How do you mock the session object collection using Moq

I am using shanselmann's MvcMockHelper class to mock up some HttpContext stuff using Moq but the issue I am having is being able to assign something to my mocked session object in my MVC controller and then being able to read that same value in my unit test for verification purposes.

My question is how do you assign a storage collection to the mocked session object to allow code such as session["UserName"] = "foo" to retain the "foo" value and have it be available in the unit test.

From stackoverflow

• I think you can set an expectation on the mock with a specific value it should return whatever. Mocks are not used as actual fakes but rather things that you can assert behavior on.

  It sounds like you are actually looking for an adapter that you can wrap around the session that you can supply a different implementation during tests and during runtime it would return HttpContext Session items?

  Does this make sense?

• I just found a nice example of how the Oxite team fakes their HttpSessionState and maintains a SessionStateItemCollection collection within that fake. This should work just as well as a moq in my case.

  EDIT:

  URL for this example is http://oxite.codeplex.com/sourcecontrol/changeset/view/33871?projectName=oxite#388065

  Hamish Smith : for the benefit of others finding this question through searches, could you please post a link to the information you found that answers the question.

  Pure.Krome : +1 to a link for more info on this.

  andrecarlucci : I think he is talking about this class: http://oxite.codeplex.com/sourcecontrol/changeset/view/33871?projectName=oxite#388065

• Using Moq 3.0.308.2 here is an example of my account controller setup in my unit test:

      private AccountController GetAccountController ()
      {
        .. setup mocked services..
  
        var accountController = new AccountController (..mocked services..);
  
        var controllerContext = new Mock<ControllerContext> ();
        controllerContext.SetupGet(p => p.HttpContext.Session["test"]).Returns("Hello World");
        controllerContext.SetupGet(p => p.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name).Returns(_testEmail);
        controllerContext.SetupGet(p => p.HttpContext.Request.IsAuthenticated).Returns(true);
        controllerContext.SetupGet(p => p.HttpContext.Response.Cookies).Returns(new HttpCookieCollection ());
  
        controllerContext.Setup (p => p.HttpContext.Request.Form.Get ("ReturnUrl")).Returns ("sample-return-url");
        controllerContext.Setup (p => p.HttpContext.Request.Params.Get ("q")).Returns ("sample-search-term");
  
        accountController.ControllerContext = controllerContext.Object;
  
        return accountController;
      }
  

  then within your controller method the following should return "Hello World"

  string test = Session["test"].ToString ();
  

  Rob : Great answer! This was just what i needed to unit test data from my session

• I started with Scott Hanselman's MVCMockHelper, added a small class and made the modifications shown below to allow the controller to use Session normally and the unit test to verify the values that were set by the controller.

  /// <summary>
  /// A Class to allow simulation of SessionObject
  /// </summary>
  public class MockHttpSession : HttpSessionStateBase
  {
      Dictionary<string, object> m_SessionStorage = new Dictionary<string, object>();
  
      public override object this[string name]
      {
          get { return m_SessionStorage[name]; }
          set { m_SessionStorage[name] = value; }
      }
  }
  
  //In the MVCMockHelpers I modified the FakeHttpContext() method as shown below
  public static HttpContextBase FakeHttpContext()
  {
      var context = new Mock<HttpContextBase>();
      var request = new Mock<HttpRequestBase>();
      var response = new Mock<HttpResponseBase>();
      var session = new MockHttpSession();
      var server = new Mock<HttpServerUtilityBase>();
  
      context.Setup(ctx => ctx.Request).Returns(request.Object);
      context.Setup(ctx => ctx.Response).Returns(response.Object);
      context.Setup(ctx => ctx.Session).Returns(session);
      context.Setup(ctx => ctx.Server).Returns(server.Object);
  
      return context.Object;
  }
  
  //Now in the unit test i can do
  AccountController acct = new AccountController();
  acct.SetFakeControllerContext();
  acct.SetBusinessObject(mockBO.Object);
  
  RedirectResult results = (RedirectResult)acct.LogOn(userName, password, rememberMe, returnUrl);
  Assert.AreEqual(returnUrl, results.Url);
  Assert.AreEqual(userName, acct.Session["txtUserName"]);
  Assert.IsNotNull(acct.Session["SessionGUID"]);
  

  It's not perfect but it works enough for testing.

  DavidWhitney : Thanks for this sample, it's been very useful. I've modified your MockHttpSession slightly to return null rather than throw an exception when the key does not exist in the dictionary to more closely mimic the HttpSession object. Just a tip for other consumers.