Writing Unit Test for methods that use User.Identity.Name in ASP.NET Web API

Question

I am writing test cases using the Unit Test for ASP.NET Web API.

Now I have an action which makes a call to some method I have defined in the service layer, where I have used the following line of code.

string username = User.Identity.Name;
// do something with username
// return something

Now how to I create unit test method for this, I am getting null reference exceptions. I am kinda new to writing unit test and stuff.

I want to use Unit Test only for this. Please help me out on this.

are you trying to test the action method or the service layer method? — IMLiviu, Oct 08 '12 at 12:14

tugberk · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-21T09:15:48.133

47

The below one is only one way of doing this:

public class FooController : ApiController {

    public string Get() {

        return User.Identity.Name;
    }
}

public class FooTest {

    [Fact]
    public void Foo() {

        var identity = new GenericIdentity("tugberk");
        Thread.CurrentPrincipal = new GenericPrincipal(identity, null);
        var controller = new FooController();

        Assert.Equal(controller.Get(), identity.Name);
    }
}

edited Jun 21 '14 at 09:15

answered Oct 08 '12 at 12:45

tugberk

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3

It's an xUnit thing. Don't worry about it. – tugberk Oct 08 '12 at 12:50
4

Its worth noting that this solution doesn't work for MVC controllers...only API controllers. – JTech Nov 21 '16 at 01:36
Only User.Identity.Name is working perfectly but not the method User.Identity.GetUserId() – OmGanesh Jul 06 '17 at 15:39
@tugberk How to achive the same in mvc controller? – Rajesh Shetty Sep 05 '17 at 09:32

score 17 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 03 '12 at 18:00

Here's another way I found in the NerdDinner testing tutorial. It worked in my case:

DinnersController CreateDinnersControllerAs(string userName)
{

    var mock = new Mock<ControllerContext>();
    mock.SetupGet(p => p.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name).Returns(userName);
    mock.SetupGet(p => p.HttpContext.Request.IsAuthenticated).Returns(true);

    var controller = CreateDinnersController();
    controller.ControllerContext = mock.Object;

    return controller;
}

[TestMethod]
public void EditAction_Should_Return_EditView_When_ValidOwner()
{

    // Arrange
    var controller = CreateDinnersControllerAs("SomeUser");

    // Act
    var result = controller.Edit(1) as ViewResult;

    // Assert
    Assert.IsInstanceOfType(result.ViewData.Model, typeof(DinnerFormViewModel));
}

Make sure you read the full section: Mocking the User.Identity.Name property

It uses the Moq mocking framework that you can install in your Test project using NuGet: http://nuget.org/packages/moq

yes I have recently started using Moq for my new project, will surely consider this approach fr next time — Yasser Shaikh, Nov 03 '12 at 18:06
I just wrote this answer because the accepted one did not work in my case. Don't know why... :) — Leniel Maccaferri, Nov 03 '12 at 18:07
If I'm not mistaken, this answer more applies to MVC than Web API. Might be why the accepted answer didn't work for you — Craig Brett, Dec 21 '17 at 09:04

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 17 '13 at 18:43

11

With WebApi 5.0 this is slightly different. You can now do:

controller.User = new ClaimsPrincipal(
  new GenericPrincipal(new GenericIdentity("user"), null));

answered Sep 17 '13 at 18:43

jonnii

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15

I'm looking at v5.2.0.0 of `Controller` in System.Web.Mvc.dll, and `IPrincipal User` only has a `get`, no `set`... – pennstatephil Sep 02 '14 at 20:36

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

1

None of this ended up working for me, I used the solution on another question which uses Moq to set up a user name in the ControllerContext: https://stackoverflow.com/a/6752924/347455

edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

Community

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answered Sep 03 '14 at 15:39

pennstatephil

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 08 '17 at 08:57

1

This is my solution.

var claims = new List<Claim>
{
    new Claim(ClaimTypes.Name, "Nikita"),
    new Claim(ClaimTypes.NameIdentifier, "1")
};

var identity = new ClaimsIdentity(claims);
IPrincipal user = new ClaimsPrincipal(identity);

controller.User = user;

answered Dec 08 '17 at 08:57

Nikita

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"Property or indexer 'ControllerBase.User' cannot be assigned to -- it is read only" – Fred Jun 04 '19 at 09:29

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 01 '14 at 12:28

Here i found the solution for another way that how to set the user identity name for the controller level testing from the test method.

public static void SetUserIdentityName(string userId)
        {
            IPrincipal principal = null;
            principal = new GenericPrincipal(new GenericIdentity(userId), 
            new string[0]);
            Thread.CurrentPrincipal = principal;
            if (HttpContext.Current != null)
            {
                HttpContext.Current.User = principal;
            }
        }

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 12 '17 at 02:08

If you have lots of Controllers to Test then I Would Suggest to create a base class and in the constructor create a GenericIdentity & GenericPrincipal and set Thread.CurrentPrincipal

GenericPrincipal principal = new GenericPrincipal(new 
    GenericIdentity("UserName"),null); Thread.CurrentPrincipal = principal;

Then Inherit that class .. So that way every Unit Test class will have Principle Object Set

[TestClass]
public class BaseUnitTest
{
    public BaseUnitTest()
    {
      GenericPrincipal principal = new GenericPrincipal(new GenericIdentity("UserName"),null);   
      Thread.CurrentPrincipal = principal;
    }
}


[TestClass]
public class AdminUnitTest : BaseUnitTest
{
   [TestMethod]
   public void Admin_Application_GetAppliction()
   {
   }
}

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 11 '17 at 08:45

0

When I run Unit test - in my case it uses Windows authentication and Identity.Name is my domain name, which I also want to change for the test. So I use such approach with 'hacking' things I want in IAuthenticationFilter

answered Aug 11 '17 at 08:45

Alexander

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Writing Unit Test for methods that use User.Identity.Name in ASP.NET Web API

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