Problem: you have a method that logs a message using the Microsoft Patterns & Practices Enterprise Library Logging Block, and you would like to write an automated unit test for it in NUnit (or Team System — solution is easily adapted). Logging to a flat file doesn’t work; the file is still open when you try to read it to verify that the message has been logged. Logging to the database doesn’t work; it seems the log isn’t written to the database immediately. And so forth. Is there an in-memory way of reading the logged message?

Solution: I wanted to create a Mock or Spy TraceListener, but didn’t have the time to work on this. Thus I gave up on it for a while. Then I remembered that the Enterprise Library downloaded included unit tests of the library itself. Surely Microsoft already solved the problem for me? Indeed, they have already created a MockTraceListener class.

Setting up your test

1. Build the test NUnit testing project.
2. In your project, add a reference to the newly-compiled Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Tests.dll, and add a proper using statement in your test class.
3. In the TestFixtureSetup and TestFixtureTearDown, call `MockTraceListener.Reset()` to clear the log.
4. Exercise your system under test
5. Check to make sure there is an entry in the MockTraceListener: `Assert.IsNotNull(MockTraceListener.LastEntry, "No log entry has been created");`
6. Check the contents of the `MockTraceListener.LastEntry.Message` to see if the specified message has actually been logged

Setting up the config file

As with any other TraceListener, you must specify this MockTracelistener in the NUnit project’s config file:

• In the section add:

   <add name="sharedMockListener"  type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.TraceListeners.Tests.MockTraceListener, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Tests" listenerDataType="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Tests.TraceListeners.MockTraceListenerData, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Tests" />
  

• In the section, add:

  <allEvents switchValue="All" name="All Events">
    <listeners>
      <add name="sharedMockListener" />
    </listeners>
  </allEvents>
  

Posted with : Tech, Microsoft .NET Framework, Software Testing