Visual Studio Hacks

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Chapter 13, Enhancing Visual Studio

#93 Run Unit Tests Inside Visual Studio

HACK

namespace are executed by right-clicking inside a namespace and selecting

Run Test(s).

The Run Test(s) option is also found on various Solution Explorer context

menus. It can be used to execute all tests in a solution, project, or project

item.

Ad Hoc Tests

Ad hoc tests offer a useful alternative to throwaway console applications.

They should not in any way act as a substitute for real unit tests. Rather,

they are intended to provide a convenient way of exploring local private

methods or third-party code.

Any method that does not take parameters can be executed as an ad hoc test

simply by right-clicking inside it and selecting Run Test(s). It can be a pub-

lic, private, static, or instance method. In the case of an instance method, an

object will be created using the default constructor of the class (providing, of

course, that the class has a default constructor). The

Dispose method will be

called on any object that implements

IDisposable, once the test has been

executed.

If an ad hoc test returns an argument, the argument will be expanded to the

Test output pane. Complex objects will have their fields and properties dis-

played. Enumerable objects will be listed. Primitive objects will be con-

verted to strings and displayed.

Figure 13-3. Run Test(s) menu item