When to use?
Your test case class should extend
ServletTestCasewhenever you are unit testing:
- Servlets,
- Any java code that uses Servlet API objects (
HttpServletRequest, ...)
Provided Implicit Objects
Cactus automatically initializes the implicit objects for you and they are made available to your
setUp(),testXXX()andtearDown()methods as instance variables of theServletTestCaseclass (and thus as instance variables of your test case class as it extendsServletTestCase).You may ask yourself how Cactus initializes these objects. The mechanism is described in the How it works guide.The provided implicit objects are:
request
Instance variable name requestClass name org.apache.cactus.server.HttpServletRequestWrapper, which inherits fromjavax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequestCactus wraps methods of the original HTTP request in order to return the HTTP related parameters set up in the
beginXXX()method. Thus, you will be able to pass this request object to your code to test and set the needed parameter in thebeginXXX()method.For example, if your code under test calls
getCookies()on the request object that you have passed to it, it will return the cookies that you have added to the HTTP request inbeginXXX()by calling theWebRequest.addCookie()method.See the javadoc for the
org.apache.cactus.WebRequestandorg.apache.cactus.server.HttpServletRequestWrapperclasses for all details. You should also look at the samples provided in the Cactus distribution.Additional methods
Cactus provides some additional methods to ease writing tests (see the javadoc for full details). These methods are provided because it is not easy (if not downright impossible in some cases) to simulate them with real configuration data:
setRemoteIPAddress(): sets the remote IP address that will be returned bygetRemoteIPAddress(),setRemoteHostName(): sets the remote Host name that will be returned bygetRemoteHostName(),setRemoteUser(): sets the remote user name that will be returned bygetRemoteUser().response
Instance variable name responseClass name javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponseCactus does not wrap the response.config
Instance variable name configClass name org.apache.cactus.server.ServletConfigWrapper, which inherits fromjavax.servlet.ServletConfigCactus wraps the original Servlet Config for two reasons:
- In order to provide additional methods. For example, it is possible to initialise parameters without setting them in
web.xml, etc...,- So that it can return a wrapped Servlet Context instead of the original one. This is because the Servlet Context is used to perform forwards and includes and we need to pass to these methods the original request and response. As we have wrapped the request, we need to wrap the Servlet Context to pass the original request (and not the wrapped one).
The
configimplicit object will contain all initialisation parameters defined inweb.xmlunder the Servlet Redirector servlet definition.See the javadoc for the
org.apache.cactus.server.ServletConfigWrapperclass for all details. You should also look at the samples provided in the Cactus distribution.Additional methods
Additional methods provided:
setInitParameter(): sets an initialisation parameter (as if it has been defined in theweb.xmlfile),setServletName(): sets the Servlet name that will be returned bygetServletName()(if not set, the Cactus Servlet redirector name will be returned).ServletContextWrapper
This is not an implicit object per see (as it is not accessible as an instance variable). It is available by calling
config.getServletContext().However, Cactus wraps the
ServletContextin aServletContextWrapperin order to take into account simulated URLs and provide additional methods to help write tests.See the javadoc for the
org.apache.cactus.server.ServletContextWrapperclass for all details. You should also look at the samples provided in the Cactus distribution.Additional methods
Additional methods provided:
getLogs(): returns the text that has been logged by calls toServletContext.log()methods. This is a helper method that makes it easy to assert what is logged.session
Instance variable name sessionClass name javax.servlet.http.HttpSessionCactus does not wrap the response.By default, Cactus always creates an HTRP session for your test case. It is possible to tell it not to do so by calling the
WebRequest.setAutomaticSession(false)method (it istrueby default). This could be useful for cases where your code under test verifies branches when "request.getSession(false)" isnull.
Tips and Tricks
Parameter initialisation
If your code under test make use of any of the servlet methods inherited from
javax.servlet.GenericServlet(these are thelog(),getServletConfig(), ... methods), then you need to call theinit(ServletConfig)method of your servlet to initialise its internalServletConfigobject.For example:
public void testXXX() { MyServletToTest servlet = new MyServletToTest(); servlet.init(config); // Call a method to test that uses a method inherited from Generic Servlet servlet.someMethodToTest(); [...] }See the samples provided as part of the Cactus distribution.
Sample
This is a very basic sample intended to give you a flavour of Servlet unit testing. Check the distribution samples for extensive examples.
This example is for Cactus 1.2 and above as it uses the newWebRequestandWebResponseobjects.public void beginXXX(WebRequest theRequest) { // Set up HTTP related parameters theRequest.setURL("jakarta.apache.org", "/mywebapp", "/test/test.jsp", null, null); theRequest.addCookie("cookiename", "cookievalue"); } public void testXXX() { MyServletToTest servlet = new MyServletToTest(); servlet.init(config); // Call method to test servlet.methodToTest(); // Perform some server side asserts assertEquals("someValue", session.getAttribute("someAttribute")); assertEquals("jakarta.apache.org", request.getServerName()); } public void endXXX(WebResponse theResponse) { // Asserts the returned HTTP response Cookie cookie = theResponse.getCookie("someCookie"); assertEquals("someValue2", cookie.getValue()); assertEquals("some content here", theResponse.getText()); }

