110

I am trying to test some exceptions in my project and one of the Exceptions I catch is SQlException.

It seems that you can't go new SqlException() so I am not sure how I can throw an exception especially without somehow calling the database (and since these are unit tests it is usually advised not to call the database since it is slow).

I am using NUnit and Moq, but I am not sure how to fake this.

Responding to some of the answers that seem to all be based on ADO.NET, note that I am using Linq to Sql. So that stuff is like behind the scenes.

More info as requested by @MattHamilton:

System.ArgumentException : Type to mock must be an interface or an abstract or non-sealed class.       
  at Moq.Mock`1.CheckParameters()
  at Moq.Mock`1..ctor(MockBehavior behavior, Object[] args)
  at Moq.Mock`1..ctor(MockBehavior behavior)
  at Moq.Mock`1..ctor()

Posts to the first line when it tries to mockup

 var ex = new Mock<System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException>();
 ex.SetupGet(e => e.Message).Returns("Exception message");
Jeroen
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chobo2
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    You're right. I've updated my reply, but it's probably not very helpful now. DbException is probably the better exception to catch though, so do consider it. – Matt Hamilton Sep 07 '09 at 04:35
  • The answers that actually work produce a variety of resulting exception messages. Defining exactly which type you need may be helpful. E.g. "I need a SqlException that contains exception number 18487, indicating the specified password has expired." Seems such a solution is more appropriate for unit testing. – Mike Christian Feb 12 '13 at 20:45

16 Answers16

111

I have a solution to this. I'm not sure whether it's genius or madness.

The following code will create a new SqlException:

public SqlException MakeSqlException() {
    SqlException exception = null;
    try {
        SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"Data Source=.;Database=GUARANTEED_TO_FAIL;Connection Timeout=1");
        conn.Open();
    } catch(SqlException ex) {
        exception = ex;
    }
    return(exception);
}

which you can then use like so (this example is using Moq)

mockSqlDataStore
    .Setup(x => x.ChangePassword(userId, It.IsAny<string>()))
    .Throws(MakeSqlException());

so that you can test your SqlException error handling in your repositories, handlers and controllers.

Now I need to go and lie down.

DLeh
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Dylan Beattie
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    Brilliant solution! I did one modification to it to save some time on waiting for the connection: `new SqlConnection(@"Data Source=.;Database=GUARANTEED_TO_FAIL;Connection Timeout=1")` – Joanna Derks May 25 '12 at 15:17
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    I love the emotion you added to your answer. lol thanks for this solution. It's a no brainer and I don't know why I didn't think of this initially. again thanks. – pqsk Oct 21 '13 at 16:39
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    Great solution, just make sure you don't have a database called GUARANTEED_TO_FAIL on your local machine ;) – Amit G Aug 28 '15 at 12:10
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    A great example of K.I.S.S. – Lup Aug 07 '19 at 21:12
  • This is ingeniously mad solution – Mykhailo Seniutovych Mar 06 '20 at 10:22
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    I know this is extremely old but I ran into this recently. This is def the best answer here. If you ever have to use reflection, you better have a great reason to do so. Let the framework do its job! – rdelgado-incinc Jun 17 '21 at 19:46
  • I ran into an issue using this in Azure Pipelines: `A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server: Could not open a connection to SQL Server)`. For some reason this escaped my try-catch block causing all unit tests needing a `SqlException` to fail. I ended up using reflection to access the private constructors. – Rob Mosher Nov 15 '22 at 13:05
99

You can do this with reflection, you will have to maintain it when Microsoft make changes, but it does work I just tested it:

public class SqlExceptionCreator
{
    private static T Construct<T>(params object[] p)
    {
        var ctors = typeof(T).GetConstructors(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
        return (T)ctors.First(ctor => ctor.GetParameters().Length == p.Length).Invoke(p);
    }

    internal static SqlException NewSqlException(int number = 1)
    {
        SqlErrorCollection collection = Construct<SqlErrorCollection>();
        SqlError error = Construct<SqlError>(number, (byte)2, (byte)3, "server name", "error message", "proc", 100);

        typeof(SqlErrorCollection)
            .GetMethod("Add", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance)
            .Invoke(collection, new object[] { error });


        return typeof(SqlException)
            .GetMethod("CreateException", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static,
                null,
                CallingConventions.ExplicitThis,
                new[] { typeof(SqlErrorCollection), typeof(string) },
                new ParameterModifier[] { })
            .Invoke(null, new object[] { collection, "7.0.0" }) as SqlException;
    }
}      

