How to get SpecFlow working with xUnit.net as the test runner

Question

I'm trying to use xUnit.net as the test runner for SpecFlow. The SpecFlow 1.2 binaries from the official download area don't contain an xUnit.net provider but the master branch on GitHub has one, so I build SpecFlow.Core.dll from that. I'm using xUnit.net 1.5.

However, when I change the unitTestProvider name in the app.config in my spec project, I get a null reference custom tool error and the generated .feature.cs file is the single line:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Has anyone succeeded in getting SpecFlow to work with xUnit.net? If so, how?

Answer 1

There is an example for SpecFlow with xUnit in the SpecFlow-Example repository:

http://github.com/techtalk/SpecFlow-Examples/tree/master/BowlingKata/BowlingKata-XUnit

In order to run it, you have to build SpecFlow from the latest sources on github (master branch). You also should have installed SpecFlow 1.2 in order to get proper VisualStudio integration. Then replace all the assemblies in you installation directory (default Program Files (x86)\TechTalk\SpecFlow) with the assemblies built from source.

After this you should be able to build and run the above SpecFlow-Example project.

Hope this helps?

Answer 2

Hi Mike, Just run into the save issue trying to use specflow and xUnit. If its not an issue, can you provide a download like to your build for xunit support?

Answer 3

As of SpecFlow 1.3, xUnit is supported! http://groups.google.com/group/specflow/browse_thread/thread/e3d593a52aa17a15

Answer 4

Hi, I just ran into the same problem and found the answer. Just use the lates dist of SpecFlow, I'm using 1.3.5.2. Then all you have to do is to add a reference to xUnit.dll and to create an App.config file to your Specs project with this configuration:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
  <configuration>
    <configSections>
       <section name="specFlow" type="TechTalk.SpecFlow.Configuration.ConfigurationSectionHandler, TechTalk.SpecFlow"/>
    </configSections>

    <specFlow>
       <language feature="en-US" />
         <unitTestProvider name="xUnit" />

         <runtime detectAmbiguousMatches="true" stopAtFirstError="false"
                 missingOrPendingStepsOutcome="Inconclusive" />

         <trace traceSuccessfulSteps="true" traceTimings="false"
             minTracedDuration="0:0:0.1" />
    </specFlow>
  </configuration>

The part that's doing the trick here is the unitTestProvider element.