DeploymentItemAttribute Class

Article
03/28/2012

Used to specify deployment items such as files or directories for per-test deployment. This class cannot be inherited.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
System.Attribute
Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.DeploymentItemAttribute

Namespace: Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting
Assembly: Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework (in Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class Or AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple := True)> _
Public NotInheritable Class DeploymentItemAttribute _
    Inherits Attribute

[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class|AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = true)]
public sealed class DeploymentItemAttribute : Attribute

[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::Class|AttributeTargets::Method, AllowMultiple = true)]
public ref class DeploymentItemAttribute sealed : public Attribute

[<Sealed>]
[<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class|AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = true)>]
type DeploymentItemAttribute =  
    class
        inherit Attribute
    end

public final class DeploymentItemAttribute extends Attribute

The DeploymentItemAttribute type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	DeploymentItemAttribute(String)	Initializes a new instance of the DeploymentItemAttribute class. An object that is created with this constructor will be initialized with a path to a deployment item or directory.
	DeploymentItemAttribute(String, String)	Initializes a new instance of the DeploymentItemAttribute class. An object that is created with this constructor will be initialized with a path to a deployment item and an output directory.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	OutputDirectory	Gets a value that represents the path to the output directory.
	Path	Gets a value that represents the path to the deployment item.
	TypeId	When implemented in a derived class, gets a unique identifier for this Attribute. (Inherited from Attribute.)

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Equals	Infrastructure. Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetHashCode	Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	IsDefaultAttribute	When overridden in a derived class, indicates whether the value of this instance is the default value for the derived class. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	Match	When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	ToString	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)

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Explicit Interface Implementations

	Name	Description
	_Attribute.GetIDsOfNames	Maps a set of names to a corresponding set of dispatch identifiers. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	_Attribute.GetTypeInfo	Retrieves the type information for an object, which can be used to get the type information for an interface. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	_Attribute.GetTypeInfoCount	Retrieves the number of type information interfaces that an object provides (either 0 or 1). (Inherited from Attribute.)
	_Attribute.Invoke	Provides access to properties and methods exposed by an object. (Inherited from Attribute.)

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Remarks

Depending on your test settings, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 runs tests either in the folder in which you have created them or in a separate "deployment" folder. For more information about test settings, see Create Test Settings to Run Automated Tests from Visual Studio.

This section discusses the case in which Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 runs tests in a different folder than the folder that holds the built assemblies.

When a test is run in this manner, the test and code-under-test assemblies, and the deployment items are placed in a test deployment folder unique to that test run. This attribute identifies files and directories that contain files that are used by the deployed test to run. The test engine makes a copy of the deployment items and places them in test deployment directory based on the OutputDirectory specified or the default directory.

This attribute can be specified on a test method or on a test class. However, this attribute is not inherited by derived classes.

There can be multiple instances of this attribute to specify more than one item. The item path can be absolute or relative. Relative paths are relative to the project path.

The following examples demonstrate different usage of the DeploymentItemAttribute:

[DeploymentItem("file1.xml")] Deploys an item named file1.xml located at the project path. The file is deployed to the deployment root directory.
[DeploymentItem("file2.xml", "DataFiles")] Deploys an item named file2.xml located at the project path. The file is deployed to the DataFiles subdirectory of the deployment root directory.
[DeploymentItem("C:\\MyDataFiles\\")] Deploys all items and directories found within the MyDataFiles directory. This does not create the MyDataFiles directory underneath the deployment directory. All files and directories within MyDataFiles will be deployed to the deployment root directory. To copy the entire MyDataFiles directory structure, you must specify MyDataFiles as an output directory.
[DeploymentItem("%myDir%\myFile.txt")] Deploys the file myFile.txt if that file exists in the directory to which %myDir% resolves.

For more information about how to use attributes, see Extending Metadata Using Attributes.

Examples

The following class creates a file that will be used by the test method.

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace CarMaker
{
    public class Car
    {
        private static string make = "myMake";
        private static string model = "myModel";

        public static void CarInfo()
        {
            using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("testFile1.txt"))
            {
                sw.WriteLine(make);
                sw.WriteLine(model);
            }
        }
    }
}

Imports System
Imports System.IO

Namespace CarMaker
    Public Class Car

        Private Shared make As String = "myMake"
        Private Shared model As String = "myModel"

        Public Shared Sub CarInfo()
            Dim sw As New StreamWriter("testFile1.txt")
            Try
                sw.WriteLine(make)
                sw.WriteLine(model)
            Finally
                sw.Close()
            End Try
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

The following test class contains a test method that will instantiate the Car class which will create a file that is named "testFile1.txt". This file will be deployed as identified in the DeploymentItemAttribute. Then, the test method will test if the file exists in the same directory as the test assembly.

using System;
using System.IO;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using CarMaker;

namespace DeploymentTest
{
    [TestClass]
    public class UnitTest1
    {
        [TestMethod()]
        [DeploymentItem("testFile1.txt")]
        public void ConstructorTest()
        {
            // Create the file to deploy
            Car.CarInfo();
            string file = "testFile1.txt";
            // Check if the created file exists in the deployment directory
            Assert.IsTrue(File.Exists(file), "deployment failed: " + file +
                " did not get deployed");
        }
    }
}

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting
Imports MyVBProject.CarMaker

Namespace DeploymentTest
    <TestClass()> _
    Public Class UnitTest1
        <TestMethod()> _
        <DeploymentItem("testFile1.txt")> _
        Sub ConstructorTest()
            Car.CarInfo()
            Dim file As String = "testFile1.txt"
            Assert.IsTrue(IO.File.Exists(file), "deployment failed: " + file + _
                " did not get deployed")
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

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