WebApplicationContext is required

I'm trying to unit test a controller class, but have been stuck with the following error. I tried changing notations and following some online tutorials but it has not been working, I always get this same error. Here's the stackTrace:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: WebApplicationContext is required
at org.springframework.util.Assert.notNull(Assert.java:201)
at org.springframework.test.web.servlet.setup.DefaultMockMvcBuilder.<init>(DefaultMockMvcBuilder.java:52)
at org.springframework.test.web.servlet.setup.MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(MockMvcBuilders.java:51)
at br.com.gwcloud.smartplace.catalog.controller.test.ItemControllerTest.setUp(ItemControllerTest.java:66)
...

And this is my controller test class:

@SpringBootTest
@WebMvcTest(controllers = ItemController.class)

@ActiveProfiles("test")
@WebAppConfiguration
public class ItemControllerTest {

    @MockBean
    private ItemRepository ir;
    @Autowired
    private MockMvc mockMvc;
    @Autowired
    private ModelMapper modelMapper;
    @Autowired
    private WebApplicationContext webApplicationContext;
    @Autowired
    private ObjectMapper objectMapper;

    @Before
    public void setUp() {
        this.mockMvc = webAppContextSetup(webApplicationContext).build();
        DefaultMockMvcBuilder builder = MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(this.webApplicationContext);
        this.mockMvc = builder.build();
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldCreateNewItem() throws Exception {
        
        ItemDTO itemDTO = new ItemDTO();
        itemDTO.setName("Leo");
        itemDTO.setDescription("abc description");
        itemDTO.setEnabled(true);
        itemDTO.setPartNumber("leo123");
        Item item = itemDTO.convertToEntity(modelMapper);
        
          mockMvc.perform(
                    post("/api/item/").contentType(
                        MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).content(objectMapper.writeValueAsString(item))).andExpect(
                    status().isOk());
    }

}

CodePudding user response：

The error you are encountering might be solved by adding:

@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)

Just below @SpringBootTest. Or you could instead extend AbstractJUnit4SpringContextTests.

Another problem is that the WebApplicationContext might not be available in an @Before annotated method. Try moving it into the test method itself.

That said, I usually avoid unit testing controllers, since I don't put any business logic in them. The stuff controllers do is specifying paths, mapping request arguments, error handling (although that is better handled in a separate ControllerAdvice class), setting up the view model and view target etc. These are all what I call 'plumbing' and tie in heavily with the framework you are using. I don't unit test that.

Instead, this plumbing can be validated by having a couple of high level integration tests that actually do a remote call to the controller and execute a complete flow, including all the plumbing.

Any business logic should be taken outside of the controller (typically in services) and unit tested there, in isolation.

CodePudding user response：

Have you tried removing @SpringBootTest and @WebAppConfiguration. If you are only interested in testing controller you don't need a full-blown application through these annotations.