mvc controller test with session attribute

[Alex Giovi]

I'm trying to test a method with this signature:

@Autowired
HttpSession http_Session;
@RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.GET, value="/search/findByName")
public @ResponseBody List<Map> search(@RequestParam(value="name", required=true) String name){
Integer user_id = http_Session.getAttribute("userInfo");
}

userinfo is a class which contains informations about the user and set in session scope when the user logged in.but when I try the test :

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

 public class userControllerTest {

private MockMvc mockMvc;  
@Autowired
private WebApplicationContext webApplicationContext;

@Before 
public void setUp() {
    MockitoAnnotations.initMocks(this);
    this.mockMvc = MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(this.webApplicationContext).build();
 }  
 @Test
 public void userTest() throws Exception {
     mockMvc.perform(MockMvcRequestBuilders.get("/search/findByName").param("name", "bob"))
          .andDo(print())
          .andExpect(MockMvcResultMatchers.status().isOk());
    }

The problem is the userinfo class attribute is set in another method so when i try to access it in this method i got a NullPointerException , and with Autowiring the httpSession i got a new Session for each method i have to test.

What should i do with the session attribute, my method doesn't accept a session parameter , and for each test it create a WebApplicationContext with a new session.

[Bill Gorder]

My first advice is don't autowire in the session like that and get rid of those nasty _ in your variable names If you need the whole session spring will provide it in the method arguments. Take a look at the following post for how to use mock sessions (look at the last answer not the accepted answer)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13687055/spring-mvc-3-1-integration-tests-with-session-support

@RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.GET, value="/search/findByName")  
public @ResponseBody List<Map> search(@RequestParam(value="name", required=true) String name, HttpSession httpSession){  
//Spring will automatically provide the HttpSession when defined as a method paramater  
}  

[Alex Giovi]

Thanks, i resolved the problem.