Setting session attributes for JUnits on Spring 3.2

Question

I'm having trouble setting session attributes for a test. I am using MockMvc to test calls to a controller. The session model has a member attribute on it (representing the person who has logged in). The SessionModel object is added as a session attribute. I was expecting it to be populated in the ModelMap parameter to formBacking method below, but the ModelMap is always empty.

The controller code works fine when running through the webapp, but not in the JUnit. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

Here is my JUnit Test

@Test
  public void testUnitCreatePostSuccess() throws Exception {

    UnitCreateModel expected = new UnitCreateModel();
    expected.reset();
    expected.getUnit().setName("Bob");

    SessionModel sm = new SessionModel();
    sm.setMember(getDefaultMember());

    this.mockMvc.perform(
        post("/units/create")
        .param("unit.name", "Bob")
        .sessionAttr(SessionModel.KEY, sm))
        .andExpect(status().isOk())
        .andExpect(model().attribute("unitCreateModel", expected))
        .andExpect(view().name("tiles.content.unit.create"));

  }

and here is the controller in question

@Controller
@SessionAttributes({ SessionModel.KEY, UnitCreateModel.KEY })
@RequestMapping("/units")
public class UnitCreateController extends ABaseController {

  private static final String CREATE = "tiles.content.unit.create";

  @Autowired
  private IUnitMemberService unitMemberService;

  @Autowired
  private IUnitService unitService;

  @ModelAttribute
  public void formBacking(ModelMap model) {

    SessionModel instanceSessionModel = new SessionModel();
    instanceSessionModel.retrieveOrCreate(model);

    UnitCreateModel instanceModel = new UnitCreateModel();
    instanceModel.retrieveOrCreate(model);
  }

  @RequestMapping(value = "/create", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public String onCreate(
      @ModelAttribute(UnitCreateModel.KEY) UnitCreateModel model, 
      @ModelAttribute(SessionModel.KEY) SessionModel sessionModel) {

    model.reset();

    return CREATE;
  }

  @RequestMapping(value = "/create", method = RequestMethod.POST)
  public String onCreatePost(
      @ModelAttribute(SessionModel.KEY) SessionModel sessionModel,
      @Valid @ModelAttribute(UnitCreateModel.KEY) UnitCreateModel model, 
      BindingResult result) throws ServiceRecoverableException {

    if (result.hasErrors()){
      return CREATE;
    }

    long memberId = sessionModel.getMember().getId();

    long unitId = unitService.create(model.getUnit());
    unitMemberService.addMemberToUnit(memberId, unitId, true);

    return CREATE;
  }

}

Answer 1

For your test class add the @WebAppConfiguration annotation and autowire the following as well.(WebApplicationContext and MockHttpSession )

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@WebAppConfiguration
@ContextConfiguration({ "classpath:springDispatcher-servlet.xml" })
public class MySessionControllerTest {
    @Autowired WebApplicationContext wac; 
    @Autowired MockHttpSession session;

    private MockMvc mockMvc;

    @Before
    public void setup() {
        this.mockMvc = MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(this.wac).build();
    }

    @Test
    public void testUnitCreatePostSuccess() throws Exception {
        UnitCreateModel expected = new UnitCreateModel();
        expected.reset();
        expected.getUnit().setName("Bob");

        SessionModel sm = new SessionModel();
        sm.setMember(getDefaultMember());
        session.setAttribute(SessionModel.KEY, sm);
        this.mockMvc.perform(
            post("/units/create")
            .session(session)
            .param("unit.name", "Bob")
            .andExpect(status().isOk())
            .andExpect(model().attribute("unitCreateModel", expected))
            .andExpect(view().name("tiles.content.unit.create"));

  }
}