This also allows you to control the Number of the SqlException, which can be important.

tster
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Sam Saffron
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    This approach works, you just need to be more specific with what CreateException method you want as there are two overloads. Change the GetMethod call to: .GetMethod("CreateException", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static, null, CallingConventions.ExplicitThis, new[] {typeof (SqlErrorCollection), typeof (string)}, new ParameterModifier[] {}) And it works – Erik Nordenhök Aug 07 '13 at 12:07
  • Works for me. Brilliant. – Nick Patsaris Sep 27 '13 at 09:05
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    Turned into a gist, with the corrections from the comments. https://gist.github.com/timabell/672719c63364c497377f - Many thanks to all for giving me a way out of this dark dark place. – Tim Abell May 30 '14 at 21:33
  • Can this be made to work with dotnet-core? GetMethod() no longer takes 6 parameters. https://gist.github.com/Boggin/7f5df031ec34d8fa2145739705031340 – Boggin Mar 21 '17 at 16:16
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    The version from Ben J Anderson allows you to specify message in addition to error code. https://gist.github.com/benjanderson/07e13d9a2068b32c2911 – Tony Dec 28 '17 at 01:01
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    To get this to work with dotnet-core 2.0, change the second line in the `NewSqlException` method to read: `SqlError error = Construct(number, (byte)2, (byte)3, "server name", "error message", "proc", 100, null);` – Chuck Spencer Nov 09 '18 at 17:43
  • I'm dotnet core and I had to mix and match solutions from the comments to get it working. – RoboKozo Jul 02 '19 at 20:36
  • This one won't work for .NET 6 – Julian Jul 07 '22 at 08:48
34

Depending on the situation, I usually prefer GetUninitializedObject to invoking a ConstructorInfo. You just have to be aware that it doesn't call the constructor - from the MSDN Remarks: "Because the new instance of the object is initialized to zero and no constructors are run, the object might not represent a state that is regarded as valid by that object." But I'd say it's less brittle than relying on the existence of a certain constructor.

[TestMethod]
[ExpectedException(typeof(System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException))]
public void MyTestMethod()
{
    throw Instantiate<System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException>();
}

public static T Instantiate<T>() where T : class
{
    return System.Runtime.Serialization.FormatterServices.GetUninitializedObject(typeof(T)) as T;
}
default.kramer
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    This worked for me, and to set the message of the exception once you have the object: `typeof(SqlException).GetField("_message", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance).SetValue(exception, "my custom sql message");` – Phil Cooper Apr 24 '14 at 13:01
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    I extended this to reflect out ErrorMessage and ErrorCode. https://gist.github.com/benjanderson/07e13d9a2068b32c2911 – Ben Anderson Mar 23 '15 at 16:16
13

Edit Ouch: I didn't realise SqlException is sealed. I've been mocking DbException, which is an abstract class.

You can't create a new SqlException, but you can mock a DbException, which SqlException derives from. Try this:

var ex = new Mock<DbException>();
ex.ExpectGet(e => e.Message, "Exception message");

var conn = new Mock<SqlConnection>();
conn.Expect(c => c.Open()).Throws(ex.Object);

So your exception is thrown when the method tries to open the connection.

If you expect to read anything other than the Message property on the mocked exception then don't forget to Expect (or Setup, depending on your version of Moq) the "get" on those properties.

Matt Hamilton
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  • you should add expectations for "Number" which allow you to figure out what type of exception is is (deadlock, timeout etc) – Sam Saffron Sep 06 '09 at 23:49
  • Hmm how about when your using linq to sql? I don't actually do an open(its done for me). – chobo2 Sep 06 '09 at 23:56
  • If you're using Moq then presumably you're mocking some sort of database operation. Set it up to be thrown when that happens. – Matt Hamilton Sep 07 '09 at 00:04
  • So on the actual operation(the actual method that would call on the db)? – chobo2 Sep 07 '09 at 00:48
  • Are you mocking your db behaviour? Like, mocking your DataContext class or something? Whatever operation would throw this exception if the database operation returned an error. – Matt Hamilton Sep 07 '09 at 01:05
  • Hmm I tried this and it won't let me even mockup this. I get a error saying it can't be mocked up. See original post. – chobo2 Sep 07 '09 at 04:07
  • I posted my moq anwer @chobo2 . No reflection, but presumably you've figured this out in the past 6 years. (: – Rob Oct 12 '15 at 15:14
13

Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

If you are using the new Microsoft.Data.SqlClient Nuget package, you can use this helper method:

public static class SqlExceptionCreator
{
    public static SqlException Create(int number)
    {
        Exception? innerEx = null;
        var c = typeof(SqlErrorCollection).GetConstructors(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
        SqlErrorCollection errors = (c[0].Invoke(null) as SqlErrorCollection)!;
        var errorList = (errors.GetType().GetField("_errors", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic)?.GetValue(errors) as List<object>)!;
        c = typeof(SqlError).GetConstructors(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
        var nineC = c.FirstOrDefault(f => f.GetParameters().Length == 9)!;
        SqlError sqlError = (nineC.Invoke(new object?[] { number, (byte)0, (byte)0, "", "", "", (int)0, (uint)0, innerEx}) as SqlError)!;
        errorList.Add(sqlError);
        SqlException ex = (Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(SqlException), BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, null, new object?[] { "test", errors,
            innerEx, Guid.NewGuid() }, null) as SqlException)!;
        return ex;
    }
}
Julian
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jjxtra
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9

Since you are using Linq to Sql, here is a sample of testing the scenario you mentioned using NUnit and Moq. I don't know the exact details of your DataContext and what you have available in it. Edit for your needs.

You will need to wrap the DataContext with a custom class, you cannot Mock the DataContext with Moq. You cannot mock SqlException either, because it is sealed. You will need to wrap it with your own Exception class. It is not to difficult to accomplish these two things.

Let's start by creating our test:

[Test]
public void FindBy_When_something_goes_wrong_Should_handle_the_CustomSqlException()
{
    var mockDataContextWrapper = new Mock<IDataContextWrapper>();
    mockDataContextWrapper.Setup(x => x.Table<User>()).Throws<CustomSqlException>();

    IUserResository userRespoistory = new UserRepository(mockDataContextWrapper.Object);
    // Now, because we have mocked everything and we are using dependency injection.
    // When FindBy is called, instead of getting a user, we will get a CustomSqlException
    // Now, inside of FindBy, wrap the call to the DataContextWrapper inside a try catch
    // and handle the exception, then test that you handled it, like mocking a logger, then passing it into the repository and verifying that logMessage was called
    User user = userRepository.FindBy(1);
}

Let's implement the test, first let's wrap our Linq to Sql calls using the repository pattern:

public interface IUserRepository
{
    User FindBy(int id);
}

public class UserRepository : IUserRepository
{
    public IDataContextWrapper DataContextWrapper { get; protected set; }

    public UserRepository(IDataContextWrapper dataContextWrapper)
    {
        DataContextWrapper = dataContextWrapper;
    }

    public User FindBy(int id)
    {
        return DataContextWrapper.Table<User>().SingleOrDefault(u => u.UserID == id);
    }
}

Next create the IDataContextWrapper like so, you can view this blog post on the subject, mine differs a little bit:

public interface IDataContextWrapper : IDisposable
{
    Table<T> Table<T>() where T : class;
}

Next create the CustomSqlException class:

public class CustomSqlException : Exception
{
 public CustomSqlException()
 {
 }

 public CustomSqlException(string message, SqlException innerException) : base(message, innerException)
 {
 }
}

Here's a sample implementation of the IDataContextWrapper:

public class DataContextWrapper<T> : IDataContextWrapper where T : DataContext, new()
{
 private readonly T _db;

 public DataContextWrapper()
 {
        var t = typeof(T);
     _db = (T)Activator.CreateInstance(t);
 }

 public DataContextWrapper(string connectionString)
 {
     var t = typeof(T);
     _db = (T)Activator.CreateInstance(t, connectionString);
 }

 public Table<TableName> Table<TableName>() where TableName : class
 {
        try
        {
            return (Table<TableName>) _db.GetTable(typeof (TableName));
        }
        catch (SqlException exception)
        {
            // Wrap the SqlException with our custom one
            throw new CustomSqlException("Ooops...", exception);
        }
 }

 // IDispoable Members
}
Dale Ragan
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5

Not sure if this helps, but seems to have worked for this person (pretty clever).

try
{
    SqlCommand cmd =
        new SqlCommand("raiserror('Manual SQL exception', 16, 1)",DBConn);
    cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
catch (SqlException ex)
{
    string msg = ex.Message; // msg = "Manual SQL exception"
}

Found at: http://smartypeeps.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-throw-sqlexception-in-c.html

John Saunders
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David
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4

Theese solutions feel bloated.

