTPContext.Item in MVC unit testing

Question

We have the following lines in one of the functions in the MVC controller.

public ActionResult EditEmp(int eId = 0)
{
    EPermission ePermission =  (EPermission)HttpContext.Items["empPermission"];
}

In my unit test, I am calling this controller to test.

public void TestMethod1()
{
   var result = eController.EditEmp(10) as ViewResult;
}

My test case fails because there is no value in the HttpContext for empPermission during the runtime.

We are wondering how can we populate the HttpContext.Items with a value so it can pick up during the runtime. We have look for some examples in mock, but not any luck so far.

This question is incomplete and wont compile. Provide a [mcve] that can be used to reproduce the problem. Maybe then better help can be provided. — Nkosi, Apr 29 '17 at 00:19
Possible duplicate of [How do I mock the HttpContext in ASP.NET MVC using Moq?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1452418/how-do-i-mock-the-httpcontext-in-asp-net-mvc-using-moq) — ctyar, Apr 29 '17 at 10:28

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

You need to mock the HttpContext. Here is an example of code that should run in your unit test (preferably on TestInitialize) before calling your controller method:

    var httpRequest = new HttpRequest("", "http://mySomething/", "");
    var stringWriter = new StringWriter();
    var httpResponce = new HttpResponse(stringWriter);
    var httpContext = new HttpContext(httpRequest, httpResponce);

    var sessionContainer = new HttpSessionStateContainer("id", new SessionStateItemCollection(),
                                                         new HttpStaticObjectsCollection(), 10, true,
                                                         HttpCookieMode.AutoDetect,
                                                         SessionStateMode.InProc, false);

    httpContext.Items["AspSession"] = typeof(HttpSessionState).GetConstructor(
                                             BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance,
                                             null, CallingConventions.Standard,
                                             new[] { typeof(HttpSessionStateContainer) },
                                             null)
                                        .Invoke(new object[] { sessionContainer });

    HttpContext.Current = httpContext;

    HttpContext.Current.User = new GenericPrincipal(
        new GenericIdentity("WSUSER"),
        new string[0]

Possible repeat of Mock HttpContext.Current in Test Init Method

Populate HTTPContext.Item in MVC unit testing

1 Answers1