I am trying to render view to a string in a unit test (so no HostingEnvironment, no VirtualPathProvider) to then assert a regex result to add a harness for a certain value to not be changed. My rendering method (much comprised of samples found on this site):
private string RenderHomeIndexAction()
{
var controller = new HomeController();
using (var writer = new StringWriter())
{
var httpContext = new HttpContext(new HttpRequest(string.Empty, "http://example.com", string.Empty), new HttpResponse(writer));
HttpContext.Current = httpContext;
var controllerName = controller.GetType().Name;
var routeData = new RouteData();
routeData.Values.Add("controller", typeofHomeController("Controller", string.Empty));
routeData.Values.Add("action", "index");
var controllerContext = new ControllerContext(new HttpContextWrapper(httpContext), routeData, controller);
controller.ControllerContext = controllerContext;
var res = controller.Index();
res.ExecuteResult(controllerContext);
HttpContext.Current = null;
return writer.ToString();
}
}
This throws a NullReferenceException in the res.ExecuteResult(controllerContext) with the following stactkrace:
at System.Web.VirtualPath.GetCacheKey()
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetCacheKeyFromVirtualPath(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean& keyFromVPP)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResultFromCacheInternal(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResultInternal(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean noBuild, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean allowBuildInPrecompile, Boolean throwIfNotFound, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResultWithNoAssert(HttpContext context, VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean noBuild, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean allowBuildInPrecompile, Boolean throwIfNotFound, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVirtualPathObjectFactory(VirtualPath virtualPath, HttpContext context, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean throwIfNotFound)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVirtualPathObjectFactory(VirtualPath virtualPath, HttpContext context, Boolean allowCrossApp)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(VirtualPath virtualPath, Type requiredBaseType, HttpContext context, Boolean allowCrossApp)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(String virtualPath, Type requiredBaseType)
at System.Web.Mvc.BuildManagerWrapper.System.Web.Mvc.IBuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(String virtualPath, Type requiredBaseType)
at System.Web.Mvc.WebFormViewEngine.FileExists(ControllerContext controllerContext, String virtualPath)
at System.Web.Mvc.VirtualPathProviderViewEngine.GetPathFromGeneralName(ControllerContext controllerContext, List`1 locations, String name, String controllerName, String areaName, String cacheKey, String[]& searchedLocations)
at System.Web.Mvc.VirtualPathProviderViewEngine.GetPath(ControllerContext controllerContext, String[] locations, String[] areaLocations, String locationsPropertyName, String name, String controllerName, String cacheKeyPrefix, Boolean useCache, String[]& searchedLocations)
at System.Web.Mvc.VirtualPathProviderViewEngine.FindView(ControllerContext controllerContext, String viewName, String masterName, Boolean useCache)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewEngineCollection.<>c__DisplayClass6.<FindView>b__5(IViewEngine e)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewEngineCollection.Find(Func`2 cacheLocator, Func`2 locator)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewEngineCollection.FindView(ControllerContext controllerContext, String viewName, String masterName)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewResult.FindView(ControllerContext context)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewResultBase.ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
