How to unit test asp.net api if using Application - asp.net-web-api

Question

In my globals.asax.cs, I am creating a dictionary object that I want to use in my APIs to add and get data from in the life of the application.
I do the following:
Application["MyDictionary"] = myDictionary;
In my ApiController I get a handle of it, in this way:
MyDictionary myDictionary= (MyDictionary)HttpContext.Current.Application["MyDictionary"];
So far so good, the issue is that I need to do the same in the unit test, I need to add this dictionary into my Application as well, so when I call my controller, I will be able to retrieve it, how do I do that ?
doing this:
HttpContext.Current.Application.Add("MyDictionary", myDictionary);
enter code here
doesn't work, I get an exception:
An exception of type 'System.NullReferenceException' occurred in RESTServices.Tests.dll but was not handled in user code
My HttpContext.Current is null.
Any ideas how to work around this ?

Answer 1

The HttpContext.Current is created when a request is received, so you need to set the Current property, before using it.
See the example below:
var myDictionary = new Dictionary<string, string>();
HttpContext.Current = new HttpContext(new HttpRequest("default.aspx", "http://localhost", string.Empty), new HttpResponse(new StringWriter(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)));
HttpContext.Current.Application.Add("MyDictionary", myDictionary);