Develop Reference

Configuring Specflow+XUnit Tests to run on multiple environments

I have to migrate my existing tests from Specflow+Runner to Specflow+xUnit and for the same I'have been stuck on converting the .runsettings and .srprofile files so that they can be used with Specflow+xUnit.
Has anyone done this conversion or can help me with this ?
Existing .runsettings file :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RunSettings>
<!-- Configurations for SpecRun -->
<SpecRun>
<Profile>DEV.srprofile</Profile>
<!-- SpecRun uses VisualStudo.srprofile or TFS.srprofile by default, or the Default.srprofile if these don't exist.
<Profile>MyProfile.srprofile</Profile> -->
<!-- SpecRun generates a report file based on the project name and the current timestamp by default.
<ReportFile>CustomReport.html</ReportFile>-->
<GenerateSpecRunTrait>false</GenerateSpecRunTrait> <!-- Set this to "true" to generate a "SpecRun" trait for all tests discovered by SpecRun (useful when the solution contains other tests too) -->
<GenerateFeatureTrait>false</GenerateFeatureTrait> <!-- Set this to "true" to generate a feature trait for all scenarios (othervise the feature goruping can be used as "class") -->
</SpecRun>
</RunSettings>
Existing .srprofile file :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TestProfile xmlns="http://www.specflow.org/schemas/plus/TestProfile/1.5">
<Settings projectName="example" />
<Execution stopAfterFailures="3" testThreadCount="1" testSchedulingMode="Sequential" />
<!-- For collecting by a SpecRun server update and enable the following element. For using the
collected statistics, set testSchedulingMode="Adaptive" attribute on the <Execution> element.
<Server serverUrl="http://specrunserver:6365" publishResults="true" />
-->
<TestAssemblyPaths>
<TestAssemblyPath>example.dll</TestAssemblyPath>
</TestAssemblyPaths>
<DeploymentTransformation>
<Steps>
<ConfigFileTransformation configFile="App.config">
<Transformation>
<![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration xmlns:xdt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/XML-Document-Transform">
<appSettings>
<add key="baseUrl" value="<sample URL>" xdt:Locator="Match(key)" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes" />
<add key="shortWait" value="15" xdt:Locator="Match(key)" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes" />
<add key="longWait" value="25" xdt:Locator="Match(key)" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
]]>
</Transformation>
</ConfigFileTransformation>
</Steps>
</DeploymentTransformation>
</TestProfile>

Custom section in App.Config, ConfigurationManager stops working

I have created a console app in c# that reads information from App.config. if i add things in appSettings section, i can acces them and it works, but as soon as i add some custom sections i cant read anything from it. I am using ConfigurationManager, and i have the reference for it included.
My app config looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.6.1" />
</startup>
<appSettings>
<add key="overwriteBackupFiles" value="False"/>
<add key="path" value="c:\temp"/>
</appSettings>
<ImageFormatsINeed>
<add key="type1" value="width=180&height=180"></add>
<add key="type2" value="width=220&height=220"></add>
<add key="type3" value="width=500&height=500"></add>
</ImageFormatsINeed>
</configuration>
and i am trying to acces those information like this:
string path = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["path"];
var settings = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("ImageFormatsINeed");
When i didnt have the ImageFormatsINeed section i could get the path from AppSettings and it was working. But as soon as i added my ImageFormatsINeed section, everything stops working.
Now my question is how can i add custom sections in app.config that it will work, or should i just read my ImageInformation from some custom xml file or config file?

You have to use the tag <configSections> at the top in your app.config, for this case you should use the type AppSettingsSection
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="ImageFormatsINeed" type="System.Configuration.AppSettingsSection" />
</configSections>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.6.1" />
</startup>
<appSettings>
<add key="overwriteBackupFiles" value="False"/>
<add key="path" value="c:\temp"/>
</appSettings>
<ImageFormatsINeed>
<add key="type1" value="width=180&height=180"></add>
<add key="type2" value="width=220&height=220"></add>
<add key="type3" value="width=500&height=500"></add>
</ImageFormatsINeed>
</configuration>
Then in your C# code:
NameValueCollection settings_section = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("ImageFormatsINeed") as NameValueCollection;
Console.WriteLine(settings_section["type1"]);

How to use custom configuration file or app.config in .NET application

I have MVC5 .NET 4.6.1 C# web application
I want to create a custom config file separate from web.config to store some settings my application uses.
I tried to follow this article https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/815786
however the items I set in app.config:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.6.1" />
<httpRuntime targetFramework="4.6.1" />
</system.web>
<appSettings>
<add key="Key0" value="0" />
<add key="Key1" value="1" />
<add key="Key2" value="2" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
are not seen in my application see , eg. they come as null:
string attr = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Key0"];
Why isn't it working? Am I missing something?
Alternatively I would like to create a custom config file eg. mycustom.config to define my global app settings.
EDIT
Solution I used
Follwing this post https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/11e6d326-c32c-46b1-a9a2-1fbef96f33ee/howto-custom-configuration-files?forum=netfxbcl
In web.config:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="newAppSettings" type="System.Configuration.AppSettingsSection, System.Configuration, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />
</configSections>
<newAppSettings file="C:\mycustom.config"/>
</configuration>
Then mycustom.config
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<newAppSettings>
<add key="OurKey" value="OurValue"/>
</newAppSettings>
And reading the value:
System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection newAppSettings = (System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection)System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection("newAppSettings");
string key = Convert.ToDateTime(newAppSettings["OurKey"]);

