TestCase

TestCaseAttribute serves the dual purpose of marking a method with parameters as a test method and providing inline data to be used when invoking that method. Here is an example of a test being run three times, with three different sets of data:

[TestCase(12, 3, 4)]
[TestCase(12, 2, 6)]
[TestCase(12, 4, 3)]
public void DivideTest(int n, int d, int q)
{
    Assert.That(n / d, Is.EqualTo(q));
}
Note

Because arguments to .NET attributes are limited in terms of the Types that may be used, NUnit will make some attempt to convert the supplied values using Convert.ChangeType() before supplying it to the test.

TestCaseAttribute may appear one or more times on a test method, which may also carry other attributes providing test data. The method may optionally be marked with the Test Attribute as well.

By using the named parameter ExpectedResult this test set may be simplified further:

[TestCase(12, 3, ExpectedResult = 4)]
[TestCase(12, 2, ExpectedResult = 6)]
[TestCase(12, 4, ExpectedResult = 3)]
public int DivideTest(int n, int d)
{
    return n / d;
}

In the above example, NUnit checks that the return value of the method is equal to the expected result provided on the attribute.

TestCaseAttribute supports a number of additional named parameters:

  • Author sets the author of the test.
  • Category provides a comma-delimited list of categories for this test.
  • Description sets the description property of the test.
  • ExcludePlatform specifies a comma-delimited list of platforms on which the test should not run.
  • ExpectedResult sets the expected result to be returned from the method, which must have a compatible return type.
  • Explicit is set to true in order to make the individual test case Explicit. Use Reason to explain why.
  • Ignore causes the test case to be ignored and specifies the reason.
  • IgnoreReason causes this test case to be ignored and specifies the reason.
  • IncludePlatform specifies a comma-delimited list of platforms on which the test should run.
  • Reason specifies the reason for not running this test case. Use in conjunction with Explicit.
  • TestName provides a name for the test. If not specified, a name is generated based on the method name and the arguments provided. See Template Based Test Naming.
  • TestOf specifies the Type that this test is testing (this is not used within NUnit during test execution, but may serve a purpose for the test author)
  • TypeArgs specifies the Types to be used when targeting a generic test method. (NUnit 4.1+)

Order of Execution

Individual test cases are executed in the order in which NUnit discovers them. This order does not necessarily follow the lexical order of the attributes and will often vary between different compilers or different versions of the CLR.

As a result, when TestCaseAttribute appears multiple times on a method or when other data-providing attributes are used in combination with TestCaseAttribute, the order of the test cases is undefined.