Using VSTest to run unit test cases instead of MSTest

Question

I have an x64 platform C# solution(VS2012) on a TFS2010 server. I have attached a unit test project (also x64) to this solution and created a build definition. When I queue the build, it succeeds but the unit test cases will not be executed. This is because MSTest is a 32 bit application. So, I decided to customize the default build process template (DefaultTemplate.xaml) to invoke VSTest(VSTest.console.exe) instead of MSTest. This is quite complex and I am unable to add a build activity to the toolbox for VSTest.

Has anyone done this kind of customization? I have also considered other approaches like configuring .runsettings file. Do we have a VSTest adapter interface that can be added in the .runsettings file ?

Answer 1

This does not directly answer you question, but it might help. I did a similar thing for TeamCity. I used command-line to call vstest.console.exe and created a .runsettings file.

I used this Microsoft template for the runsettings file. Note however that on my machine, the path mentioned in the comment in Line 5 is relative to the .runsettings location, not the .sln.

If you use /logger:trx option of vstest.console.exe, it will generate output in the same format as MSTest (good for result visualization).

Answer 2

Executing unit tests through VSTest and publishing the test results through MSTest gave me a successful outcome. Given below is the Powershell script:

#  Get the UnitTest Binaries
$files = Get-ChildItem $TestAssembliesDir\*est*.dll

#  VSTest.console.exe path
$VSTestPath = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\TestWindow\vstest.console.exe'

#  MSTest path
$MSTestpath = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\mstest.exe"
#  Loop through the test assemblies and add them to the VSTestFiles

$VSTestFiles = ''  
foreach($file in $files)  
{   
    $VSTestFiles += "`"$file`"" 
    $VSTestFiles += " "
} 

#  Run the UnitTests using VSTest 
&$VSTestPath  $vstestplatform "/Framework:Framework45" "/InIsolation" $VSTestFiles "/logger:trx"

#  Get TRX files
$TrxFilesList = Get-ChildItem $TestResDir\*.trx
$TrxFiles = ''  
$loop = 1
foreach($file in $TrxFilesList)  
{   
    $TrxFiles = "$file" 
    # copy the trx file into a space-less named trx
    $newTrxFileName = "$BuildUri" + "_" + "$loop" + ".trx"

    copy-item $TrxFiles -destination $TestResDir\$newTrxFileName

    $loop = $loop + 1
    $newTrxFile += "$TestResDir\$newTrxFileName"
    $newTrxFile += " "
} 

#  specify MSTest arguments 
$mspubl = "/publish:"+$TeamProjColUri
$msteampr = "/teamproject:" + $TeamProj
$mspublbuild = "/publishbuild:" +$BuildUri
$mspubresfile = "/publishresultsfile:" +"`"$newTrxFile`""
#Publish test results through MSTest
&$MSTestpath  $mstestplatform $flavor $mspubl $msteampr $mspublbuild $mspubresfile