Introduction

This article explains how to setup xUnit to use in your Visual Studio's project and create the two main different unit test types in xUnit. Also, we'll set it up so we can run our tests within Visual Studio's Test Explorer.

Unit Testing is just one or many approaches to testing your software. The term unit can be thought of as a function or a code block that represents a single idea. These tests are good for making sure the fundamental logic is guaranteed to be in place and working.

Interested in learning more about the [benefits of unit testing]?

Setup

• Create or open an existing project.
• Right-click the project root from within the Solution Explorer tab.
• Select Add > New Project...

• Look for xUnit Test Project (.Net Core) under the Visual C# language menu.
• Create a new project and name your new project (use whatever naming convention suites you).

• So now you should have a regular project and an xUnit project under one solution.

Note: By selecting xUnit Test Project (.Net Core) when creating a new tests project all the NuGet packages were automatically installed and linked up. If you ever create a regular console project you can always go back and add the xUnit packages manually.

Writing Unit Tests

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Terminology

• Project - with regards to Visual Studio, a folder containing a single .csproj file.
• Solution - with regards to Visual Studio, a folder containing a single .sln file, plus one or more project folders.

Further Reading

• Getting Started with xUnit.net{: target="_blank"}
• [Benefits of Unit Testing]

[benefits of unit testing]: {% link _posts/2019-01-30-benefits-of-unit-testing.md %}