How to debug/unit test webAPi in one solution

Question

Is there a way to unit test or debug a web api in one vs solution? I am consuming the WebAPI using HttpClient and have two instances of VS up to do this.

in 1 VS instan

Answer 1

I try the selft hosted but I get some problens 1.

HttpContext.Current is null

2. I have in the web api custom error handler and in self hosted don't work

IisExpress solution work for me very good

bathe file to deploy to iis

@Echo off 
set msBuildDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin
::compile web api project
call "%msBuildDir%\msbuild.exe" solutionFilePath.sln /t:projectName /p:Configuration=Debug;TargetFrameworkVersion=v4.5 /l:FileLogger,Microsoft.Build.Engine;logfile=Manual_MSBuild_ReleaseVersion_LOG.log /p:Platform="Any CPU" /p:BuildProjectReferences=false

call "C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express\iisexpress.exe" /path:"pathToRootOfApiProject" /port:8888 /trace:error 

I work with Nunit frameWork

  [SetUpFixture]
    public class SetUpTest
    {
        private Process process = null;
        private Process IisProcess = null;
        private System.IO.StreamWriter sw = null;
        string programsFilePath = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(@"PROGRAMFILES(X86)");

        [OneTimeSetUp]
        public void Initialize()
        {
            //compile web api project
            List commands = new List();
            commands.Add($@"CD {programsFilePath}\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\");
            commands.Add($@"msbuild ""pathToYourSolution.sln"" /t:ProjrctName /p:Configuration=Debug;TargetFrameworkVersion=v4.5 /p:Platform=""Any CPU"" /p:BuildProjectReferences=false /p:VSToolsPath=""{programsFilePath}\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0""");
            RunCommands(commands);

            //deploy to iis express
            RunIis();
        }



        [OneTimeTearDown]
        public void OneTimeTearDown()
        {
            if (IisProcess.HasExited == false)
            {
                IisProcess.Kill();
            }
        }

        void RunCommands(List cmds, string workingDirectory = "")
        {
            if (process == null)
            {
                InitializeCmd(workingDirectory);
                sw = process.StandardInput;
            }

            foreach (var cmd in cmds)
            {
                sw.WriteLine(cmd);
            }
        }

        void InitializeCmd(string workingDirectory = "")
        {
            process = new Process();
            var psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
            psi.FileName = "cmd.exe";
            psi.RedirectStandardInput = true;
            psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
            psi.RedirectStandardError = true;
            psi.UseShellExecute = false;
            psi.WorkingDirectory = workingDirectory;
            process.StartInfo = psi;
            process.Start();
            process.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) => { Debug.WriteLine($"cmd output: {e.Data}"); };
            process.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, e) => { Debug.WriteLine($"cmd output: {e.Data}"); throw new Exception(e.Data); };
            process.BeginOutputReadLine();
            process.BeginErrorReadLine();
        }

        void RunIis()
        {
            string _port = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["requiredPort"];
            if (_port == 0)
            {
                throw new Exception("no value by config setting for 'requiredPort'");
            }

            IisProcess = new Process();
            var psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
            psi.FileName = $@"{programsFilePath}\IIS Express\iisexpress.exe";
            psi.Arguments = $@"/path:""pathToRootOfApiProject"" /port:{_port} /trace:error";
            psi.RedirectStandardInput = true;
            psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
            psi.RedirectStandardError = true;
            psi.UseShellExecute = false;
            IisProcess.StartInfo = psi;
            IisProcess.Start();
            IisProcess.OutputDataReceived += (sender, e) => { Debug.WriteLine($"cmd output: {e.Data}"); };
            IisProcess.ErrorDataReceived += (sender, e) =>
            {
                Debug.WriteLine($"cmd output: {e.Data}");
                if (e.Data != null)
                {
                    throw new Exception(e.Data);
                }
            };
            IisProcess.BeginOutputReadLine();
            IisProcess.BeginErrorReadLine();
        }
    }

attach to iisexpress

Debug test then make a breakpoint goto Debug>Attach to process> in the attach to select click OK,

search iisexpress and click attach