The ctor is internal, yes.

(Without using reflection, the easiest way to just genuinely create this exception....

   instance.Setup(x => x.MyMethod())
            .Callback(() => new SqlConnection("Server=pleasethrow;Database=anexception;Connection Timeout=1").Open());

Perphaps there's another method that doesn't require the timeout of 1 second to throw.

3

I suggest using this method.

    /// <summary>
    /// Method to simulate a throw SqlException
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="number">Exception number</param>
    /// <param name="message">Exception message</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static SqlException CreateSqlException(int number, string message)
    {
        var collectionConstructor = typeof(SqlErrorCollection)
            .GetConstructor(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, //visibility
                null, //binder
                new Type[0],
                null);
        var addMethod = typeof(SqlErrorCollection).GetMethod("Add", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
        var errorCollection = (SqlErrorCollection)collectionConstructor.Invoke(null);
        var errorConstructor = typeof(SqlError).GetConstructor(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, null,
            new[]
            {
                typeof (int), typeof (byte), typeof (byte), typeof (string), typeof(string), typeof (string),
                typeof (int), typeof (uint)
            }, null);
        var error =
            errorConstructor.Invoke(new object[] { number, (byte)0, (byte)0, "server", "errMsg", "proccedure", 100, (uint)0 });
        addMethod.Invoke(errorCollection, new[] { error });
        var constructor = typeof(SqlException)
            .GetConstructor(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, //visibility
                null, //binder
                new[] { typeof(string), typeof(SqlErrorCollection), typeof(Exception), typeof(Guid) },
                null); //param modifiers
        return (SqlException)constructor.Invoke(new object[] { message, errorCollection, new DataException(), Guid.NewGuid() });
    }
Luiz Lanza
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    **From review queue**: May I request you to please add some more context around your answer. Code-only answers are difficult to understand. It will help the asker and future readers both if you can add more information in your post. – RBT May 11 '17 at 01:38
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    You might want to add this information by editing the post itself. Post is better place than comments to maintain relevant information pertaining to the answer. – RBT May 12 '17 at 02:20
  • This no longer works because `SqlException` doesn't have a constructor and `errorConstructor` will be null. – Emad Aug 11 '19 at 09:25
  • @Emad, what did you use to overcome the problem? – Sasuke Uchiha Oct 16 '20 at 11:22
2

This should work:

SqlConnection bogusConn = 
    new SqlConnection("Data Source=myServerAddress;Initial
    Catalog=myDataBase;User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword;");
bogusConn.Open();

That takes a bit before it throws the exception, so I think this would work even faster:

SqlCommand bogusCommand = new SqlCommand();
bogusCommand.ExecuteScalar();

Code brought to you by Hacks-R-Us.

Update: nope, the second approach throws an ArgumentException, not a SqlException.

Update 2: this works much faster (the SqlException is thrown in less than a second):

SqlConnection bogusConn = new SqlConnection("Data Source=localhost;Initial
    Catalog=myDataBase;User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword;Connection
    Timeout=1");
bogusConn.Open();
MusiGenesis
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  • This was my own implementation before I came across this SU page looking for another way because the timeout was unacceptable. Your Update 2 is good but it's still one second. Not good for unit test sets as it doesn't scale. – Jon Davis Aug 27 '10 at 16:57
2

I noticed that your question is one year old, but for the record I would like to add a solution I discovered recently using microsoft Moles (you can find references here Microsoft Moles)

Once you haved moled the System.Data namespace, you can simply mock an SQL exception on a SqlConnection.Open() like this :

//Create a delegate for the SqlConnection.Open method of all instances
        //that raises an error
        System.Data.SqlClient.Moles.MSqlConnection.AllInstances.Open =
            (a) =>
            {
                SqlException myException = new System.Data.SqlClient.Moles.MSqlException();
                throw myException;
            };

I hope this can help someone that hits this question in the future.

FrenchData
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    Despite the late answer this is probably the cleanest solution, particularly if you are already using Moles for other purposes. – Amandalishus Nov 30 '11 at 15:05
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    Well, you must be using the Moles framework, for this to function. Not entirely ideal, when already using MOQ. This solution is detouring the call to the .NET Framework. The answer by @default.kramer is more appropriate. Moles was released in Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate as "Fakes", and later in VS 2012 Premium via Update 2. I'm all for using the Fakes framework, but stick to one mocking framework at a time, for the sake of those to come after you. ;) – Mike Christian Feb 12 '13 at 20:39
1

(Sry it's 6 months late, hope this won't be considered necroposting I landed here looking for how to throw a SqlCeException from a mock).

