C# – Testing for exceptions with [TestCase] attribute in NUnit 3

cexceptionnetnunittestcase

How do I test for exceptions in a TestCase with NUnit3?

Let's say I have a method Divide(a,b) defined as follows:

public double Divide(double a, double b)
{
    if(Math.Abs(b) < double.Epsilon) throw new ArgumentException("Divider cannot be 0");
    return a/b;
}

I want to test this method using NUnit 3.0 test cases, so maybe I have:

[TestCase(-10, 2, -5)]
[TestCase(-1, 2, -0.5)]
public void TestDivide(double a, double b, double result)
{
    Assert.That(_uut.Divide(a, b), Is.EqualTo(result));
}

Is there a way to specify a Test Case that will cause Divide() to throw an ArgumentException and somehow have this as the expected result, e.g. something along the lines of:

[TestCase(-10, 2, -5)]
[TestCase(-1, 2, -0.5)]
[TestCase(-1, 0, ExpectedResult = TypeOf(ArgumentException)]
public void TestDivide(double a, double b, double result)
{
    Assert.That(_uut.Divide(a, b), Is.EqualTo(result));
}

(Of course I could define a separate test method and use Assert.Throws() in this, so this is purely out of curiosity)

Best Answer

ExpectedException would have been the correct method for NUnit 2.X, but it was removed from NUnit 3.

There's a various snippets of discussion in the NUnit Google Group and the equivalent Dev group - but it looks like the decision was made that it's generally a better design pattern to test expected outcomes, and exceptions in separate methods. (link)

The only way to do this in NUnit 3, would be to break it down in to two separate tests. (Confirmed in a similar question answered by the NUnit core team, here.)

[TestCase(-10, 2, -5)]
[TestCase(-1, 2, -0.5)]
public void TestDivide(double a, double b, double result)
{
    Assert.That(_uut.Divide(a, b), Is.EqualTo(result));
}

[TestCase(-1, 0)]
public void TestDivideThrows(double a, double b)
{
    Assert.That(() => _uut.Divide(a, b), Throws.TypeOf<ArgumentException>());
}

Related Solutions

C# – NUnit TestCase with Generics

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);
}

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);
}

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) }]

C# – Use NUnit Assert.Throws method or ExpectedException attribute

The main difference is:

ExpectedException() attribute makes test passed if exception occurs in any place in the test method.
The usage of Assert.Throws() allows to specify exact place of the code where exception is expected.

NUnit 3.0 drops official support for ExpectedException altogether.

So, I definitely prefer to use Assert.Throws() method rather than ExpectedException() attribute.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – NUnit TestCase with Generics

C# – Use NUnit Assert.Throws method or ExpectedException attribute

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