How do I specify test method parameters with TestDriven.NET ?

Question

Hi,

I'm writing unit tests with NUnit and the TestDriven.NET plugin. I'd like to provide parameters to a test method like this :

[TestFixture]
public class MyTests
{
    [Test]
    public void TestLogin(string userName, string password)
    {
        // ...
    }

    ...
}

As you can see, these parameters are private data, so I don't want to hard-code them or put them in a file. Actually I don't want to write them anywhere, I want to be prompted each time I run the test.

When I try to run this test, I get the following message in the output window :

TestCase 'MyProject.MyTests.TestLogin' not executed: No arguments were provided

So my question is, how do I provide these parameters ? I expected TestDriven.NET to display a prompt so that I can enter the values, but it didn't...

Sorry if my question seems stupid, the answer is probably very simple, but I couldn't find anything useful on Google...

---

EDIT: I just found a way to do it, but it's a dirty trick...

    [Test, TestCaseSource("PromptCredentials")]
    public void TestLogin(string userName, string password)
    {
        // ...
    }

    static object[] PromptCredentials
    {
        get
        {
            string userName = Interaction.InputBox("Enter user name", "Test parameters", "", -1, -1);
            string password = Interaction.InputBox("Enter password", "Test parameters", "", -1, -1);
            return new object[]
            {
                new object[] { userName, password }
            };
        }
    }

I'm still interested in a better solution...

Answer 1

Hi, I think you can solve this problem by using the RowTest plugin for NUnit found here http://www.andreas-schlapsi.com/2008/01/29/rowtest-extension-120/

You can create simple Data-Driven Tests where the test data is provided by [Row] attributes. So here is an example of a test that is run over and over again with different parameters:

[TestFixture]
public class RowTestSample
{
 [RowTest]
 [Row( 1000, 10, 100.0000)]
 [Row(-1000, 10, -100.0000)]
 [Row( 1000, 7, 142.85715)]
 [Row( 1000, 0.00001, 100000000)]
 [Row(4195835, 3145729, 1.3338196)]
 public void DivisionTest(double numerator, double denominator, double result)
 {
  Assert.AreEqual(result, numerator / denominator, 0.00001);
 }
}

Answer 2

Unit Tests should normally not take any parameters. You create the necessary data within the test itself.

• The expected value
• You call your method you want to test passing the necessary arguments
• You compare the result with the expected value and the returned value from your tested method

This is how you usually proceed. MS Unit tests provide a handy way for automating this. They call it Datadriven Unit testing. Try the link, it may help you.

As I mentioned. I wouldn't declare passing arguments to unit tests itself good practice.

Answer 3

No .NET testing frameworks allow you to write unit tests with parameters. Each individual test should be able to be run without any interaction. You should be faking credentials. If you need access to another service you should be faking that service if possible. Also, remember that you should only be testing code that you have written and not a third-party providers.