Run NUnit tests in release mode

Question

I have a problem.

#if DEBUG
        ca.ConveyancingAttorneyID = "C0B68DC3-C396-4264-880B-1A699C53A8CE";
        ca.ConveyancingFirmID = "C0B68DC3-C396-4264-880B-1A699C53A8CE";
#endif

When we are running in debug mode, we hardcode the identifier. In release, it's obviously dynamically set.

Now when it comes to unit testing the mapping code, I've had to do this : (initially I just tested the 'Release case', which would then always fail in Debug mode)

#if RELEASE
        Guid id = new Guid("1A92CE5A-D956-486B-9B65-0A3630EF0285"); 
#endif
#if DEBUG
        Guid id = new Guid("C0B68DC3-C396-4264-880B-1A699C53A8CE"); 
#endif

This is not ideal. And having to remember (and remind teammates) to always run the Unit Tests in Release is also a hassle. We don't have a continuous integration setup, so the tests are only ever run locally.

Is there a way to force NUnit / Visual Studio Testrunner / Resharper Testrunner to always run tests in Release mode? Or is there a better way to approach this, keeping in mind that these kind of '#if DEBUG' codeblocks are quite abundant in the solution.

Answer 1

If you must run Release, use argument /config:Release

Answer 2

I'm not sure we know enough about the structure of your project to answer this in an adequate way. It basically depends on where and how you are using these values.

Ideally, you should fetch these IDs from somewhere via an interface. That would let you to fake and switch the implementation behind that interface, allowing you to return hard-coded dummy values when needed to test the logic where the values are used.

You could set up a configuration option allowing you to specify whether to use the real implementation, or a dummy data provider to allow switching without having to recompile.

Update: Since the above was not really a great answer to your specific question, here's another attempt: Under Resharper > Options > Tools > Unit Testing, there is an option Run tests from:, where you can specify a folder to use instead of the default project output folder.

This may be a long shot, but perhaps you can configure VS to build a Release version of your project to some specific folder, and refer to that for testing, even if the main project build configuration is set to Debug?

Answer 3

Remember case sensitivity matters when using arguments e.g. /config:Release from Xeon's answer otherwise you'll get a misleading error:

Invalid : Path_to_your_file
File type is not supported error

(not enough reputation to comment)