Is there a way to customize how „Test Explorer“ in VS 12 shows the list of tests?

Question

Comparing the test related windows in VS10 and VS11 beta it seems that Microsoft has dropped much of the previous powerful interface for managing and grouping tests.

The question in particular is: Can I get the value of the [Description] test attribute in the Text Explorer window in VS12?

 

Here is how it looked like in VS10:

 

And here is VS 12.

 

 

Thanks,

Ana

Answer 1

Hi Ana,

As far as I know that you can't create new test lists in VS2012RC, so I am afraid you can't show the value of [Description] test attribute in test list like VS2010. But if you have test lists in VS2010 test projects, you can also work with them in VS2012.

And I can't figure out you one easy approach to customize the Test Explorer to add the [Description] test attribute value. Maybe you can create your own add-in or something else to do the work, and please consult VSX engineer directly on the VSX forum here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en/vsx/threads/ 

Thanks.

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Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

Hi Vicky,

Could you please explain what do you mean under "But if you have test lists in VS2010 test projects, you can also work with them in VS2012." How can I work with these old tests lists in VS12?

Thank you,

Ana

Answer 3

Hi Ana,

Sorry for the late response. What I mean is that in VS2010 you can open test projects created in VS2010. Then you are able to open the .vsmdi files to work with test lists. And I did a test and I can work it on my side, see:

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Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 4

Hi Vicky,

Thank you for the tip. You are right, I can open a VS2010 vsmdi file in VS2012, and I see the list. I can even edit the list.

But unfortunately, I can not run the tests from there. VS says "Test List Editor is deprecated [...]" and directs you to the MSDN link "Defining Test Categories to Group Your Tests" where you can find following info:

Test lists are no longer fully supported in Visual Studio 2012:

• You can’t create new test lists.

• You can’t run test list tests from within Visual Studio.

• If you upgraded from Visual Studio 2010, and had a test list in your solution, you can continue to edit it in Visual Studio.

• You can continue to run a test list using mstest.exe from the command line. For more information, see How to: Run Automated Tests from the Command Line Using MSTest.

• If you were using a test list in your build definition, you can continue to use it. For more information, see How to: Configure and Run Scheduled Tests After Building Your Application and Run Tests in Your Build Process.

So, VS2012 offers kind of a workaround. The question remains, if it is satisfying...