CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netunit-testingnunit
Michel
Michel

Reputation: 23625

Using the connectionstring in an nunit test

we use the nunit.exe application to run our (integration)test

Now i experience the problem that the connectionstring is not picked up from the app.config from the dll where the testcode is in.

That sounds logical because the nunit.exe is the starting app and not the test dll (it used to work when i started the tests from the visual studio testframework by the way), but should i put the connectionstrings in the nunit.exe.config?

I tried setting them in the testcode (works for the appsettings : ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Set("DownloadDirectory", mDir);) like this: ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings.Add(conset); (where conset is a ConnectionStringSettings object), but then i get the error that the connectionstrings section is readonly.

What should i do to use the connectionstrings in my test?

EDIT: we use the entity framework so we can't put the connectionstring in the appsettings because it reads from the section directly, i couldn't find a way to work around this behaviour.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 6558

Answers (4)

hrillo666
hrillo666

Reputation: 101

I realize this is not the answer you are looking for, but it is the one I applied to solve your same problem:

You can modify, in EF5 and EF4.3 at least, your DbContext implementation and add a constructor that accepts a hard coded connection string, such as this: 

    public partial class MyContext : DbContext
    {
        public MyContext() : base("name=MyContext")
        {
        }
        // --- Here is the new thing:
        public MyContext(string entityConnectionString) : base(entityConnectionString)
        {
        }
        // --- New thing ends here

        // .... the rest of the dbcontext implementation follows below 
    }

You would have to paste this thing in every time you regenerate your context, but IMHO it's worth the hassle. The connection string has to be entity framework formatted with your metadata and everything, but you will be able to figure it out. Just keep it somewhere so you can paste it in whenever necessary.

Upvotes: 3

Eric Pohl
Eric Pohl

Reputation: 2344

Using reflection, you can (in memory) change your value of the Configuration.ConnectionStrings[connectionName], which in your case you would probably do in SetUp or perhaps TestFixtureSetUp. See http://david.gardiner.net.au/2008/09/programmatically-setting.html.

// Back up the existing connection string
ConnectionStringSettings connStringSettings = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[connectionName];
string oldConnectionString = connStringSettings.ConnectionString;

// Override the IsReadOnly method on the ConnectionStringsSection.
// This is something of a hack, but will work as long as Microsoft doesn't change the
// internals of the ConfigurationElement class.
FieldInfo fi = typeof(ConfigurationElement).GetField("_bReadOnly", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
fi.SetValue(connStringSettings, false);

// Set the new connection string value
connStringSettings.ConnectionString = connectionStringNeededForNUnitTest;

Upvotes: 6

Arseny
Arseny

Reputation: 7351

I think for unit tests it may be much easy. you may put connection string into a test class directly as hardcoded string. in simple unit tests you test limited logic scope and not care of authentically of input arguments

Upvotes: 0

Serkan Hekimoglu
Serkan Hekimoglu

Reputation: 4284

You can read Connection String Value from ConfigurationManager.AppSettings, yes it is readonly. You can change it in App.Config. If you want to change some values in connection string, for ex URL, in code you can change your dataContext.URL or any properties you want with coding.

Upvotes: 1

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