"Run a method only if a condition is satisfied" pattern - c#

I have a method
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting; // using visual studio's test framework
[TestMethod]
public void ATestMethod()
{
// stuff
}
from a public class ATestClass. This test class runs two types of tests :
tests requiring that a certain software is installed on the machine running the test
tests that can run free
To handle this, I added a public class BaseTestClass from which I made ATestClass derive, and in ATestClass I added a :
public bool isTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine()
{
// stuff
}
and I "decorated" all internal scopes of tests from ATestClass as follows :
[TestMethod]
public void ATestMethod()
{
if (isTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine())
{
// stuff
}
}
I find this horrible. I would rather like to be able to write something like :
[TestMethod]
[RunIfTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine]
public void ATestMethod()
{
// stuff
}
but I don't know if one is allowed to define "custom" [characterizer]'s. (I don't even know the right word for them.) If it is, would that be the best design ? (I heard about the decorator pattern, but I don't know if I could make it generic enough in my context, because I would potentially need to use the condition for many other test classes.) Anyway, how would I proceed with characterizer's ?

I know you're using VS test framework but if you can change to NUnit you can accomplish what you want.
Test case:
using NUnit.Framework;
[TestFixture]
public class MyAppTests
{
[Test]
[RunIfTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine]
public void ATestMethod()
{
// Executes if custom attribute is true, otherwise test case is ignored
}
}
Custom attribute:
using NUnit.Framework;
using NUnit.Framework.Interfaces;
public class TestHelper
{
public static bool IsTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine()
{
// Return state of software
return true;
}
}
public class RunIfTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachineAttribute : Attribute, ITestAction
{
public ActionTargets Targets { get; private set; }
public void AfterTest(ITest test) {}
public void BeforeTest(ITest test)
{
if (!TestHelper.IsTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine())
{
Assert.Ignore("Omitting {0}. Software is not installed on machine.", test.Name);
}
}
}

If you define your own attribute you surerly have to check for its existance on your own. You can´t expect your framework to guess what the attribute is for.
But I suppose you don´t even need an attribute to do this. You can simply ignore the test by putting the logic inside the test-method anyway:
[Test]
public void MyTest()
{
if(!RunIfTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine)
Assert.Ignore("Test not run because no software was installed");
// your actual test-code
}
Another approach is to use the CategoryAttribute provided by NUnit, with which you can run only those tests that fall within your provided category:
[Test]
[Category("SoftwareInstalled")]
public void MyTest() { /* ... */ }
EDIT: You could also use the TestCaseAttribute with a specific method that returns a TestCase when the condition is met:
[TestCaseSource("ProvideTestcases")]
public void MyTest() { /* ... */ }
private static IEnumerable<TestCaseData> ProvideTestcases()
{
if(RunIfTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine)
yield return new TestCaseData();
}
If the codition is not met no testcase is generated at all.

If the software being installed on the machine is a requirement for any of the tests to pass and any one test failing means the whole suite fails then why bother checking in multiple tests if the software is installed? Just write a single test to fail if the software is not installed and throw a useful exception. Something like:
[Test]
public void EnsureImportantSoftwareIsInstalled()
{
if(!importantSoftwareIsInstalled)
{
Assert.Fail($"Software X must be installed for the tests in {nameof(MyTestClass)} to run, please install it");
}
}

For Nunit 2.6, a slight variation of the HimBromBeere's answer works well for me. The test case is displayed as ignored.
[TestCaseSource("ProvideTestcases")]
public void MyTest() { /* ... */ }
private static IEnumerable<TestCaseData> ProvideTestcases()
{
if(RunIfTheSoftwareInstalledOnTheMachine)
yield return new TestCaseData().Ignore();
}

Related

C# Unit-test not running when constructor class exist

This is a simple unit Test class with test method called 'TestMethod1()' . when i write ctor inside it, unit test doesn't run anymore. but without ctor test case work as well.
public class OrderTests
{
public OrderTests (int value)
{ }
public void TestMethod1()
{
Xunit.Assert.Equal(7, 7);
}
}
Thanks a lot.
You need to add the Fact attribute to the test so that is recognised as a test and not just a method e.g.:
[Fact]
public void TestMethod1()
{
Xunit.Assert.Equal(7, 7);
}

How do I write context/specification style unit tests with an MSTest/xUnit framework?

