Test ResponseBody return List

[Alex Giovi]

How could I test this method in my controller:

public class EmployeeController {

  @Autowired
  EmployeeRepository employRepository;

@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET, value = "/search/employee")
public @ResponseBody List<Employee> getEmployeeList() {

    List<Employee> Emp_All;
    Emp_All = employRepository.findAll();       
    return Emp_All;
    }
   }

I tried with this code, but I get a NullPointerException with the employRepository List.

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
 @WebAppConfiguration
 @ContextConfiguration(locations={"classpath*:/META-INF/spring/applicationContext.xml"})

public class EmployeeTest {
   @InjectMocks
   private EmployeeController employ= new EmployeeController();
   private MockMvc mockMvc;  

public void setUp() {
mockMvc = MockMvcBuilders.standaloneSetup(employ).build();
}

@Test       
public void EmployeeListTest() throws Exception{

     MockHttpServletRequest mockRequest = new MockHttpServletRequest();        
     mockRequest.setMethod("GET");
     mockRequest.setRequestURI("/search/employee");                                                                 
     MockHttpServletResponse mockResponse = new MockHttpServletResponse();
     handlerAdapter.handle(mockRequest, mockResponse, employ);

    ModelAndView modelAndView = handlerAdapter.handle(request, response,employ);
    assertNotNull(employ.getEmployeeList());
   }
 }

employRepository return a list of 2 elemets, i don't know why when calling the getEmployeeList() from Test method with mockmvc , Emp_All is not populated?
Any help would be much appreciated

[Dave Tolls]

Where in that tells the mock to return 2 employees?
Or anything in fact.
'null' is the default return value from a mock call that hasn't been set up yet.

[Alex Giovi]

I'm writing this because just toexplain that when i test just the employRepository.findAll() statement in the controller class
it returns 2 employee but when i tried to test this controller from another class test , i still have NPE
on this same statement,sincerely i don't know if i have to include a test repository statement in my test method ,
and how could be with mockmvc,i thought the perform.get will call the main controller or method, execute
the empRepository statement and return a list but the origin of NPE in this case is anonymous for me,
is there another way to test this method?
Thanks

[Dave Tolls]

I don't know the Spring MVC mocking framework, but any mocking framework requires you to provide (if needed) a return value when a method on a mocked object is called.

You say you have an NPE occurring. I assume this is the List (Emp_All), if not then you'll have to provide some more info as to what is null.
If I'm correct, then Emp_All is null because it looks to me as if you haven't provided any return value via the mocked employRepository.

Looking at this SO thread it looks like you need to have a mocked version of your employRepository accessible.
Then you can set up some expectations (when(employRepo.findAll()).thenReturn(your list of employees)).

[Alex Giovi]

Thanks Dave,i added a mock to repository in test code but it doesn't work,
the problem that i still have the same error , and in debug mode,the compiler doesn't reach the getEmployeeList() method with url provided in mockMvc
i'll try seraching for solution