I am helping a team whose builds have started failing due to test failures.
The failures are being caused by missing connection string configuration. I checked the usual issues in respect of the config file to ensure that the connection string was specified with exactly the right name.
In the end I obtained the full path of the config file to check that the one on the build server contained the exact configuration that was expected.
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetupInformation.ConfigurationFile
The path did not point to the TestProject.exe.config file, but instead pointed to the vstest.executionengine.x86.exe.Config at the following location:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\TestWindow\vstest.executionengine.x86.exe.Config
This file contains no connection strings at all.
When I write out all of the available connection strings from configuration, I get the default connection string:
Name: LocalSqlServer Connection: data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated
Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|aspnetdb.mdf;User
Instance=true . Aborting test execution.
This is coming from the machine.config file (kudos petelids).
So the big question is:
Why is the vstest.executionengine.x86.exe.Config being used rather than the app.config (at runtime TestProject.exe.config)? (I can guess that this is because the process running is the test runner, but I think it is fair to say that you would expect the test runner to let the test project use its own config file, which is what normally happens).
I think it is fair to say that you would expect the test runner to let the test project use its own config file, which is what normally happens
That's perfectly true assumption when working with NUnit, xUnit, etc. but not with Microsoft Test Runners (MSTest and VSTest). They simply ignore target assembly config file and use their own config.
There are two solution to this problem:
Change MSTest to NUnit or xUnit
Use custom config file (not the default one)
MSTest runs tests in isolated mode by default.
The solution to this issue was to add a new test project and move the tests into it.
The new project behaved like all of the other projects, running the tests in an isolated process and using the app.config file from the test project.
I'm putting this down to a quirk.
Related
I have this strange problem. When I use the OpenCover from Visual Studio all tests pass and everything seems fine.
Image from Visual Studio here: http://i.stack.imgur.com/awmWy.png
But when I want to automate the tests using the OpenCover.Console.exe than some tests fail. I have noticed that the 2 failing tests read from config file.
Either the test or the code that is tested reads from config file using ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["someConfigValue"].
I have the same values in the main project and the test project appsettings.
The two failing tests when executing from console image here: http://i.stack.imgur.com/a77Tt.png
In addition I provide the command used for OpenCover.Console.exe.
"OpenCover.Console.exe"
-register
-target:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\MSTest.exe"
-targetargs:"/noisolation /testcontainer:\"E:\TEAM\TestProject.Tests\bin\Debug\TestProject.Tests.dll" /resultsfile:TestResults.trx"
-mergebyhash
-output:CodeCoverage.xml
UPDATE [04 September 2015]
Since I did not find any particular solution, I came up with a workaround.
Practically I have taken as granted that configuration file and all its data does not belong to unit tests, but to integration tests.
So in my code I do not use ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["someConfigValue"] any more. What I did is created a ConfigurationService and in the IConfigurationService I have all the methods I need for getting the values from the config file.
Having this injected in the BL of the solution, I use Mocks for unit testing purposes.
I'm trying to work out how to (and at the same time best practice) use an app.config file in unit tests (MSTest specifically).
So I have the actual project then a separate project. the actual project has an app.config - and it seems that the unit tests are using that file and not ones I am trying to specify.
I have tried the following:
Putting a copy of app.config in the root of the test project, removing some key config sections that are used within the code so thus should cause exceptions and failures - this doesn't seem to work
using
[DeploymentItem("app.config")]
Which I believe picks up the app.config from the test project root and deploys that?? Strangely, I also tried to change the path to
[DeploymentItem("Data\\app.config")]
Which is a directory I use to load other deployment items - however it complains that it cannot find the app.config.
What am I doing wrong here - and also am I doing it the right way (assuming I am missing something simple). I basically want a separate app.config where I can use specific test settings rather than use the real app.config copied or referenced.
I have a unit tests project with it's own app.config file, which is a mock of a real configuration file defined by target project being tested. This mock file is loaded and processed by unit test code (not by target project), and it works properly if I run only tests within only this one test project.
ConfigurationManager.GetSection(sectionName)
However, if I run tests from several test projects, and other test projects are performed prior to relevant project, the above statement returns null. If discussed test project is performed as first, there is no problem with loading configuration file.
How can I fix loading of configuration file in unit test to work correctly?
Your problem is not ConfigurationManager.GetSection(sectionName) returns null, it is how can I test some code containing ConfigurationManager.GetSection(sectionName)?
And the answer is: wrap it, inject it, then for your test mock it.
You have several examples of pepole facing the same issue:
http://chrisondotnet.com/2011/05/configurationmanager-wrapper-for-unit-testing/
http://weblogs.asp.net/rashid/archive/2009/03/03/unit-testable-configuration-manager.aspx
(The second one is much more detailed, still the idea is the same).
Anyway, this is quite logical that you cannot use information from app.config in a unit test, as an app.config is contextual for the whole application, when it is required to write test absolutely independant. If you use directly an app.config value, then you have non logical coupling.
Facing the same issue this solved it:
app.config should be picked up inside a unit test if it's Copy to Output Directory property set to Copy if newer or if you add the DeploymentItem attribute [DeploymentItem("your.config")].
More detailed description:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/3e520735-8ced-4092-b681-38b69e0db534/unit-test-configuration#32998bf4-5a76-4083-99da-42f0c3a91559
similar question: MSTest and app.config issue
I think problem is either it could not find the file in test working directory or file itself failed to load.
I have solved this problem by explicitly loading configuration file with name. In your case you can try same.
ExeConfigurationFileMap configMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
configMap.ExeConfigFilename = #"d:\test\test.config";
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(configMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
I used the test project post build command line, but remember to build the project if there are changes:
copy /Y "$(SolutionDir)$(SolutionName)\App.Debug.config" "$(TargetDir)$(ProjectName)$(TargetExt).config"
Can anyone help. I have an ASP.NET application which has a web.config file so i have used the testsettings to DEPLOY the web.config to the OUT directory.
I have checked and it is there. But i can't pickup my connection string...
If i enter the connection string in a standard app.config in the unit test project then everything works.
I was trying to cut down on maintenance :-)
Hence i only have 1 connection string to update in 1 place..
is there a way around this?
As part of your test setup, have the first step copy the web.config to app.config.
You can use WebConfigurationManager.OpenMappedMachineConfiguration and point to Path.Combine(TestContext.TestDeploymentDir, "web.config") as the mapped config file.
When I try to run Unit Tests (mstest) I run into this issue.
The line of code:
_mainCnStr = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.
ConnectionStrings["main"].ConnectionString;
Comes back as a null reference
It doesn't do this in the main UI project when I run it. What is the right method to get this connection string setting seen by the Unit Test project? I tried embedded as a resource. I tried Copy Always. What is the right combination of settings that will fix this for me?
One thing to watch with MSTest (from the IDE at least); it doesn't run the tests in the regular output (bin) folder, and it doesn't respect the project's file inclusions ("Copy to Output Directory"). You often need to explicitly tell it (MSTest) which files to put into the test area. You will need to include the "app.config" in this list; either via the testrunconfig ("Deployment"), or by adding an attribute ([DeploymentItem]) to the affected test fixtures.
You should add an app.config to the unit test project. It won't automatically use the settings in UI application's app.config.
I'm assuming mstests are, like nunit tests, embedded in a seperate assembly which gets loaded by the testing application? In that case, you may need to create some test set-up code which loads in the configuration file.