ASP.NET MVC 2 allows you to do data validation, either using the de-facto Data Annotations or plugging in your own, much in the same way xVal work. If you’re interested in seeing how that works, take a look at this post.
This post however concerns testing. Here’s some code:
[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
public ActionResult Create(Customer customer)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
return View(customer);
}
.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
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background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
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.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }
This code checks to see if my model is valid. If it is, it then saves it (not in the code) and redirects to the index action, thus producing a RedirectToActionResult. If it is not valid, it will return a ViewResult. Here’s the model:
public class Customer
{
[Required]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[Required]
public string LastName { get; set; }
}
.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }
Given the previous, what would you expect the following test to do? Pass or fail?
[Fact]
public void wont_give_you_any_hints()
{
var controller = new CustomerController();
var customer = new Customer();
customer.FirstName = "Jak a.k.a. Casey";
customer.LastName = String.Empty;
var result = controller.Create(customer);
Assert.IsType(typeof(ViewResult), result);
}
.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }
I’ll give you a hint. It fails. Now I understand why it fails. My problem however is that for me to test my model is valid is going to force me to change the way I have to write my code, and potentially make it less readable.
This is an ugly test. I would prefer to inject a fake ModelState and verify what happen if the modelstate isn’t valid. Then I would test my entities-constraints in another test.
This is my entity validator for dataannotations: http://digg.com/u1E2Gb.
@Jose,
I’m not testing Data Annotations. I’m testing the Controller. If I want to fake the ModelState I might as well set ModelState.AddModelError(…)