C# – NUnit TestCase with Generics

cgenericsnunittestcaseunit testing

Is there any way to pass generic types using a TestCase to a test in NUnit?

This is what I would like to do but the syntax is not correct…

[Test]
[TestCase<IMyInterface, MyConcreteClass>]
public void MyMethod_GenericCall_MakesGenericCall<TInterface, TConcreteClass>()
{
    // Arrange

    // Act
    var response = MyClassUnderTest.MyMethod<TInterface>();

    // Assert
    Assert.IsInstanceOf<TConcreteClass>(response);
}

Or if not, what is the best way to achieve the same functionality (obviously I'll have multiple TestCases in the real code)?

Update with another example…

Here is another example with a single generic type passed…

[Test]
[TestCase<MyClass>("Some response")]
public void MyMethod_GenericCall_MakesGenericCall<T>(string expectedResponse)
{
    // Arrange

    // Act
    var response = MyClassUnderTest.MyMethod<T>();

    // Assert
    Assert.AreEqual(expectedResponse, response);
}

Best Answer

NUnit test methods actually can be generic as long as the generic type arguments can be inferred from parameters:

[TestCase(42)]
[TestCase("string")]
[TestCase(double.Epsilon)]
public void GenericTest<T>(T instance)
{
    Console.WriteLine(instance);
}

NUnit Generic Test

If the generic arguments cannot be inferred, the test runner will not have a clue how to resolve type arguments:

[TestCase(42)]
[TestCase("string")]
[TestCase(double.Epsilon)]
public void GenericTest<T>(object instance)
{
    Console.WriteLine(instance);
}

NUnit Generic Test Fail

But in this case you can implement a custom attribute:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = true)]
public class TestCaseGenericAttribute : TestCaseAttribute, ITestBuilder
{
    public TestCaseGenericAttribute(params object[] arguments)
        : base(arguments)
    {
    }

    public Type[] TypeArguments { get; set; }

    IEnumerable<TestMethod> ITestBuilder.BuildFrom(IMethodInfo method, Test suite)
    {
        if (!method.IsGenericMethodDefinition)
            return base.BuildFrom(method, suite);

        if (TypeArguments == null || TypeArguments.Length != method.GetGenericArguments().Length)
        {
            var parms = new TestCaseParameters { RunState = RunState.NotRunnable };
            parms.Properties.Set("_SKIPREASON", $"{nameof(TypeArguments)} should have {method.GetGenericArguments().Length} elements");
            return new[] { new NUnitTestCaseBuilder().BuildTestMethod(method, suite, parms) };
        }

        var genMethod = method.MakeGenericMethod(TypeArguments);
        return base.BuildFrom(genMethod, suite);
    }
}

Usage:

[TestCaseGeneric("Some response", TypeArguments = new[] { typeof(IMyInterface), typeof(MyConcreteClass) }]
public void MyMethod_GenericCall_MakesGenericCall<T1, T2>(string expectedResponse)
{
    // whatever
}

And a similar customization for TestCaseSourceAttribute:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = true)]
public class TestCaseSourceGenericAttribute : TestCaseSourceAttribute, ITestBuilder
{
    public TestCaseSourceGenericAttribute(string sourceName)
        : base(sourceName)
    {
    }

    public Type[] TypeArguments { get; set; }

    IEnumerable<TestMethod> ITestBuilder.BuildFrom(IMethodInfo method, Test suite)
    {
        if (!method.IsGenericMethodDefinition)
            return base.BuildFrom(method, suite);

        if (TypeArguments == null || TypeArguments.Length != method.GetGenericArguments().Length)
        {
            var parms = new TestCaseParameters { RunState = RunState.NotRunnable };
            parms.Properties.Set("_SKIPREASON", $"{nameof(TypeArguments)} should have {method.GetGenericArguments().Length} elements");
            return new[] { new NUnitTestCaseBuilder().BuildTestMethod(method, suite, parms) };
        }

        var genMethod = method.MakeGenericMethod(TypeArguments);
        return base.BuildFrom(genMethod, suite);
    }
}

Usage:

[TestCaseSourceGeneric(nameof(mySource)), TypeArguments = new[] { typeof(IMyInterface), typeof(MyConcreteClass) }]
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