Java Extreme Programming Cookbook

Checking a Static Web Page

Problem

You want to test for the existence of a static web page.

Solution

Write a JUnit test fixture, and then use classes in the com.meterware.httpunit package to connect to the web page.

Discussion

When starting a brand new web application, verify that you can connect to the home page before doing anything else. This is the simplest test that you can write, and only takes a few lines of code. Example 5-1 shows how to do it.

Example 5-1. Testing for a static web page

package com.oreilly.javaxp.httpunit;

import com.meterware.httpunit.*;
import junit.framework.TestCase;

public class TestNewsletter extends TestCase {
    public TestNewsletter(String name) {
        super(name);
    }

    public void testIndexPageExists(  ) throws Exception {
        WebConversation webConversation = new WebConversation(  );
        WebRequest request =
                new GetMethodWebRequest("http://localhost:8080/news");
        WebResponse response =
                webConversation.getResponse(request);
    }
}

The WebConversation class is described as HttpUnit’s replacement for the web browser. WebConversation is the client, allowing you to send requests and obtain responses from a web server.

Use the GetMethodWebRequest class to issue an HTTP GET request, specifying a URL in the constructor. This mimics a user typing in a URL in their web browser. Then call the getResponse( ) method to actually issue the request and retrieve the web page. If getResponse( ) cannot find the web page, it throws a new instance of HttpNotFoundException . As customary in ...