Deprecate use of raw String for HttpMethod in MockMvc

Closes gh-32914

Author: snicoll

spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/web/servlet/request/MockHttpServletRequestBuilder.java

@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
 public class MockHttpServletRequestBuilder
 		implements ConfigurableSmartRequestBuilder<MockHttpServletRequestBuilder>, Mergeable {
 
-	private final String method;
+	private final HttpMethod method;
 
 	private final URI url;
 
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ public class MockHttpServletRequestBuilder
 	 * @param vars zero or more URI variables
 	 */
 	MockHttpServletRequestBuilder(HttpMethod httpMethod, String url, Object... vars) {
-		this(httpMethod.name(), initUri(url, vars));
+		this(httpMethod, initUri(url, vars));
 	}
 
 	private static URI initUri(String url, Object[] vars) {
@@ -169,16 +169,6 @@ private static URI initUri(String url, Object[] vars) {
 	 * @since 4.0.3
 	 */
 	MockHttpServletRequestBuilder(HttpMethod httpMethod, URI url) {
-		this(httpMethod.name(), url);
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * Alternative constructor for custom HTTP methods.
-	 * @param httpMethod the HTTP method (GET, POST, etc)
-	 * @param url the URL
-	 * @since 4.3
-	 */
-	MockHttpServletRequestBuilder(String httpMethod, URI url) {
 		Assert.notNull(httpMethod, "'httpMethod' is required");
 		Assert.notNull(url, "'url' is required");
 		this.method = httpMethod;
@@ -716,7 +706,7 @@ public final MockHttpServletRequest buildRequest(ServletContext servletContext)
 		MockHttpServletRequest request = createServletRequest(servletContext);
 
 		request.setAsyncSupported(true);
-		request.setMethod(this.method);
+		request.setMethod(this.method.name());
 
 		String requestUri = this.url.getRawPath();
 		request.setRequestURI(requestUri);

spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/web/servlet/request/MockMvcRequestBuilders.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2022 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2024 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -199,9 +199,11 @@ public static MockHttpServletRequestBuilder request(HttpMethod httpMethod, URI u
 	 * @param httpMethod the HTTP method
 	 * @param uri the URL
 	 * @since 4.3
+	 * @deprecated in favor of {@link #request(HttpMethod, URI)}
 	 */
+	@Deprecated(since = "6.2")
 	public static MockHttpServletRequestBuilder request(String httpMethod, URI uri) {
-		return new MockHttpServletRequestBuilder(httpMethod, uri);
+		return request(HttpMethod.valueOf(httpMethod), uri);
 	}
 
 	/**

spring-test/src/test/java/org/springframework/test/web/servlet/request/MockHttpServletRequestBuilderTests.java

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest;
 import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpSession;
@@ -650,7 +651,7 @@ void mergeInvokesDefaultRequestPostProcessorFirst() {
 	void arbitraryMethod() {
 		String httpMethod = "REPort";
 		URI url = UriComponentsBuilder.fromPath("/foo/{bar}").buildAndExpand(42).toUri();
-		this.builder = new MockHttpServletRequestBuilder(httpMethod, url);
+		this.builder = new MockHttpServletRequestBuilder(HttpMethod.valueOf(httpMethod), url);
 		MockHttpServletRequest request = this.builder.buildRequest(this.servletContext);
 
 		assertThat(request.getMethod()).isEqualTo(httpMethod);