Spring MVC - Unit Testing PUT Requests

This tutorial shows how to use Spring unit testing API and mock objects to test controllers which handle PUT requests.

Example

The controller

@Controller
@RequestMapping("/articles")
public class ArticleController {

  //for xml and json
  @PutMapping("/{id}")
  @ResponseBody
  public String createNewArticle(@RequestBody Article article) {
      System.out.println("Creating Article in controller: " + article);
      return "Article created.";
  }

  //for x-www-form-urlencoded
  @PutMapping(value = "/{id}", consumes = MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED_VALUE)
  @ResponseBody
  public String createNewArticleWithFormParams(@RequestBody MultiValueMap<String, String> formParams) {
      System.out.println("Creating Article in controller. MultiValueMap= " + formParams);
      return "Article created.";
  }
}

@XmlRootElement
public class Article {
  private long id;
  private String content;
    .............
}

Java Config

@EnableWebMvc
@Configuration
@ComponentScan
public class MyWebConfig implements WebMvcConfigurer {
}

Unit Tests

Let's create and run our tests for XML, JSON and x-www-form-urlencoded requests one by one.

Testing XML PUT request

Running test ControllerPutTests.testXmlController() from the IDE:

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@WebAppConfiguration
@ContextConfiguration(classes = MyWebConfig.class)
public class ControllerPutTests {
  @Autowired
  private WebApplicationContext wac;
  private MockMvc mockMvc;
    .............
  @Test
  public void testXmlController() throws Exception {
      long id = 1;
      MockHttpServletRequestBuilder builder =
              MockMvcRequestBuilders.put("/articles/" + id)
                                    .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE)
                                    .accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_XML)
                                    .characterEncoding("UTF-8")
                                    .content(getArticleInXml(1));
      this.mockMvc.perform(builder)
                  .andExpect(MockMvcResultMatchers.status()
                                                  .isOk())
                  .andExpect(MockMvcResultMatchers.content()
                                                  .string("Article created."))
                  .andDo(MockMvcResultHandlers.print());
  }
    .............
  private String getArticleInXml(long id) {
      return "<article><id>" + id + "</id><content>test data</content></article>";
  }
}

Output

Creating Article in controller: Article{id=1, content='test data'}

MockHttpServletRequest:
      HTTP Method = PUT
      Request URI = /articles/1
       Parameters = {}
          Headers = {Content-Type=[application/xml;charset=UTF-8], Accept=[application/xml]}
             Body = <article><id>1</id><content>test data</content></article>
    Session Attrs = {}

Handler:
             Type = com.logicbig.example.ArticleController
           Method = public java.lang.String com.logicbig.example.ArticleController.createNewArticle(com.logicbig.example.Article)

Async:
    Async started = false
     Async result = null

Resolved Exception:
             Type = null

ModelAndView:
        View name = null
             View = null
            Model = null

FlashMap:
       Attributes = null

MockHttpServletResponse:
           Status = 200
    Error message = null
          Headers = {Content-Type=[application/xml;charset=ISO-8859-1], Content-Length=[16]}
     Content type = application/xml;charset=ISO-8859-1
             Body = Article created.
    Forwarded URL = null
   Redirected URL = null
          Cookies = []

Testing JSON PUT request

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@WebAppConfiguration
@ContextConfiguration(classes = MyWebConfig.class)
public class ControllerPutTests {
  @Autowired
  private WebApplicationContext wac;
  private MockMvc mockMvc;
    .............
  @Test
  public void testJsonController() throws Exception {
      long id = 1;
      MockHttpServletRequestBuilder builder =
              MockMvcRequestBuilders.put("/articles/" + id)
                                    .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
                                    .accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
                                    .characterEncoding("UTF-8")
                                    .content(getArticleInJson(1));
      this.mockMvc.perform(builder)
                  .andExpect(MockMvcResultMatchers.status()
                                                  .isOk())
                  .andExpect(MockMvcResultMatchers.content()
                                                  .string("Article created."))
                  .andDo(MockMvcResultHandlers.print());
  }
    .............
  private String getArticleInJson(long id) {
      return "{\"id\":\"" + id + "\", \"content\":\"test data\"}";
  }
    .............
}

Output

Creating Article in controller: Article{id=1, content='test data'}

MockHttpServletRequest:
      HTTP Method = PUT
      Request URI = /articles/1
       Parameters = {}
          Headers = {Content-Type=[application/json;charset=UTF-8], Accept=[application/json]}
             Body = {"id":"1", "content":"test data"}
    Session Attrs = {}

Handler:
             Type = com.logicbig.example.ArticleController
           Method = public java.lang.String com.logicbig.example.ArticleController.createNewArticle(com.logicbig.example.Article)

Async:
    Async started = false
     Async result = null

Resolved Exception:
             Type = null

ModelAndView:
        View name = null
             View = null
            Model = null

FlashMap:
       Attributes = null

MockHttpServletResponse:
           Status = 200
    Error message = null
          Headers = {Content-Type=[application/json;charset=ISO-8859-1], Content-Length=[16]}
     Content type = application/json;charset=ISO-8859-1
             Body = Article created.
    Forwarded URL = null
   Redirected URL = null
          Cookies = []

Testing x-www-form-urlencoded PUT request

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@WebAppConfiguration
@ContextConfiguration(classes = MyWebConfig.class)
public class ControllerPutTests {
  @Autowired
  private WebApplicationContext wac;
  private MockMvc mockMvc;
    .............
  @Test
  public void testFormParamController() throws Exception {
      String id = "1";
      MockHttpServletRequestBuilder builder =
              MockMvcRequestBuilders.put("/articles/" + id)
                                    .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED_VALUE)
                                    .accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED)
                                    .characterEncoding("UTF-8")
                                    .content("id=" + id + "&content=test data");
      this.mockMvc.perform(builder)
                  .andExpect(MockMvcResultMatchers.status()
                                                  .isOk())
                  .andExpect(MockMvcResultMatchers.content()
                                                  .string("Article created."))
                  .andDo(MockMvcResultHandlers.print());
  }
    .............
}

Output

Creating Article in controller. MultiValueMap= {id=[1], content=[test data]}

MockHttpServletRequest:
      HTTP Method = PUT
      Request URI = /articles/1
       Parameters = {id=[1], content=[test data]}
          Headers = {Content-Type=[application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=UTF-8], Accept=[application/x-www-form-urlencoded]}
             Body = id=1&content=test data
    Session Attrs = {}

Handler:
             Type = com.logicbig.example.ArticleController

Async:
    Async started = false
     Async result = null

Resolved Exception:
             Type = null

ModelAndView:
        View name = null
             View = null
            Model = null

FlashMap:
       Attributes = null

MockHttpServletResponse:
           Status = 200
    Error message = null
          Headers = {Content-Type=[application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=ISO-8859-1], Content-Length=[16]}
     Content type = application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=ISO-8859-1
             Body = Article created.
    Forwarded URL = null
   Redirected URL = null
          Cookies = []

Example Project

Dependencies and Technologies Used:

• spring-webmvc 5.0.3.RELEASE: Spring Web MVC.
• jackson-databind 2.9.4: General data-binding functionality for Jackson: works on core streaming API.
• spring-test 5.0.3.RELEASE: Spring TestContext Framework.
• junit 4.12: JUnit is a unit testing framework for Java, created by Erich Gamma and Kent Beck.
• javax.servlet-api 3.0.1 Java Servlet API
• JDK 1.8
• Maven 3.3.9