What's New in Test Edition
Visual Studio Team System Test Edition contains new features and improvements for the following areas in Visual Studio 2008:
Use unit tests in Visual Studio Professional Edition. You can now create and run unit tests in the Visual Studio Professional Edition.
Run unit tests more easily. You can now run unit tests from within your code.
Use inheritance between test classes. Test classes have been improved to support an inheritance hierarchy.
Run unit tests on devices. You can now use unit tests to test devices.
Create host adapters. You can now create a new host adapter. A host adapter lets you run tests in an environment other than the default test environment.
Improved unit test data binding. You can now easily bind a unit test to a data source, including CSV files and XML files, by using a wizard. For more information, see How to: Configure a Data-Driven Unit Test.
Call a Web test from another Web test. You can insert a call to one Web test from a second Web test. For more information, see How to: Insert a Call to Another Web Test.
Improved Web test data binding. You can now more easily and flexibly use data binding in Web tests and unit tests.
Improved Web test features. You can now more flexibly apply validation rules and use their results to control Web test program flow.
Control load modeling. You now have more flexible ways to control the load modeling in load tests that you run.
Improved load test analyzer views. New built-in graphs and viewing capabilities provide ways to more easily and quickly understand load test results.
Improved load test results repository management. You can now more easily access the repository for load test results.
Published schema for XML files. A new schema makes it easier to work with the XML files that are used by the Team System testing tools, such as test results files.
Improved availability of Team Explorer. You use Team Explorer to access the team projects on which you are working. For more information, see Team Explorer.
Visual Studio Team System Test Edition contains new features and improvements for the following areas in Visual Studio 2008 SP1:
Load patterns for load tests. Improvements to the Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.LoadTesting for load patterns.
Run external code based on different events in a Web test. Improvements to allow you to now run code using a WebTestPlugin either before the start or after the completion of a Web test transaction or page.
Change outcomes for Web requests and tests. You can now change the outcome of a Web test request or the entire Web test.
New option for the Extract Text extraction rule. You can now randomly select among multiple text strings that match the criteria specified by the rule.
Testing Methods of Your Code
You can now create and run unit tests more easily and more quickly and for more kinds of production code.
Use Unit Tests in Visual Studio Professional Edition
Developer who uses Visual Studio Professional Edition can now create and run two types of tests: unit and ordered. A unit test is used to validate that a specific method of production code works correctly, to test for regressions, or to perform buddy testing or smoke testing. Ordered tests run other tests in a specified order. For more information, see Using Testing Tools in Visual Studio Professional Edition.
Run Unit Tests More Easily
New menus and key combinations have been added that let developers of units tests start tests runs and select the tests to run more quickly. Also, you can now generate tests from a binary file, without access to product source code, and generate tests for generic data types as return values and method parameters. For more information, see How to: Run Selected Tests, How to: Create and Run a Unit Test, and Unit Tests and Generics.
Use Inheritance Between Test Classes
Test classes can now inherit members from other test classes. This lets developers create initializations or tests in a base test class, which all other derived tests classes will inherit. This feature eliminates duplicated test code and gives developers more options to customize their unit tests correctly.
Run Unit Tests on Devices
Visual Studio provides a suite of tools for testing C# and Visual Basic smart device applications. These tools provide a subset of the functionality found in Test Edition. For more information, see Testing Tools for Smart Device Projects.
Create Host Adapters
You typically run tests in the default environment that provided by the Team System testing tools. To run tests in a different environment, you use a host adapter. You can use the Visual Studio SDK to create new host adapters. You can download the Visual Studio SDK from this site.
Web Testing Web Sites
Visual Studio 2008 offers more control for authoring Web tests.
Improved Web Test Data Binding
Visual Studio 2008 now includes built in support for CSV and XML files. There is a new wizard to make the data binding process easier. You can also preview the data before you complete the process. For more information, see Data Binding in Web Tests.
Improved Web Test Features
Visual Studio 2008 now includes support for test level validation rules. You can create validation rules at the test level that apply to all individual requests in the test. You can also stop a Web test if an error occurs in the test, and validate that an expected HTTP status code is returned. For more information, see Using Validation and Extraction Rules.
