Using Testing Tools in Visual Studio Professional Edition

If you are a developer who uses Visual Studio Professional Edition, you can create and run two types of tests: unit and ordered. You use a unit test to validate that a specific method of production code works correctly, to test for regressions, or to perform buddy testing or smoke testing. You use an ordered test to run other tests in a specified order.

Testers on your team can use the Team System testing tools to create and run tests. If they run a unit test that fails, they file a bug and assign it to you. You can then use Visual Studio to reproduce the bug by running the failed unit test.

The following sections provide links to topics that describe the testing capabilities now available in Visual Studio Professional Edition:

• Visual Studio Professional Edition. The features listed in this section are available to all users of Visual Studio Professional Edition.

• Professional Edition Plus Team Explorer License. The features listed in this section are available to every user of Visual Studio Professional Edition who also has a license to use Team Explorer.

• Not Available in Visual Studio Professional Edition. The features listed in this section are available in Visual Studio Team System Test Edition but not in Visual Studio Professional Edition.

Visual Studio Professional Edition

If you have Visual Studio Professional Edition, the capabilities shown in the following table are available to you:

Capability	For more information
Generate unit tests from code	How to: Create and Run a Unit Test
Create unit tests	Creating Unit Tests
Create and run ASP.NET unit tests	Unit Tests for ASP.NET Web Services
Create and run data-driven unit tests	How to: Create a Data-Driven Unit Test
Run unit tests and ordered tests	How to: Run Selected Tests
Create test projects	How to: Create a Test Project
Disable and enable tests by using the Visual Studio Properties window	How to: Disable and Enable Tests
Run tests from a command line	Command-Line Test Execution
Edit test run configurations	Configuring Test Execution
View details of test results Note You can view complete details of the results of unit and ordered tests. You can view only limited details of the results of other test types.	Test Results Reported
Create ordered tests	How to: Create an Ordered Test
Run ordered tests	Working with Ordered Tests
Organize tests into test lists	How to: Organize Tests into Test Lists
Disable and enable tests by using the Test List Editor	How to: Disable and Enable Tests
Import, export, or load test metadata files.	Reusing Tests

Professional Edition Plus Team Explorer License

If your team uses Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, you might be licensed to use Team Explorer. In this case, you have the capabilities shown in the following table:

Capability	For more information
Use tests as part of a check-in policy Note In this configuration, only unit and ordered tests are run.	Working with Check-In Policies and Notes How to: Add Check-In Policies Note You can run unit and ordered tests to satisfy the testing part of your check-in policy. However, the code analysis part of check-in policy is unavailable on Visual Studio Professional Edition.
Use tests in Team Foundation Build, such as for build verification tests	How to: Configure and Run Build Verification Tests (BVTs)
Download test run results and view them in the Test Results window Note You can view complete details of the results of unit and ordered tests. You can view only limited details of the results of other test types.	How to: View Test Results Through a Build Report
Open a linked test result. Note After you open a test result from a work item, you can re-run the test in that test result, provided that it is a unit test or an ordered test.	How to: Open Test Results from Work Items
Add tests to source control	How to: Add a Project or Solution to Version Control

Not Available in Visual Studio Professional Edition

The following capabilities are available in Test Edition but are not available in Visual Studio Professional Edition:

• Create Web, load, manual, generic, or database unit tests.

• Gather code-coverage data.

• Run tests remotely.

• Create a bug or other work item from a test result.

• Link a test result to a work item.

• Associate a work item with a test.

• Publish test results.

Reference

• Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting
  Describes the UnitTesting namespace, which provides attributes, exceptions, asserts, and other classes that support unit testing.

• Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.Web
  Describes the UnitTesting.Web namespace, which extends the UnitTesting namespace by providing support for ASP.NET and Web service unit tests.

Related Sections

• Creating Custom Test Types in Visual Studio Team System
  Discusses how to develop new test types that integrate with Visual Studio Team System.

• Creating and Using Host Adapters
  Describes how to create and install a host adapter, which is a software component that lets you run tests in a specific environment. Also describes how to specify a host adapter for running tests.

See Also

Concepts

Visual Studio Editions Feature Comparison

Other Resources

Building, Debugging, and Testing