Testing Model Validations?

ASP.NET MVC 2 allows you to do data validation, either using the de-facto Data Annotations or plugging in your own, much in the same way xVal work. If you’re interested in seeing how that works, take a look at this post.

This post however concerns testing. Here’s some code:

[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]

public ActionResult Create(Customer customer)

    if (ModelState.IsValid)

    return RedirectToAction("Index");

    return View(customer);

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This code checks to see if my model is valid. If it is, it then saves it (not in the code) and redirects to the index action, thus producing a RedirectToActionResult. If it is not valid, it will return a ViewResult. Here’s the model:

public class Customer

    [Required]

    public string FirstName { get; set; }

    [Required]

    public string LastName { get; set; }

Given the previous, what would you expect the following test to do? Pass or fail?

    [Fact]

    public void wont_give_you_any_hints()

    var controller = new CustomerController();

    var customer = new Customer();

    customer.FirstName = "Jak a.k.a. Casey";

    customer.LastName = String.Empty;

    var result = controller.Create(customer);

    Assert.IsType(typeof(ViewResult), result);

I’ll give you a hint. It fails. Now I understand why it fails. My problem however is that for me to test my model is valid is going to force me to change the way I have to write my code, and potentially make it less readable.

Testing Model Validations?

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