Is there a single .NET Compact Framework testing platform?

Question

I have a lot of experience with NUnit and MBUnit, but I'm new to the development of the .NET Compact Framework, and I would like to get on the right foot.

Is there a single platform for testing the .NET Compact Framework, and if so, what is it?

Answer 1

Check out NUnitLite: http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=NUnitLite

Answer 2

We use MSTest under TFS (2008). The big advantage is that it runs tests on a real device (we run both against emulators and physical devices), and testing is performed from the server, and not from the device. This means that you do not need to select tests to run, etc. From the device user interface (a la CFNUnitBridge), which is painfully inconvenient and does not contribute to continuous integration.

However, MSTest is not a cure. This has some serious flaws (for example, debugging tests are really painful, and running the test is slow), but it is better than everything we tried. The hope is that as MS moves forward, usability will improve, and we will be able to continue working on the existing test platform.

Using anything else, we consider it too risky, since many device frameworks and libraries tend to fade and die without any major sponsor. For example, NUnitLite had only 477 downloads and very few code or activity crashes for two years at this post - this does not inspire confidence that it will grow in functions.

Answer 3

@Simon: Modules compiled for CF.NET do not run on the h / w desktop and therefore cannot be tested using NUnit.

Answer 4

You may already understand this, but with Visual Studio 2008 Professional, the best way is to use MSTest (I'm a NUnit guy, but that's all).

Right-click a method or class and select Create Unit Test. This will help you create a test project with all the dependencies you need to get started.

The key point is, it will run tests on the device - this is what you want, and then report the results to you on the MSTest sheet.

However, there are problems with testing. I cannot find some mocking structure that works with .net cf. But this is the beginning.

Answer 5

For an embedded project running on Portable.NET, we ended up writing our own minimal version of NUnit, since we could not get the NUnit code to compile and run in this runtime. In fact, it was not so difficult.