When developing Visual Studio add-ins, what test options are there outside of manual testing?
I am developing a Visual Studio add-in for a project at work and found debugging and testing it quite tedious. So far, it seems to require launching a second instance of Visual Studio and manually executing the add-in. What methods and / or tools are available to automate this kind of add-ons?
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The only way your add-in will be testable is by building it so it can be tested. Usually when writing a Visual Studio Add-In / Package / MEF component, I divide my code into 2 projects.
- Actual Core Engine, which is practically independent of Visual Studio
- The actual add-on that uses the Bridge template to render the main core
# 1 is clearly validated by normal mechanisms and should represent most of your code.
# 2 is a bit cumbersome to test, but not that scary. The Visual Studio API is completely based on the interface, and therefore can be easily ridiculed. It does take a bit of leg work, but it can certainly be done enough to test your code.
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There are dedicated tools for testing individual users like SilkTest and TestPartner, but they tend to be very expensive, so I suggest you check out Automise , which can be used to automate repetitive tasks and has a 30-day free trial. It comes from the same people who make FinalBuilder's excellent build tool.
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