If you just need to test the code that handles the exception an ultra simple workaround would be:

public void MyDataMethod(){
    try
    {
        myDataContext.SubmitChanges();
    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        if(ex is SqlCeException || ex is TestThrowableSqlCeException)
        {
            // handle ex
        }
        else
        {
            throw;
        }
    }
}



public class TestThrowableSqlCeException{
   public TestThrowableSqlCeException(string message){}
   // mimic whatever properties you needed from the SqlException:
}

var repo = new Rhino.Mocks.MockReposity();
mockDataContext = repo.StrictMock<IDecoupleDataContext>();
Expect.Call(mockDataContext.SubmitChanges).Throw(new TestThrowableSqlCeException());
Grokodile
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1

This is really old and there are some good answers here. I am using Moq, and I can't mock up Abstract classes and really didn't want to use reflection, so I made my own Exception derived from DbException. So:

public class MockDbException : DbException {
  public MockDbException(string message) : base (message) {}
}   

obviously, if you need to add InnerException, or whatever, add more props, constructors, etc.

then, in my test:

MyMockDatabase.Setup(q => q.Method()).Throws(new MockDbException(myMessage));

Hoepfully this will help anyone that's using Moq. Thanks for everyone that posted in here that led me to my answer.

Rob
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1

Based on all the other answers I created the following solution:

    [Test]
    public void Methodundertest_ExceptionFromDatabase_Logs()
    {
        _mock
            .Setup(x => x.MockedMethod(It.IsAny<int>(), It.IsAny<string>()))
            .Callback(ThrowSqlException);

        _service.Process(_batchSize, string.Empty, string.Empty);

        _loggermock.Verify(x => x.Error(It.IsAny<string>(), It.IsAny<SqlException>()));
    }

    private static void ThrowSqlException() 
    {
        var bogusConn =
            new SqlConnection(
                "Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog = myDataBase;User Id = myUsername;Password = myPassword;Connection Timeout = 1");
        bogusConn.Open();
    }
khebbie
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1

System.Data.SqlClient

I was only successful with @jjxtra's approach (which I upvoted), but the code needed to be modified since I am using System.Data.SqlClient which does not have a 9 parameter constructor for SqlError, and SqlErrorCollection has a field named "errors" (not _errors) which is of type ArrayList (not List\<object>).

Assembly location: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\System.Data.dll

Here is the modified code that works for me:

  public static SqlException CreateSqlException(int number)
  {
    Exception? innerEx = null;
    var c = typeof(SqlErrorCollection).GetConstructors(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    SqlErrorCollection errors = (c[0].Invoke(null) as SqlErrorCollection);
    ArrayList errorList = (ArrayList)errors.GetType().GetField("errors", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic)?.GetValue(errors);
    c = typeof(SqlError).GetConstructors(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
    var theC = c.FirstOrDefault(f => f.GetParameters().Length == 8);
    SqlError sqlError = (theC.Invoke(new object?[] { number, (byte)0, (byte)0, "", "", "", (int)0, (uint)0}) as SqlError);
    errorList.Add(sqlError);
    SqlException ex = (Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(SqlException), BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, null, new object[] { "test", errors,
      innerEx, Guid.NewGuid() }, null) as SqlException);
    return ex;
  }
Julian
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DSoa
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0

You could use reflection to create SqlException object in the test:

        ConstructorInfo errorsCi = typeof(SqlErrorCollection).GetConstructor(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, null, new Type[]{}, null);
        var errors = errorsCi.Invoke(null);

        ConstructorInfo ci = typeof(SqlException).GetConstructor(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, null, new Type[] { typeof(string), typeof(SqlErrorCollection) }, null);
        var sqlException = (SqlException)ci.Invoke(new object[] { "Exception message", errors });
Oleg D.
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  • This will not work; SqlException contains no constructor. The answer from @default.kramer works properly. – Mike Christian Feb 12 '13 at 20:34
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    @MikeChristian It does work if you use a constuctor that exists e.g. `private SqlException(string message, SqlErrorCollection errorCollection, Exception innerException, Guid conId)` – Shaun Wilde Oct 31 '14 at 01:50