I have been using MSpec to write my unit tests and really prefer the BDD style, I think it's a lot more readable. I'm now using Silverlight which MSpec doesn't support so I'm having to use MSTest but would still like to maintain a BDD style so am trying to work out a way to do this.
Just to explain what I'm trying to acheive, here's how I'd write an MSpec test
[Subject(typeof(Calculator))]
public class when_I_add_two_numbers : with_calculator
{
Establish context = () => this.Calculator = new Calculator();
Because I_add_2_and_4 = () => this.Calculator.Add(2).Add(4);
It should_display_6 = () => this.Calculator.Result.ShouldEqual(6);
}
public class with_calculator
{
protected static Calculator;
}
So with MSTest I would try to write the test like this (although you can see it won't work because I've put in 2 TestInitialize attributes, but you get what I'm trying to do..)
[TestClass]
public class when_I_add_two_numbers : with_calculator
{
[TestInitialize]
public void GivenIHaveACalculator()
{
this.Calculator = new Calculator();
}
[TestInitialize]
public void WhenIAdd2And4()
{
this.Calculator.Add(2).Add(4);
}
[TestMethod]
public void ThenItShouldDisplay6()
{
this.Calculator.Result.ShouldEqual(6);
}
}
public class with_calculator
{
protected Calculator Calculator {get;set;}
}
Can anyone come up with some more elegant suggestions to write tests in this way with MSTest?
What you think about this one:
[TestClass]
public class when_i_add_two_numbers : with_calculator
{
public override void When()
{
this.calc.Add(2, 4);
}
[TestMethod]
public void ThenItShouldDisplay6()
{
Assert.AreEqual(6, this.calc.Result);
}
[TestMethod]
public void ThenTheCalculatorShouldNotBeNull()
{
Assert.IsNotNull(this.calc);
}
}
public abstract class with_calculator : SpecificationContext
{
protected Calculator calc;
public override void Given()
{
this.calc = new Calculator();
}
}
public abstract class SpecificationContext
{
[TestInitialize]
public void Init()
{
this.Given();
this.When();
}
public virtual void Given(){}
public virtual void When(){}
}
public class Calculator
{
public int Result { get; private set; }
public void Add(int p, int p_2)
{
this.Result = p + p_2;
}
}
Mark Nijhof has an example of doing Given-When-Then style testing with NUnit in his Fohjin.DDD github repository.
Here's an excerpt from the example referenced above:
public class When_registering_an_domain_event : BaseTestFixture<PreProcessor>
{
/* ... */
protected override void When()
{
SubjectUnderTest.RegisterForPreProcessing<ClientMovedEvent>();
SubjectUnderTest.Process();
}
[Then]
public void Then_the_event_processors_for_client_moved_event_will_be_registered()
{
IEnumerable<EventProcessor> eventProcessors;
EventProcessorCache.TryGetEventProcessorsFor(typeof(ClientMovedEvent), out eventProcessors);
eventProcessors.Count().WillBe(1);
}
}
And you can see the Given in the base class implementation:
[Given]
public void Setup()
{
CaughtException = new NoExceptionWasThrownException();
Given();
try
{
When();
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
CaughtException = exception;
}
finally
{
Finally();
}
}
I've been giving this sort of question a lot of though recently. There are a lot of reasonable options out there, and you can create your own easily, as displayed in some of the answers in this post. I've been working on a BDD testing framework with the intent being to make it easily extended to any unit testing framework. I currently support MSTest and NUnit. Its called Given, and it's opensource. The basic idea is pretty simple, Given provides wrappers for common sets of functionality which can then be implemented for each test runner.
