How to: Create a Unit Test Project

Unit tests often mirror the structure of the code under test. For example, a unit test project would be created for each code project in the product. The test project can be in the same solution as the production code, or it can be in a separate solution. You can have multiple unit test projects in a solution.

C++ Note
The location of unit tests for native code and the test project structure can be different than the structure that is described in this topic. For more information, see Unit testing existing C++ applications with Test Explorer.

To create a unit test project:

1. On the File menu, choose New and then choose Project (Keyboard Ctrl + Shift + N).

2. In the New Project dialog box, expand the Installed node, choose the language that you want to use for your test project, and then choose Test.

3. To use one of the Microsoft unit test frameworks, choose Unit Test Project from the list of project templates. Otherwise, choose the project template of the unit test framework that you want to use. To test the Accounts project of our example, you would name the project AccountsTests.

4. In your unit test project, add a reference to the code under test. Here’s how to create the reference to a code project in the same solution:

   1. Select the project in Solution Explorer.

   2. On the Project menu, choose Add Reference....

   3. In the Reference Manager dialog box, open the Solution node and choose Projects. Check the code project name and close the dialog box.

5. If the code that you want to test is in another location, see Managing Project References for information about adding references.

Next steps

Writing unit tests

See one of the following sections:

• Writing Unit Tests for the .NET Framework with the Microsoft Unit Test Framework for Managed Code

• Writing Unit tests for C/C++ with the Microsoft Unit Testing Framework for C++

Running unit tests

Running Unit Tests with Test Explorer