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

See Also

Concepts

Visual Studio Editions Feature Comparison

Other Resources

Building, Debugging, and Testing