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Define Custom Conditions for Database Unit Tests

  • Article

By defining a custom test condition, you can verify the behavior of a database object in ways that the built-in conditions do not support. By default, you can use the following conditions in Visual Studio Premium and Visual Studio Ultimate.

  • Empty ResultSet — You can verify that the test returns no results.

  • Execution Time — You can verify that the test takes no longer than the specified period of time to run.

  • Inconclusive — The default condition for all tests always returns a failure result.

  • Not Empty ResultSet — You can verify that the test returns at least one result.

  • Row Count — You can verify that the test returns a specific number of rows.

  • Scalar Value — You can verify that the test returns a specific scalar value.

If you want to test for other conditions, such as verifying the values in a result set, you must create a custom condition. A custom test condition is a type of feature extension. Before you can use a custom condition in the Database Unit Test Designer, you must install the assembly that contains the condition into the global assembly cache. You must then register the condition on any computer on which you intend to use the condition.

Common Tasks

In the following table, you can find descriptions of common tasks that support this scenario and links to more information about how you can successfully complete those tasks.

Common Tasks

Supporting Content

Create a condition: You can create a condition in Visual C# or Visual Basic. You can define multiple conditions in each assembly, but you must register each condition separately.

Install and register a condition: Before you can use a custom condition, you must register the condition.

Troubleshoot problems: You can learn more about how to troubleshoot common problems with database unit testing.

Deploy custom conditions: After you verify that your condition works correctly, you must distribute it to your team. Each person who runs a test that uses your condition must register it on the computer on which they run the test. You can ask each team member to install and register the feature extension manually, or you can create a simple installation program for it.

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