Spring MVC Test Framework is build on Servlet API mock objects (also provided by Spring in package: org.springframework.mock.web) and hence does not use a running Servlet container.
Prepare the test class
We have to use three annotations in our test class as shown:
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
import org.springframework.test.context.web.WebAppConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@WebAppConfiguration
@ContextConfiguration(classes = MyWebConfig.class)
public class MyMvcControllerTest {
....
}
@ExtendWith is a JUnit annotation, which can be used to replace default test runner.
SpringExtension class provides Spring context support in JUnit 5+ tests. For JUnit 4 check out this example
@WebAppConfiguration is used to specify that WebApplicationContext should be loaded for the test.
@ContextConfiguration is to used to specify how to load spring bean metadata. In above example we are loading it from our @Configuration annotated class MyWebConfig
Setting up @BeforeEach objects
In @BeforeEach method, we need to initialize Spring specific mock object: MockMvc which is the main entry point for server-side Spring MVC test support.
public class MyMvcControllerTest {
@Autowired
private WebApplicationContext wac;
private MockMvc mockMvc;
@BeforeEach
public void setup() {
DefaultMockMvcBuilder builder = MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(this.wac);
this.mockMvc = builder.build();
}
MockMvcBuilders is the main class to to access a specific implementation of MockMvcBuilder (an interface).
Write @Test Method
Here we will use two builder classes:
MockMvcRequestBuilders: This class helps building MockHttpServletRequest
MockMvcResultMatchers: This class helps building a ResultMatcher which matches the result of an executed request against some expectation.
@Test
public void testMyMvcController() throws Exception {
ResultMatcher ok = MockMvcResultMatchers.status().isOk();
ResultMatcher msg = MockMvcResultMatchers.model()
.attribute("msg", "Spring quick start!!");
MockHttpServletRequestBuilder builder = MockMvcRequestBuilders.get("/");
this.mockMvc.perform(builder)
.andExpect(ok)
.andExpect(msg);
}
Complete Example
pom.xml<project .....>
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.logcbig.example</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-mvc-unit-testing</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
<version>7.0.6</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>jakarta.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jakarta.servlet-api</artifactId>
<version>6.1.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
<version>7.0.6</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
<artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
<version>6.0.2</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.hamcrest</groupId>
<artifactId>hamcrest</artifactId>
<version>3.0</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.5.1</version>
<configuration>
<failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.15.0</version>
<configuration>
<source>25</source>
<target>25</target>
<encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
The Controller
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
@Controller
public class MyMvcController {
@RequestMapping(value = "/", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public String prepareView(Model model) {
model.addAttribute("msg", "Spring quick start!!");
return "my-page";
}
}
The Config Class
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
@Configuration
public class MyWebConfig {
@Bean
public MyMvcController myMvcController() {
return new MyMvcController();
}
}
Test Class
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension;
import org.springframework.test.context.web.WebAppConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.MockMvc;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.ResultMatcher;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.request.MockHttpServletRequestBuilder;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.request.MockMvcRequestBuilders;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.result.MockMvcResultMatchers;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.setup.DefaultMockMvcBuilder;
import org.springframework.test.web.servlet.setup.MockMvcBuilders;
import org.springframework.web.context.WebApplicationContext;
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@WebAppConfiguration
@ContextConfiguration(classes = MyWebConfig.class)
public class MyMvcControllerTest {
@Autowired
private WebApplicationContext wac;
private MockMvc mockMvc;
@BeforeEach
public void setup() {
DefaultMockMvcBuilder builder = MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(this.wac);
this.mockMvc = builder.build();
}
@Test
public void testMyMvcController() throws Exception {
ResultMatcher ok = MockMvcResultMatchers.status().isOk();
ResultMatcher msg = MockMvcResultMatchers.model()
.attribute("msg",
"Spring quick start!!");
MockHttpServletRequestBuilder builder = MockMvcRequestBuilders.get("/");
this.mockMvc.perform(builder)
.andExpect(ok)
.andExpect(msg);
}
}
mvn test Output$ mvn test
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[WARNING]
[WARNING] Some problems were encountered while building the effective model for com.logcbig.example:spring-mvc-unit-testing:war:1.0-SNAPSHOT
[WARNING] 'build.plugins.plugin.version' for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-war-plugin is missing. @ line 45, column 21
[WARNING]
[WARNING] It is highly recommended to fix these problems because they threaten the stability of your build.
[WARNING]
[WARNING] For this reason, future Maven versions might no longer support building such malformed projects.
[WARNING]
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------< com.logcbig.example:spring-mvc-unit-testing >-------------
[INFO] Building spring-mvc-unit-testing 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ war ]---------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ spring-mvc-unit-testing ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-mvc-testing\spring-mvc-unit-testing\src\main\resources
[INFO]
[INFO] --- compiler:3.3:compile (default-compile) @ spring-mvc-unit-testing ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO]
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ spring-mvc-unit-testing ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-mvc-testing\spring-mvc-unit-testing\src\test\resources
[INFO]
[INFO] --- compiler:3.3:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ spring-mvc-unit-testing ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO]
[INFO] --- surefire:3.2.5:test (default-test) @ spring-mvc-unit-testing ---
[INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider
[WARNING] file.encoding cannot be set as system property, use <argLine>-Dfile.encoding=...</argLine> instead
[INFO]
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] T E S T S
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Running com.logicbig.example.MyMvcControllerTest
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.532 s -- in com.logicbig.example.MyMvcControllerTest
[INFO]
[INFO] Results:
[INFO]
[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 2.162 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-02-25T13:43:07+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feb 25, 2026 1:43:07 PM org.springframework.mock.web.MockServletContext log
INFO: Initializing Spring TestDispatcherServlet ''
Feb 25, 2026 1:43:07 PM org.springframework.test.web.servlet.TestDispatcherServlet initServletBean
INFO: Initializing Servlet ''
Feb 25, 2026 1:43:07 PM org.springframework.test.web.servlet.TestDispatcherServlet initServletBean
INFO: Completed initialization in 122 ms
Example ProjectDependencies and Technologies Used: - spring-webmvc 7.0.6 (Spring Web MVC)
Version Compatibility: 5.0.0.RELEASE - 7.0.6 Version compatibilities of spring-webmvc with this example: Versions in green have been tested.
- jakarta.servlet-api 6.1.0 (Jakarta Servlet API documentation)
- spring-test 7.0.6 (Spring TestContext Framework)
- junit-jupiter-engine 6.0.2 (Module "junit-jupiter-engine" of JUnit)
- hamcrest 3.0 (Core API and libraries of hamcrest matcher framework)
- JDK 25
- Maven 3.9.11
|