In Visual Studio 2008 you can now extract requests from Web tests to create new Web tests. You can also insert calls to other Web tests. This means that you can create Web test components and reuse your Web tests and Web requests. For more information, see How to: Extract a Web Test and How to: Insert a Call to Another Web Test.
In Team System 2008 Test Edition, the Web test recorder can record HTTP requests made through Javascript, AJAX calls, and popup windows. Dynamic parameter values such as session IDs that appear in query string parameters or form post parameters are automatically detected and correlated. For example, the ASP.NET view state in AJAX requests is automatically correlated.
Run external code based on different events in a Web test
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 now includes support to run a WebTestPlugin either before the start or after the completion of a Web test transaction or page.
Change outcomes for Web requests and tests
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 now allows you to change the outcome of a Web test request or the entire Web test. For more information, see Setting Web Test Properties, Outcome and Outcome.
New option for the Extract Text extraction rule
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 now supports an option for the Extract Text extraction rule to randomly select among multiple text strings that match the criteria that are specified by the rule. For more information, see ExtractText.
Load Testing
You can now use more realistic load modeling options for running load tests, and you can organize the returned data in ways that are richer and more flexible.
Control Load Modeling
Load tests will now offer more load-modeling options that let you create load tests that more accurately model the expected real-world usage of an application or Web site. You can now model usage based on the number of tests run, the amount of time spent on each test, or the pace at which the users run the tests. For more information, see About Test Mix.
Improved Load Test Analyzer Views
Visual Studio 2008 Load Test Analyzer includes a new summary view that displays the key indicators and results in a single page that you can print and export. There are also four new built-in graphs that display key information, and you can view up to four graph at the same time. The tables have also been improved so that you can view up to four tables at the same time. For more information, see the following:
Improved Load Test Results Repository Management
Visual Studio 2008 includes a new Repository Management dialog box that lets you directly access the load test results repository. You can use this to easily open, import, export, and delete load test results. For more information, see Managing Results in a Repository.
Published Schema for XML Files
As you work with Test Edition, it creates and stores data in XML files, which include the following:
Test metadata file. This type of file has the extension .vsmdi. Test metadata files store information about the tests in your solution. For more information, see Reusing Tests.
Test results file. This type of file has the extension .trx. When you run tests, Visual Studio automatically saves test results to a .trx file. For more information, see How to: Export Test Results.
Manual tests in text format. This type of file has the extension .mtx. When you create a manual test in text format, it is saved into your test project as a file of this type. For more information, see How to: Create a Manual Test.
In Visual Studio 2008, all the XML files that are used by Test Edition are defined by a new XSD named TestTypes.xsd. Any edits that you make, manually or programmatically, to any of these files must result in XML that conforms to the schema defined in this XSD. Similarly, any files that you create with these extensions must also conform to the schema defined in this XSD. Otherwise, Visual Studio 2008 Test Edition cannot use them.
Test projects that were created in Visual Studio 2005 contain XML files. When you open a Visual Studio 2005 test project, the Visual Studio 2008 project upgrade wizard prompts you for permission to convert the files into the new format. To use the files in Visual Studio 2008, you must let Visual Studio convert the files. If you decide not to convert or upgrade one or more files, Visual Studio cannot open your test project. Similarly, if you add an existing file of the previous format to a test project, you will be prompted to let Visual Studio upgrade the file format. If you answer yes, Visual Studio converts the file and makes it available as part of the test project. If you answer no, your request to add the files is canceled.
Load patterns for load tests
In Visual Studio 2008 SP1, you can now use ILoadTestPlugin to get or set properties of the running load test's load pattern. You can also assign a completely new load pattern, including a custom implementation of a load pattern. For more information, see About Load Pattern and How to: Create a Load Test Plug-In.
Team Explorer
You can now install Team Explorer directly from the same media you used to install Team System 2008 Test Edition. Team Explorer is a client of Team Foundation and provides access to the functionality available with Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server:
Work Items
Team Projects
Team Documents
Reports
Team Builds
Source Control
Team System 2008 Test Edition includes a client access license (CAL) for installing and using Team Explorer. For information about how to install Team Explorer, including information about its prerequisites, insert the installation media for Team System 2008 Test Edition, open the root directory, open the TFC folder, double-click the file TFSInstall.chm, and read the topics in the node "Installing Team Explorer." For more information about Team Explorer, see Using Team Explorer.