SparkyTestHelpers: XML

NuGet package | Source code | API documentation

The SparkyTestHelpers.Xml NuGet package contains helpers to perform .config file XML transformations, and to test the resulting transformed XML (or actually any XML, whether it’s .config format or not).

XML .config file transforms are a powerful tool, but have you ever had a bad transformation and accidentally deployed a .config file to production with development appSettings values, connection strings or service endpoints? Howzabout we unit test those things? Here’s how:

using SparkyTestHelpers.Xml;
using SparkyTestHelpers.Xml.Config;
using SparkyTestHelpers.Xml.Transformation;
. . .
// In test setup/initialize method:
    TransformResults transformResults = 
        XmlTransformer
        .ForXmlFile("../../web.config")
        .TransformedByFile("web.release.config")
        .Transform();

    if (!transformResults.Successful)
    {
        Assert.Fail(transformResults.ErrorMessage);
    }

    _xmlTester = new XmlTester(transformResults.XDocument);
. . .
// In unit test method:
    _xmlTester.AssertAppSettingsValue("testKey", "expectedValue");

SparkyTestHelpers.Xml.XmlTester

Helper class for testing XDocument values (from .config file or any XML source).

Constructors

• XmlTester XmlTester(string xml)
• XmlTester XmlTester(XDocument xDocument)

Methods

• void AssertAttributeValue (string elementExpression, string attributeName, string expectedValue) - Assert the element attribute has the expected value.
• void AssertAttributeValues (string elementExpression, IEnumerable> attributeNamesAndExpectedValues) - Assert that attributes have expected values.
• void AssertAttributeValueMatch (string elementExpression, string attributeName, string pattern) Assert the element attribute value matches regular expression pattern.
• void AssertElementDoesNotExist (string elementExpression) Assert element does not exist for specified XPath expresion.
• void AssertElementDoesNotHaveAttribute (string elementExpression, string attributeName) Assert that element exists, but does not have the specified attribute.
• XElement AssertElementExists (string elementExpression) Assert element exists for specified XPath expression.
• void AssertElementText (string elementExpression, string expectedText) Assert the element contains an expected text value.
• void AssertAttributeValueIsWellFormedUrl (string elementExpression, string attributeName) Assert element/attribute value is a well-formed URI string.
• void AssertNoDuplicateElements (string elementExpression, string keyAttributeName, string[] ignoreKeys) Assert no duplicate elements found for element / key attribute combination.
• string GetAttributeValue (XElement elem, string attributeName) Get XElement attribute value.
• XElement GetElement (string elementExpression) Get first element matching XPath expression.
• IEnumerable GetElements (string expression) Get elements matching XPath expression.

Properties and Fields

• XDocument XDocument The XDocument being tested.

SparkyTestHelpers.Xml.Config.XmlTesterConfigExtensions

XmlTester extension methods for testing app.config / web.config XML files:

• void AssertAppSettingsKeyDoesNotExist (string key) - Assert that specified configuration/appSettings key doesn’t exist.
• void AssertAppSettingsValue (string key, string expectedValue) - Assert expected value for configuration/appSettings key.
• void AssertAppSettingsValueMatch (string key, string regExPattern) - Assert that value for configuration/appSettings key matches RegEx pattern.
• void AssertAppSettingsValues (IEnumerable> keysAndValues) - For specified dictionary of keys / expected values, verify that the actual appSetting values match.
• void AssertClientEndpointAddressIsWellFormedUrl (string endpointName) - Assert that ServiceModel client endpoint address is a well-formed URL.
• void AssertClientEndpointAddressesAreWellFormedUrls () - Assert that all ServiceModel client endpoint addresses are well-formed URLs.
• void AssertCompilationDebugFalse () - Assert that confirmation/system.web/compilation “debug” attribute has been removed or set to false.
• XElement GetAppSettingsElement (string key) - Get XElement for “appSettings” key.
• IEnumerable GetAppSettingsElements () - Get appSettings XElements.
• string GetAppSettingsValue (string key) - Get value for “appSettings” key.
• string GetClientEndpointAddress (string endpointName) - Get “address” value for ServiceModel client endpoint.
• XElement GetClientEndpointElement (string endpointName) - Get XElement for ServiceModel client endpoint.
• IEnumerable GetClientEndpointElements () - Get service client endpoint XElements.
• string GetConnectionString (string name) - Get connection string for name key.
• XElement GetConnectionStringElement (string name) - Get connection string XElement for name key.
• IEnumerable GetConnectionStringElements () - Get connection string XElements.

SparkyTestHelpers.Xml.Config.ConfigXPath

XPath string provider for XmlTester testing of .config XML files:

Static Fields

• string AnonymousAuthentication XPath string for anonymous authentication element: configuration/system.webServer/security/authentication/anonymousAuthentication
• string AppSettings XPath string for appSettings elements: configuration/appSettings/add
• string ConnectionStrings XPath string for connection string elements: configuration/connectionStrings/add
• string ClientEndpoints XPath string for service client endpoint elements: configuration/system.serviceModel/client/endpoint
• string SystemWebCompilation XPath string for system.web compilation element: configuration/system.web/compilation
• string WindowsAuthentication XPath string for Windows authentication element: configuration/system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication

Static Methods

• string AppSettingForKey (string key) - Build XPath string for AppSettings key.
• string ClientEndpointForName (string endpointName) - Build XPath string for service client endpoint.
• string ConnectionStringForName (string name) - Build XPath string for connection string name key.

SparkyTestHelpers.Xml.Transformation.XmlTransformer

XML .config file transformation test helper.

Methods

• TransformResults Transform () - Perform XML transformation(s).

To help speed up your unit testing, this method caches the TransformResults keyed by the specified ForXmlFile and TransformedByFile(s) combination, so the time-consuming actual transformation only happens once per file combination.

Static Methods

An XmlTransformer instance is created starting with the static “fluent” ForXmlFile method:

TransformResults transformResults = 
        XmlTransformer
        .ForXmlFile("../../web.config")
        .TransformedByFile("web.release.config")
        .Transform();

ForXmlFile takes a “params” array of relative file paths (relative to the unit test assembly file when tests are run), e.g.

.ForXmlFile("../../web.config", "../../../web.config")

It takes an array because the relative file locaion can differ depending on the test runner (Visual Studio / ReSharper / build on server, etc.). The Transform method resolves each specified possible path and uses the first one where a file is found.

TransformedByFile also takes a params string array, but one path will probably suffice because these paths are resolved relative to the file found by ForXmlFile, and it’s likely that your base .config and transform .config file(s) are in the same folder. (You can “dot together” multiple TransformedByFile clauses for multi-stage transformations.)

SparkyTestHelpers.Xml.Transformation.TransformResults

XML transformation results returned by the XmlTransformer.Transform method.

Properties and Fields

• boolean Successful - Was the transformation successful?
• XDocument XDocument - The transformed XDocument (if Successful; otherwise, null)
• string TransformedXml - The transformed XML string (if Successful; otherwise, null)
• string ErrorMessage - Error message (if Successful is false)
• string Log - Details about the files and transformation steps involved. Look here for details if not Successful.

Happy testing!