Mock HttpClient using Moq

Question

I like to unit test a class that use HttpClient. We injected the HttpClient object in the class constructor.

public class ClassA : IClassA
{
    private readonly HttpClient _httpClient;

    public ClassA(HttpClient httpClient)
    {
        _httpClient = httpClient;
    }

    public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendRequest(SomeObject someObject)
    {
        //Do some stuff

        var request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, "http://some-domain.in");

        //Build the request

        var response = await _httpClient.SendAsync(request);

        return response;
    }
}

Now we like to unit test the ClassA.SendRequest method. We are using Ms Test for unit testing framework and Moq for mocking.

When we tried to mock the HttpClient, it throws NotSupportedException.

[TestMethod]
public async Task SendRequestAsync_Test()
{
    var mockHttpClient = new Mock<HttpClient>();

    mockHttpClient.Setup(
        m => m.SendAsync(It.IsAny<HttpRequestMessage>()))
    .Returns(() => Task.FromResult(new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK)));
}

How can we solve this issue?

Answer 1

Propper mocking with HttpClient is hard work as it was written before most people did unit testing in dotnet. Sometimes I setup a stub HTTP server that returns canned responses based on pattern matching the request url, meaning you test real HTTP requests not mocks but to a localhost server. Using WireMock.net makes this really easy and runs fast enough to satisfy most of my unit testing needs.

So instead of http://some-domain.in use a localhost server setup on some port, and then:

var server = FluentMockServer.Start(/*server and port can be setup here*/);
server.Given(
      Request.Create()
      .WithPath("/").UsingPost()
   )
   .RespondWith(
       Response.Create()
       .WithStatusCode(200)
       .WithHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
       .WithBody("{'attr':'value'}")
   );

You can find a more details and guidance on using wiremock in tests here.

Answer 2

That particular overload method is not virtual so is unable to be overridden by Moq.

public Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request);

Which is why it throws NotSupportedException

The virtual method you are looking for is this method

public virtual Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken);

However mocking HttpClient is not as simple as it seems with its internal message handler.

I suggest using a concrete client with a custom message handler stub that will allow for more flexibility when faking the request.

Here is an example of a delegating handler stub.

public class DelegatingHandlerStub : DelegatingHandler {
    private readonly Func<HttpRequestMessage, CancellationToken, Task<HttpResponseMessage>> _handlerFunc;
    public DelegatingHandlerStub() {
        _handlerFunc = (request, cancellationToken) => Task.FromResult(request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK));
    }

    public DelegatingHandlerStub(Func<HttpRequestMessage, CancellationToken, Task<HttpResponseMessage>> handlerFunc) {
        _handlerFunc = handlerFunc;
    }

    protected override Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken) {
        return _handlerFunc(request, cancellationToken);
    }
}

Note the default constructor is doing basically what you were trying to mock before. It also allows for more custom scenarios with a delegate for the request.

With the stub, the test can be refactored to something like

public async Task _SendRequestAsync_Test() {
    //Arrange           
    var handlerStub = new DelegatingHandlerStub();
    var client = new HttpClient(handlerStub);
    var sut = new ClassA(client);
    var obj = new SomeObject() {
        //Populate
    };

    //Act
    var response = await sut.SendRequest(obj);

    //Assert
    Assert.IsNotNull(response);
    Assert.IsTrue(response.IsSuccessStatusCode);
}