Testing Model is valid - asp.net

Question

Working on a web app, MVC 5 in VS 2015.
Here is my model:
public class InfoFormulaireEmployeModele
{
[Required(ErrorMessage =" *You must provide a date")]
[RegularExpression("^[0-9]{8}$", ErrorMessage ="The date must be of the format AAAAMMJJ")]
public string dateEvenementInitial { get; set; }
}
When I try to enter some invalid input, let's say '12ab' , it works fine, I'm back on the page with the error message.
Here is my view:
#using PortailLibreService.Models
#model InfoFormulaireEmployeModele
#{
ViewBag.Title = "ChampsFormulaireInvalidite";
}
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
<div class="editor-field">
<b>Initial event </b><br>
<p>When did the initial event occured?</p>
#Html.TextBoxFor(x => x.dateEvenementInitial, new { #placeholder = "AAAAMMJJ" }) #Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.dateEvenementInitial, null, new { #class = "error" })
</div>
<input type="submit" name="Save" value="Submit" />
}
I wanted to create a unit test to be sure that my model wouldn't be valid with an invalid date entry.
Here is my unit test:
[TestMethod]
public void testRetourPossibleInvalide()
{
InfoFormulaireEmployeModele modelDuplicat = new InfoFormulaireEmployeModele();
modelDuplicat.dateEvenementInitial = "abc";
InvFormController controlleur = lib.getController("100237");
var result = controlleur.ChampsFormulaireInvalidite(modelDuplicat);
Assert.AreEqual(false, controlleur.ModelState.IsValid);
}
For some reason the test fails, controlleur.ModelState.IsValid is true while it should be false. If I test it with only numerical values it's fine. For example, this test passed:
[TestMethod]
public void testRetourPossibleInvalide()
{
InfoFormulaireEmployeModele modelDuplicat = new InfoFormulaireEmployeModele();
modelDuplicat.dateRetourPossible = "129";
InvFormController controlleur = lib.getController("100237");
var result = controlleur.ChampsFormulaireInvalidite(modelDuplicat);
Assert.AreEqual(false, controlleur.ModelState.IsValid);
}
controlleur.ModelState.IsValid is false while running the test, so the test passes.
I tried to put a breakpoint inside my controller method but I can't reach it while debugging..

Answer 1

You would have to act as the framework, which usually does all the checking for you.
[TestMethod]
public void testRetourPossibleInvalide() {
var model = new InfoFormulaireEmployeModele();
model.dateEvenementInitial = "abc";
var controller = new InvFormController();
var bindingContext = new ModelBindingContext() {
ModelMetadata = ModelMetadataProviders.Current.GetMetadataForType(() => model, model.GetType()),
ValueProvider = new NameValueCollectionValueProvider(new NameValueCollection(), CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
};
var boundModel = new DefaultModelBinder().BindModel(new ControllerContext(), bindingContext);
controller.ModelState.Clear();
controller.ModelState.Merge(bindingContext.ModelState);
var result = controller.ChampsFormulaireInvalidite(model);
Assert.AreEqual(false, controller.ModelState.IsValid);
}