The following is an example of an NUnit Given test:
[Story(AsA = "car manufacturer",
IWant = "a factory that makes the right cars",
SoThat = "I can make money")]
public class when_building_a_toyota : Specification
{
static CarFactory _factory;
static Car _car;
given a_car_factory = () =>
{
_factory = new CarFactory();
};
when building_a_toyota = () => _car = _factory.Make(CarType.Toyota);
[then]
public void it_should_create_a_car()
{
_car.ShouldNotBeNull();
}
[then]
public void it_should_be_the_right_type_of_car()
{
_car.Type.ShouldEqual(CarType.Toyota);
}
}
I tried my best to stay true to the concepts from Dan North's Introducting BDD blog, and as such, everything is done using the given, when, then style of specification. The way it is implemented allows you to have multiple givens and even multiple when's, and they should be executed in order (still checking into this).
Additionally, there is a full suite of Should extensions included directly in Given. This enables things like the ShouldEqual() call seen above, but is full of nice methods for collection comparison and type comparison, etc. For those of you familiar with MSpec, i basically ripped them out and made some modifications to make them work outside of MSpec.
The payoff, though, I think, is in the reporting. The test runner is filled with the scenario you've created, so that at a glance you can get details about what each test is actually doing without diving into the code:
Additionally, an HTML report is created using t4 templating based on the results of the tests for each assembly. Classes with matching stories are all nested together, and each scenario name is printed for quick reference. For the above tests the report would look like this:
Failed tests would be colored red and can be clicked to view the exception details.
That's pretty much it. I'm using it in several projects I'm working on, so it is still being actively developed, but I'd describe the core as pretty stable. I'm looking at a way to share contexts by composition instead of inheritance, so that will likely be one of the next changes coming down the pike. Bring on the criticism. :)
You could use NUnit.Specifications and write tests like this:
using NUnit.Specifications;
using Should;
public class OrderSpecs
{
[Component]
public class when_a_customer_places_an_order : ContextSpecification
{
static OrderService _orderService;
static bool _results;
static Order _order;
Establish context = () =>
{
_orderService = new OrderService();
_order = new Order();
};
Because of = () => _results = _orderService.PlaceOrder(_order);
It should_successfully_place_the_order = () => _results.ShouldBeTrue();
}
}
MSTestEnhancer may help you, and you can get the package through NuGet.org.
Here is the sample code:
[TestClass]
public class TheTestedClassTest
{
[ContractTestCase]
public void TheTestedMethod()
{
"When Xxx happens, results in Yyy.".Test(() =>
{
// Write test case code here...
});
"When Zzz happens, results in Www.".Test(() =>
{
// Write test case code here...
});
}
}
And when you see your test result, you'll get this below:
I have written a post to present more information about it. See Introducing MSTestEnhancer to make unit test result easy to read - walterlv for more details.

