Unraveling the Mystery of Unit Testing with Visual Studio 2015

What is this “Unit Testing”?

Unit testing is some form of software testing that scrutinizes individual units or coding elements apart from each other to spot any potential bugs or glitches. Developers create a test suite with several test cases to assess various parts of an application separately.

Automated unit testing involves creating test cases that simulate each part or module’s behavior in the application. The results are analyzed by comparing the actual and predicted results.

Why perform Unit Testing?

Doing unit testing during the software development process brings forth multiple advantages:

1. Early defect detection
2. Decreased debugging time
3. Better code quality
4. Improved stability
5. Confidence in software changes and refactoring

The Steps to Unit Testing using Visual Studio 2015

Visual Studio 2015 simplifies unit testing for developers by fusing the entire process within its Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Here are the simple steps anyone can follow to incorporate unit testing in Visual Studio 2015:

Step 1: Create a New Project

The first step in starting with Visual Studio 2015 unit testing is to create a new project within the tool. Developers can select any project type such as a console application, WPF application, or Class Library as long as it exists within the platform.

Step 2: Add a Test Project

Once the main project has been created, developers can now add a test project to the solution. Visual Studio presents several test project types like MSTest, NUnit, and xUnit from which developers can choose from.

To add the test project, one must right-click on the main project, select “Add,” and pick a test project from the provided list.

Step 3: Write a Test Case

In the Test project, developers need to create a new class and write a test case to simulate a real-world scenario that their code will encounter. Any test cases should examine code for function, performance, and behavior.

Below is an example test case using MSTest:

“`csharp
[TestClass]
public class MyTestClass
{
[TestMethod]
public void MyTestMethod()
{
// Arrange
var x = 5;
var y = 10;

// Act
var result = x + y;

// Assert
Assert.AreEqual(15, result);
}
}
“`

The test case checks whether the output of 5 plus 10 equals the expected result of 15.

Step 4: Execute the Test

Now that the developers have written their test case, they can execute it and see whether it passes or fails. Visual Studio 2015 avails multiple options to run the test like Test Explorer or Command Line Interface (CLI).

To run the test from Test Explorer, developers need to navigate to Test > Windows > Test Explorer, and the Test Explorer window will appear. From there, they can pick the test they want to execute and tap the Run toggle.

Step 5: Analyze the Test Results

After running the test, developers can analyze the results in the Test Explorer window. The display exhibits whether the test passed or failed and any errors or failures that emerged. It also shows the percentage of code that the test covered, also known as code coverage.

Conclusion

In summary, unit testing is vital in software development, and Visual Studio 2015 streamlines it in a user-friendly manner. By adhering to these steps, developers can establish an effective and efficient test suite to ensure that their code meets the expected functionality while keeping it bug-free.

Happy testing!