You can use separate config file for connection strings and app settings:
<appSettings configSource="appSettings.config" />
<connectionStrings configSource="connectionStrings.config"/>
appSettings.config file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<appSettings>
<add key="Setting1" value="App setting 1" />
</appSettings>
connectionStrings.config file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="MyConnStr1" connectionString="My connection string" />
</connectionStrings>
Usage is same as it was before:
var setting1 = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Setting1"];
var connString1 = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["MyConnStr1"].ConnectionString;

//Helps to open the Root level web.config file.
Configuration webConfigApp = WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~");
//Modifying the AppKey from AppValue to AppValue1
webConfigApp.AppSettings.Settings["AppKey"].Value = "AppValue1";
<appSettings>
<add key="AppKey" value="AppValue"/>
</appSettings>

Unity Interceptor Support at Design-Time

How can I "translate" this Unity Fluent API code into XML Design-Time?
container.RegisterType<IRat, Rat>().Configure<Interception()
.SetInterceptorFor<IRat>(new InterfaceInterceptor());
I tried the code here but it seems to be outdated, since I am working with the last version of Unity.

Assuming you want to do interception with an IInterceptionBehavior the configuration would look something like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="unity" type="Microsoft.Practices.Unity.Configuration.UnityConfigurationSection, Microsoft.Practices.Unity.Configuration"/>
</configSections>
<unity xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/practices/2010/unity">
<assembly name="MyApp"/>
<namespace name="MyApp"/>
<sectionExtension type="Microsoft.Practices.Unity.InterceptionExtension.Configuration.InterceptionConfigurationExtension, Microsoft.Practices.Unity.Interception.Configuration" />
<container>
<extension type="Interception"/>
<register type="MyInterceptor">
<lifetime type="singleton" />
</register>
<register type="IRat" mapTo="Rat">
<interceptor type="InterfaceInterceptor"/>
<interceptionBehavior type="MyInterceptor"/>
</register>
</container>
</unity>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2" />
</startup>
</configuration>
You need to declare a sectionExtension and then add the Interception extension to the container. Then when registering types supply the interceptor and interceptionBehavior. If using call handlers then you would add the PolicyInjection behavior.

How to use ConfigurationManager.AppSettings with a custom section?

I need to get "http://example.com" from using App.config file.
But at the moment I am using:
string peopleXMLPath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["server"];
I cannot get the value.
Could you point out what I am doing wrong?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="device" type="System.Configuration.SingleTagSectionHandler" />
<section name="server" type="System.Configuration.SingleTagSectionHandler" />
</configSections>
<device id="1" description="petras room" location="" mall="" />
<server url="http://example.com" />
</configuration>

I think you need to get the config section, and access that:
var section = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("server") as NameValueCollection;
var value = section["url"];
And you also need to update your config file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="device" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler" />
<section name="server" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler" />
</configSections>
<device>
<add key="id" value="1" />
<add key="description" value="petras room" />
<add key="location" value="" />
<add key="mall" value="" />
</device>
<server>
<add key="url" value="http://example.com" />
</server>
</configuration>
Edit: As CodeCaster mentioned in his answer, SingleTagSectionHandler is for internal use only. I think NameValueSectionHandler is the preferred way to define config sections.

The SingleTagSectionHandler documentation says:
This API supports the .NET Framework infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code.
You can retrieve it as a HashTable and access its entries using Configuration.GetSection():
Hashtable serverTag = (Hashtable)ConfigurationManager.GetSection("server");
string serverUrl = (string)serverTag["url"];

string peopleXMLPath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["server"];
gets the value from the appSettings part of the app.config file but you are storing your value in
<server url="http://example.com" />
Either put the value in the appSettings section as below or retrieve the value from its current location.
You need to add a key value pair to your config's appSettings section. As below:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="server" value="http://example.com" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
Your reading code is correct but you should probably check for null. If the code fails to read the config value the string variable will be null.

You're defining a configuration section instead of a value in AppSettings. You can simply add your setting to AppSettings:
<appSettings>
... may be some settings here already
<add key="server" value="http://example.com" />
</appSettings>
Custom config sections are typically used for more complicated configurations (e.g. multiple values per key, non-string values, etc.

If you want to get the value from the app settings your appsetting element in configuration file must have a key.
define your sever value as mentioned below under configuration section:
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="server" value="http://example.com" />
</appSettings>
...
...
...
</configuration>
Now execute below code line to get the server url:
string peopleXMLPath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["server"].ToString();