Unit test controller logic in ASP.NET Core

Unit tests of controller logic

Unit tests involve testing a part of an app in isolation from its infrastructure and dependencies. When unit testing controller logic, only the contents of a single action are tested, not the behavior of its dependencies or of the framework itself.

Set up unit tests of controller actions to focus on the controller’s behavior. A controller unit test avoids scenarios such as filters, routing, and model binding. Tests that cover the interactions among components that collectively respond to a request are handled by integration tests. For more information on integration tests, see Integration tests in ASP.NET Core.

If you’re writing custom filters and routes, unit test them in isolation, not as part of tests on a particular controller action.

To demonstrate controller unit tests, review the following controller in the sample app. The Home controller displays a list of brainstorming sessions and allows the creation of new brainstorming sessions with a POST request:

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    private readonly IBrainstormSessionRepository _sessionRepository;

    public HomeController(IBrainstormSessionRepository sessionRepository)
    {
        _sessionRepository = sessionRepository;
    }

    public async Task<IActionResult> Index()
    {
        var sessionList = await _sessionRepository.ListAsync();

        var model = sessionList.Select(session => new StormSessionViewModel()
        {
            Id = session.Id,
            DateCreated = session.DateCreated,
            Name = session.Name,
            IdeaCount = session.Ideas.Count
        });

        return View(model);
    }

    public class NewSessionModel
    {
        [Required]
        public string SessionName { get; set; }
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public async Task<IActionResult> Index(NewSessionModel model)
    {
        if (!ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            return BadRequest(ModelState);
        }
        else
        {
            await _sessionRepository.AddAsync(new BrainstormSession()
            {
                DateCreated = DateTimeOffset.Now,
                Name = model.SessionName
            });
        }

        return RedirectToAction(actionName: nameof(Index));
    }
}

The HTTP GET Index method has no looping or branching and only calls one method. The unit test for this action:

Mocks the IBrainstormSessionRepository service using the GetTestSessions method. GetTestSessions creates two mock brainstorm sessions with dates and session names. Executes the Index method. Makes assertions on the result returned by the method: A ViewResult is returned. The ViewDataDictionary.Model is a StormSessionViewModel. There are two brainstorming sessions stored in the ViewDataDictionary.Model.

[Fact]
public async Task Index_ReturnsAViewResult_WithAListOfBrainstormSessions()
{
    // Arrange
    var mockRepo = new Mock<IBrainstormSessionRepository>();
    mockRepo.Setup(repo => repo.ListAsync())
        .ReturnsAsync(GetTestSessions());
    var controller = new HomeController(mockRepo.Object);

    // Act
    var result = await controller.Index();

    // Assert
    var viewResult = Assert.IsType<ViewResult>(result);
    var model = Assert.IsAssignableFrom<IEnumerable<StormSessionViewModel>>(
        viewResult.ViewData.Model);
    Assert.Equal(2, model.Count());
}

private List<BrainstormSession> GetTestSessions()
{
    var sessions = new List<BrainstormSession>();
    sessions.Add(new BrainstormSession()
    {
        DateCreated = new DateTime(2016, 7, 2),
        Id = 1,
        Name = "Test One"
    });
    sessions.Add(new BrainstormSession()
    {
        DateCreated = new DateTime(2016, 7, 1),
        Id = 2,
        Name = "Test Two"
    });
    return sessions;
}

The Home controller’s HTTP POST Index method tests verifies that:

When ModelState.IsValid is false, the action method returns a 400 Bad Request ViewResult with the appropriate data. When ModelState.IsValid is true: The Add method on the repository is called. A RedirectToActionResult is returned with the correct arguments. An invalid model state is tested by adding errors using AddModelError as shown in the first test below:

[Fact]
public async Task IndexPost_ReturnsBadRequestResult_WhenModelStateIsInvalid()
{
    // Arrange
    var mockRepo = new Mock<IBrainstormSessionRepository>();
    mockRepo.Setup(repo => repo.ListAsync())
        .ReturnsAsync(GetTestSessions());
    var controller = new HomeController(mockRepo.Object);
    controller.ModelState.AddModelError("SessionName", "Required");
    var newSession = new HomeController.NewSessionModel();

    // Act
    var result = await controller.Index(newSession);

    // Assert
    var badRequestResult = Assert.IsType<BadRequestObjectResult>(result);
    Assert.IsType<SerializableError>(badRequestResult.Value);
}

[Fact]
public async Task IndexPost_ReturnsARedirectAndAddsSession_WhenModelStateIsValid()
{
    // Arrange
    var mockRepo = new Mock<IBrainstormSessionRepository>();
    mockRepo.Setup(repo => repo.AddAsync(It.IsAny<BrainstormSession>()))
        .Returns(Task.CompletedTask)
        .Verifiable();
    var controller = new HomeController(mockRepo.Object);
    var newSession = new HomeController.NewSessionModel()
    {
        SessionName = "Test Name"
    };

    // Act
    var result = await controller.Index(newSession);

    // Assert
    var redirectToActionResult = Assert.IsType<RedirectToActionResult>(result);
    Assert.Null(redirectToActionResult.ControllerName);
    Assert.Equal("Index", redirectToActionResult.ActionName);
    mockRepo.Verify();
}

For more info click this ling