MSTest.exe Command-Line Options

MSTest.exe is the command-line command that is used to run tests. This command has several options you can use to customize your test run. You can use many of these options in conjunction with one another; in fact, you must use certain options in conjunction with others, as described in the following sections. You can specify these options in any order on the MSTest.exe command line.

MSTest.exe does not interpret the options or the values you specify for them in a case-sensitive manner.

The following tables list all the options for MSTest.exe and short descriptions of them. You can see a similar summary by typing MSTest/h at a command line.

General Command Line Options

Command-Line Options for Publishing Test Results

For more information about these options, see Command-Line Options for Publishing Test Results.

Using MSTest Options

The following sections describe many of the options for MSTest.exe in more detail. The options used for publishing test results are not included here; for information about those options, see Command-Line Options for Publishing Test Results.

/testcontainer

/testcontainer:[file name]

The test container is a file that contains the tests you want to run. For example, for ordered tests, the test container is the .orderedtest file that defines the ordered test. For unit tests, it is the assembly built from the test project that contains the unit test source files.

/testmetadata

/testmetadata:[file name]

You can use the /testmetadata option to run tests in multiple test containers.

The test metadata file is created for your solution when you create test lists using the Test List Editor window. This file contains information about all the tests listed in the Test List Editor window. These are all the tests that exist in all test projects in your solution.

The test metadata file is an XML file that is created in the solution folder. This file is shown in Solution Explorer under the Solution Items node. A test metadata file has the extension .vsmdi, and is associated with the Test List Editor window; that is, if you double-click a .vsmdi file in Windows Explorer, the file opens Visual Studio, and its contents. All the tests in a solution's test projects are displayed in the Test List Editor window.

You can change the test metadata file only by making changes that are reflected in the Test List Editor window, such as creating or deleting tests, or changing a test's properties.

When you use the /testmetadata option, it is recommended that you indicate specific tests to run by using the /test option or the /testlist option, or both.

/testlist

/testlist:[test list path]

The /testlist option is a list of tests, as specified in the test metadata file, to be run. To run the tests contained in multiple test lists, use the /testlist option multiple times. Any ordered tests in the test list will be run.

You can use the /testlist option and the /test option together. This is equivalent to selecting both a test list and one or more individual tests in the Test List Editor window and then clicking Run Tests.

/test

/test:[test name]

Use the /test option to specify individual tests to run. To run multiple tests, use the /test option multiple times.

You can use the /testlist option and the /test option together. This is equivalent to selecting both a test list and one or more individual tests in the Test List Editor window and then clicking Run Tests.

The string you specify with the /test option is a used to match the names of tests in either a test container or a test metadata file. This means that you can specify multiple tests by using a single value for /test. For example, specifying /test:ittest would produce matches for tests named DebitTest and CreditTest because both test names contain the substring 'ittest'.

Two usage examples follow:

Unit-test example: The file UnitTest1.cs in the project TestProject2 contains a unit test named TestMethod1. Specifying a value of 'ittest' for the /test option would also match this test, because the string is tested against the fully-qualified name "TestProject2.UnitTest1.TestMethod1" and the string 'ittest' also appears in 'UnitTest1'.

Generic-test example: The following command line runs the specified generic test and, in the test results, displays the full path to the test.

mstest /testcontainer:"C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\My Documents\Visual Studio\Projects\TestProject2\TestProject2\generictest1.generic" /test:testproject32\generic

/noisolation

/noisolation

Use this option to run tests within the MSTest.exe process. Using this option causes no other changes to the test run configuration. The purpose of this option is to improve test run speed. However, it increases the risk to the test run as a whole because an unhandled exception thrown by the test code would cause the MSTest.exe process to crash.

/runconfig

/runconfig:[file name]

Use this option to specify a run configuration file. For example: /runconfig:localtestrun.Testrunconfig

You can specify a run configuration file in other ways, such as with the /testmetadata option. The rules that govern the specification of run configuration files are described here.

• If you use the /runconfig option, the file it specifies will be used, whether or not you also use the /testmetadata option.

• If you use the /testmetadata option to point to a metadata file that specifies the active run configuration file, that run configuration file will be used if you do not use the /runconfig option.

• If you do not use the /runconfig option and you also do not specify a run configuration file in the test metadata file, the test run uses the default run configuration file.

/resultsfile

/resultsfile:[file name]

Use this option to save the test run results to the named file. For example: /resultsfile:testResults.trx.

/unique

/unique

Use the /unique option in conjunction with the /test option. The /unique option instructs MSTest.exe to run a test only if there is a unique match to the value you supply with the /test option.

For example, the test container MyTestProject contains tests named MethodTest1 and MethodTest10.

The command line:

mstest /testcontainer:testproject2.dll /test:MethodTest1

runs both tests, MethodTest1 and MethodTest10, because 'MethodTest1' is a substring of 'MethodTest10'.

But the command line:

mstest /testcontainer:testproject2.dll /test:MethodTest1 /unique

gives an error that there is not a unique match for this test name. You can uniquely identify the test name by using the ID for the test that is listed in the Properties view for the test.

/detail

/detail:[property id]

This option is used to display additional test case properties, if they exist. You can pass more than one instance of the /detail option, each with only one property id, in single command line. Valid property id's for the /detail option follow:

If a property exists for specified test case, its information is included in the output result summary.

For example, the command line:

mstest /testcontainer:Errors.dll /detail:testtype

produces the following output, that contains test type information:

... 
Results                    Top Level Tests 
--------                   ----------------- 
Inconclusive               TestProject2.BankAccountTest.CreditTest 
[testtype] = Unit Test 
...

See Also

Tasks

How to: Publish Test Results

Change History