Extending Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.XML

Question

I'm writing data driven unit tests using an Xml datasource in C# VS2008.

Attributes look something like this and everything works awesomely.

    [DeploymentItem("HtmlSchemaUrls.xml")]
    [DataSource("DataSource", "Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.XML", "|DataDirectory|\\HtmlSchemaUrls.xml", Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.WebTesting.DataBindingAccessMethod.Sequential, "URL")]
    [DataBinding("DataSource", "URL", "URL_Text", "DataSource.URL.URL_Text")]
    [TestMethod]

I'd like to extend the capabilities of the Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.XML datasource, preferrably configurable through App.config. For example, a bool when true I run through all the rows in the Xml file and when false I run through only one.

I do not want to perform this check in the test case itself - I have 1000s of test cases with this requirement.

Any guidance on how to achieve this would be most appreciated.

Answer 1

Use AssemblyInitialize to copy your XML test set from some test set repository.
1 - this way, you don't need [DeploymentItem("HtmlSchemaUrls.xml")]
2 - instead of just copying it, create a new file containing the records you need to test (using parameterized xsl ?)
3 - all parameters for that operation can be stored in your app.config

Shortened example (using simple copy to prepare the data driven test case env:

[AssemblyInitialize()]
public static void AssemblyInit(TestContext context)
{
  ...
  string strRelocatedTestCaseFile =
    Path.Combine(TheToolBox.ShortPath(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory),                                                                        
                 "TestCase.xml");
  if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(strTestCaseFile)) 
  {
    string strMessage = "Copying TestCase input file: '" + 
                        strTestCaseFile + "' to '" + strRelocatedTestCaseFile + "'";
    Console.WriteLine(strMessage);
    File.Copy(strTestCaseFile, strRelocatedTestCaseFile, true);
  }
}