CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#xunit
Acerbic
Acerbic

Reputation: 118

Redirecting original c# program output to Xunit output

Is there a way to redirect the original program output to XUnit output?

All i could find is how to print output from XUnit tests (see here)

With "original output" i mean that for each time i write Console.WriteLine or similar in my program i want that output to be there when i look at test results.

I know that it is possible to redirect console output to a different textwriter (source), how can i set up my tests so that all output is redirected to Xunit?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1222

Answers (1)

Andez
Andez

Reputation: 5858

This is a little work but it is achievable.

Like you mentioned, you came across ITestOutputHelper. With a bit more effort, you can redirect the Console output to a new class that implements the TextWriter.

So from this, if you put together something like:

public class RedirectOutput : TextWriter
{
    private readonly ITestOutputHelper _output;

    public RedirectOutput(ITestOutputHelper output)
    {
        _output = output;
    }

    public override Encoding Encoding { get; } // set some if required

    public override void WriteLine(string? value)
    {
        _output.WriteLine(value);
    }
}

And in you test constructor (which I suspect the piece you are missing?):

public class UnitTest1
{
    public UnitTest1(ITestOutputHelper output)
    {
        Console.SetOut(new RedirectOutput(output));
    }

    ...
}

This is where we are doing a redirect from the Console to ITestOutputHelper .

The downside of this is that you will NEED to override EVERY use of a Console.Write call you use in your code. So RedirectOutput can end up quite large. See ms docs here for a list overloads.

I don't know of any other way - I would have hoped it would be simpler. Surely there is another solution somewhere.

But at least this will get you going, if you havent already.

Also might be worth a rethink of design around using Console writes in your code. Perhaps something around a custom interface output?

Upvotes: 3

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