eisber’s blog

but not when executed in Visual Studio 2008.

Error Message:
The unit test adapter failed to connect to the data source or to read the data. For more information on troubleshooting this error, see "Troubleshooting Data-Driven Unit Tests" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=62412) in the MSDN Library.
Error details: An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)

Solution: Don't specify the connection string and the table in the constructor of the DataSource attribute, but follow this (use the configuration section).

Make sure you specify Version 9.0.0 and not 8.0.0 like in the sample!

environment Team Foundation Server, msbuild, each projects is located below the solution file

problem Provide team build number and flavor (debug, release) for compiled assemblies from multiple projects in a solution

solution Edit your .csproj files (make sure you do a "Checkout for edit") and add

  ...
  <Import Project="..\\AssemblyInfo.proj" />
</Project>

The AssemblyInfo.proj should be placed next to the .sln file:

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>

  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <Attrib Files="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" Normal="true"/>

    <!-- Build := Days since StartDate; Revision := 65534 / (24*60*60) * seconds since midnight   -->
    <Version BuildType="Automatic" RevisionType="Automatic" StartDate="2007/01/01" Major="1" Minor="0">
      <Output TaskParameter="Major" PropertyName="Major" />
      <Output TaskParameter="Minor" PropertyName="Minor" />
      <Output TaskParameter="Build" PropertyName="Build" />
      <Output TaskParameter="Revision" PropertyName="Revision" />
    </Version>

    <AssemblyInfo CodeLanguage="CS"
        OutputFile="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"
        AssemblyConfiguration="$(Configuration)"
        AssemblyCompany="Company Name"
        AssemblyProduct="$(AssemblyName) $(Configuration) $(BuildNumber)"
        AssemblyCopyright="Copyright Company Name 2007"
        AssemblyVersion="$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Revision)"
      	AssemblyFileVersion="$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Revision)" />

    <Attrib Files="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" ReadOnly="true"/>
  </Target>
</Project>

You need to install msbuildtasks on your local machine AND the build server. Apart from the Team Build revision, you'll get another auto-generated assembly revision.

debugging Unload, Reload the project after every change to AssemblyInfo.proj

links MSBuild infos

environment .Net Project, Team Foundation Server, MSBuild

problem Nightly Build containing multiple configurations (e.g. debug, release,...) and the requirement to install a database before the testcases are executed. It is not enough to install the database once for all configurations.

Initial we overwrote the BeforeTest target, but this is getting called only once for all configurations.

solution

Edit TFSBuild.proj

<!-- copied from C:\\Program Files\\MSBuild\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\v8.0\\TeamBuild\\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets -->
<Target Name="CoreTest"
        DependsOnTargets="$(CoreTestDependsOn)" >

  <MakeDir
        Directories="$(TestResultsRoot)"
        Condition="!Exists('$(TestResultsRoot)')" />

  <MSBuild
        Projects="$(MSBuildProjectFile)"
        Targets="RunTestWithConfigurationWithDB"
        Properties="BuildNumber=$(BuildNumber);Platform=%(ConfigurationToBuild.PlatformToBuild);Flavor=%(ConfigurationToBuild.FlavorToBuild);IsDesktopBuild=$(IsDesktopBuild)" />
</Target>

<Target Name="RunTestWithConfigurationWithDB" >
  <!-- Make sure the Database is freshly setup for each FlavorToBuild -->

  <!-- Database Setup -->
  <Message Text="Creating fresh database. Flavor: $(Flavor) Platform: $(Platform) IsDesktopBuild: $(IsDesktopBuild)"/>

  <Exec Command="db.init.cmd" Timeout="1200000" WorkingDirectory="somedir)"/>

  <MSBuild
        Projects="$(MSBuildProjectFile)"
        Targets="RunTestWithConfiguration"
        Properties="BuildNumber=$(BuildNumber);Platform=$(Platform);Flavor=$(Flavor);IsDesktopBuild=$(IsDesktopBuild)" />
</Target>

references Search for 'How To: Batch Tasks with Item Metadata' in MSDN. This gave me a good idea when targets are called multiple times and when not.