used in multiple [TestFixture]s

I'm in the process of setting up tests in NUnit and have a newbie question.
Is it possible to have a Test/s that could be used in multiple [TestFixture]s?
So
[Test]ValidateString(string bob)
Could be called in a series of different [TestFixture]?
That doesn't sound like a test to me. Tests are typically parameterless (unless you're using [TestCase]s) and running it within a context of a single fixture would typically be enough -- it either passes once and that's good or it doesn't and it's a broken test.
If you just have a method that does some validation on a string, you could set it up as a static method on some class (e.g. TestHelpers) and call it from whatever tests (in multiple test fixtures) need it.
Here's another idea: inheritance. You can have a base fixture that has all your tests, and then fixtures that inherit from it that set up whatever variables you need. The tests will run for each fixture. I'm not familiar with Selenium RC, but you should be able to adapt the code below to set up whatever variables you need in various fixtures.
[TestFixture]
public class BaseFixtureTests
{
protected IMyClass _myClass;
[TestFixtureSetUp]
public void FixtureSetup()
{
_myClass = ConfigureMyClass();
}
protected virtual IMyClass ConfigureMyClass()
{
// fixtures that inherit from this will set up _myClass here as they see fit.
}
[Test]
public void MyClassTest1()
{
// test something about _myClass;
}
}
[TestFixture]
public class MySpecificFixture1 : BaseFixtureTests
{
protected override IMyClass ConfigureMyClass()
{
return new MySpecificMyClassImplementation();
}
}
public class MySpecificMyClassImplementation : IMyClass
{
//some implementation
}
You can also add extra tests in each fixture as well that don't test common functionality and don't need to be reused across fixtures.
The newer version of NUnit supports generics. This is a great fit if what you are testing doesn’t need to be configured (only created) from your test code. Here is an example copied from http://nunit.net/blogs/:
[TestFixture(typeof(ArrayList))]
[TestFixture(typeof(List<int>))]
public class IList_Tests<TList> where TList : IList, new()
{
private IList list;
[SetUp]
public void CreateList()
{
this.list = new TList();
}
[Test]
public void CanAddToList()
{
list.Add(1); list.Add(2); list.Add(3);
Assert.AreEqual(3, list.Count);
}
}
I’ve also used Anna’s approach of inheritance. One possible refinement to her example (depending on personal preference): Don’t mark the base class as a TestFixture, only the child classes. Each class that you mark as a TestFixture will be displayed as a set of tests in the NUnit client. You will probably never want to run the base class methods directly because the child is providing all of the setup code. If you remove TestFixture from the base class, running invalid tests won’t be an option in the UI. This allows you to run all the tests and see all green… always a nice feeling.
You might be able to achieve what you want with inheritance.
using NUnit.Framework;
namespace ClassLibrary1
{
[TestFixture]
public class TestFixtureBase
{
[SetUp]
public virtual void Setup()
{
// setup code here
}
[Test]
public void CommonTest1()
{
Assert.True(true);
}
[Test]
public void CommonTest2()
{
Assert.False(false);
}
}
public class MyClassTests : TestFixtureBase
{
[SetUp]
public override void Setup()
{
base.Setup();
// additional setup code
}
[Test]
public void MyClassTest1()
{
Assert.True(true);
}
}
}
You can write a method to be called from multiple [Test] methods. But I don't think there is a way to have the same [Test] included in multiple [TestFixture]s.
[TestFixture]
public class TestsOne{
[Test] public void TryOne(){
Helpers.ValidateString("Work?");
}
}
[TestFixture]
public class TestsTwo{
[Test] public void TryTwo(){
Helpers.ValidateString("Work?");
}
}
public static class Helpers{
public static void ValidateString(string s){
Assert.IsNotNull(s);
}
}

NUnit executes with alternate constructor

I have a class which has some unit tests, but when I am running tests I would like the class to be created with a different constructor. Something like this:
[TestFixture]
public class MyClass
{
public MyClass() { /* set up for production */ }
[TestFixtureConstructor]
public MyClass() { /* set up for testing */ }
[Test]
public void FirstTest()
{
// assert some values
}
}
Is this even possible?
I have considered using a static factory method for creating the class in production (with a private constructor), and a public constructor for the testing framework.
Does anyone have any other solutions?
You don't do this.
You do not have your tests written inside the class that you use in real code; you write your tests external to the classes. I believe most testing suites have the concept of 'Teardown' and the opposite; to set up the test environment for a given execution.
To give a quick example of silky's correct approach:
public class MyClass
{
// ...
}
// In a different assembly:
[TestFixture]
public class TestMyClass
{
[SetUp]
public void SetUp()
{
_myClass = new MyClass();
}
[Test]
public void FooReturnsTrue()
{
Assert.That(_myClass.Foo(), Is.True);
}
// more tests
private MyClass _myClass;
}
If you really really want this you can take a look at TestFixtureSetUp.
Here's the introduction:
This attribute is used inside a TestFixture to provide a single set of functions that are performed once prior to executing any of the tests in the fixture. A TestFixture can have only one TestFixtureSetUp method. If more than one is defined the TestFixture will compile successfully but its tests will not run.
Example:
namespace NUnit.Tests
{
using System;
using NUnit.Framework;
[TestFixture]
public class SuccessTests
{
[TestFixtureSetUp] public void Init()
{ /* ... */ }
[TestFixtureTearDown] public void Dispose()
{ /* ... */ }
[Test] public void Add()
{ /* ... */ }
}
}
But you should use this with care, or else it defeats the purpose of unit test.

