How to unit-test an MVC controller action which depends on authentication in c#?

Question

I'd like to write (in c#) a unit-test for an MVC controller action which might return one view or the other, depending on whether the request is authenticated. How can this be done?

Answer 1

You can mock your Request. Something like this (Moq using):

var request = new Mock<HttpRequestBase>();
request.SetupGet(x => x.IsAuthenticated).Returns(true); // or false

var context = new Mock<HttpContextBase>();
context.SetupGet(x => x.Request).Returns(request.Object);

var controller = new YourController();
controller.ControllerContext = 
       new ControllerContext(context.Object, new RouteData(), controller);

// test

ViewResult viewResult = (ViewResult)controller.SomeAction();

Assert.True(viewResult.ViewName == "ViewForAuthenticatedRequest");

Answer 2

Using mocking and dependency injection. The following assumes that you're checking that it is authenticated and then accessing the user object to get the user's id. Uses RhinoMocks.

// mock context variables
var username = "user";
var httpContext = MockRepository.GenerateMock<HttpContextBase>();
var request = MockRepository.GenerateMock<HttpRequestBase>();
var identity = MockRepository.GenerateMock<IIdentity>();
var principal = MockRepository.GenerateMock<IPrincipal>();

httpContext.Expect( c => c.Request ).Return( request ).Repeat.AtLeastOnce();
request.Expect( r => r.IsAuthenticated ).Return( true ).Repeat.AtLeastOnce();
httpContext.Expect( c => c.User ).Return( principal ).Repeat.AtLeastOnce();
principal.Expect( p => p.Identity ).Return( identity ).Repeat.AtLeastOnce();
identity.Expect( i => i.Name ).Return( username ).Repeat.AtLeastOnce();

var controller = new MyController();
// inject context
controller.ControllerContext = new ControllerContext( httpContext,
                                                      new RouteData(),
                                                      controller );

var result = controller.MyAction() as ViewResult;

Assert.IsNotNull( result );

// verify that expectations were met
identity.VerifyAllExpectations();
principal.VerifyAllExpectations();
request.VerifyAllExpectations();
httpContext.VerifyAllExpectations();