Extend xUnit.NET to use custom code when processing a class and locating test methods

I'm a big fan of the xUnit.NET framework; I find it light, simple, clean, and extensible.
Now let's say that I have a class like so:
public class AdditionSpecification
{
static int result;
public void Because()
{
result = 2 + 2;
}
public void Result_is_non_zero()
{
Assert.True(result <> 0);
}
public void Result_is_correct()
{
Assert.Equal(4, result);
}
}
With the test class above I want xUnit.NET to see 2 test cases and to run the Because() method before each of them.
Leaving aside any issues you may have with my class or method names, the structure of this test/specification, the xUnit.NET framework, or BDD, here's my question:
How can I tell xUnit.NET that I want to customize how it identifies and executes test methods out of this class without using a custom [Fact]-like attribute on each target test method?
I know that I can derive from BeforeAfterAttribute to decorate each test method with custom before and after execution. How can i do this at the class level? Do i have to write a custom runner?
xUnit.net's IUseFixture allows you to do per fixture setup. You could therefore define your own fixture class:
public class AdditionFixture : IDisposable
{
public int Because()
{
return 2 + 2;
}
public void Dispose()
{
//test tear down code
}
}
Your test class can then implement this (with setFixture requiring implementing) :
public class AdditionSpecification : IUseFixture<AdditionFixture>
{
int result;
public void SetFixture(AdditionFixture Fixture)
{
result = Fixture.Because();
}
[Fact]
public void Result_is_non_zero()
{
Assert.True(result <> 0);
}
[Fact]
public void Result_is_correct()
{
Assert.Equal(4, result);
}
}
The xUnit runner will create a single instance of your fixture, and pass it into SetFixture before running each test. After running all of your tests, the runner will then dispose of the fixture if it implements IDisposable. I hope that helps!
The xUnit wiki on codeplex has more information, including a nice example of how to implement IUseFixture to manage a database connection for you test fixtures.
So it turns out that I was looking for the ITestClassCommand.EnumerateTestMethods() method.
The default xUnit.NET test runner
will iterate over all the classes in
your test assembly.
For each one it will check for a RunWithAttribute;
that's your chance to override the
ITestClassCommand implementation
that is used to identify methods
containing tests. (RunWithNUnit is a good example)
ITestClassCommand.EnumerateTestMethods() is called to process the test class and return an IEnumerable of test methods.
each test IMethodInfo is then passed to ITestClassCommand.EnumerateTestCommands(IMethodInfo testMethod) to get the IEnumerable of ITestCommands
each ITestCommand is then executed and given the opportunity to return a result.
In the case of my example above, I would need something like:
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple = false)]
public class RunWithMyTestClassCommandAttribute : RunWithAttribute
{
public RunWithMyTestClassCommandAttribute()
: base(typeof(MyTestClassCommand)) {}
}
Then I could decorate my above example with:
[RunWithMyTestClassCommand]
public class AdditionSpecification
{
static int result;
public void Because()
{
result = 2 + 2;
}
public void Result_is_non_zero()
{
Assert.True(result <> 0);
}
public void Result_is_correct()
{
Assert.Equal(4, result);
}
}
Finally, in MyTestClassCommand, I get to opportunity between EnumerateTestMethods() and EnumerateTestCommands(IMethodInfo testMethod) to use whatever logic I want to locate and construct ITestCommand instances that get executed as individual tests.
BTW, in the process of researching this issue, I ran into a small bug in the xUnit.NET framework where a custom IMethodInfo generated by EnumerateTestMethods() never showed up in EnumerateTestCommands(..) because it was being unwrapped and rewrapped by the test runner or one of it's factories.
I submitted this issue to the xUnit project on codeplex and it was corrected on May 30th, 2009 for xUnit.NET 1.5 CTP 2

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