NUnit for MSBuild

This page describes how to use NUnit from MS build.

To use NUnit prior to 3.0 from MSBuild, see Working with TeamCity-provided NUnit task
To use NUnit 3.0 and above from MSBuild, see Working-with-NUnit-3.0

Working with NUnit Task in MSBuild Build

The information in this section is applicable if you are using NUnit prior to version 3.0. For later versions, refer to the section below.

This section assumes that you already have an MSBuild build script with a configured NUnit task in it, and want TeamCity to track test reports without making any changes to the existing build script. Otherwise, consider adding NUnit build runner as one of the steps for your build configuration.

Using NUnitTeamCity task in MSBuild Build Script

TeamCity provides a custom NUnitTeamCity task compatible with the NUnit task from MSBuild Community tasks project. If you provide the NUnitTeamCity task in your build script, TeamCity will launch its own test runner based on the options specified within the task. Thus, you do not need to have any NUnit runner, because TeamCity will run the tests.

In order to correctly use the NUnitTeamCity task, perform the following steps:

Make sure the teamcity_dotnet_nunitlauncher system property is accessible on build agents. Build agents running Windows should automatically detect these properties as environment variables. If you need to set them manually, see defining agent specific properties for more information.
Configure your MSBuild build script with NUnitTeamCity task using the following syntax:
<UsingTask TaskName="NUnitTeamCity" AssemblyFile="$(teamcity_dotnet_nunitlauncher_msbuild_task)" />
<NUnitTeamCity Assemblies="@(assemblies_to_test)" />

The following attributes are supported by NUnitTeamCity task:

Property name	description
`Platform`	Execution mode on a x64 machine. Supported values are: x86, x64 and ANY.
`RuntimeVersion`	.NET Framework to use: v1.1, v2.0, v4.0, ANY. By default, the MSBuild runtime is used. Default is v2.0 for MSBuild 2.0 and 3.5. For MSBuild 4.0 default value is v4.0
`IncludeCategory`	As used in the `NUnit` task from MSBuild Community tasks project.
`ExcludeCategory`	As used in the `NUnit` task from MSBuild Community tasks project.
`NUnitVersion`	Version of NUnit to be used to run the tests. Supported NUnit versions: 2.2.10, 2.4.1, 2.4.6, 2.4.7, 2.4.8, 2.5.0, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.5.6, 2.5.7, 2.5.8, 2.5.9, 2.5.10, 2.6.0, 2.6.1, 2.6.2, 2.6.3. For example, `NUnit-2.2.10`. To use NUnit 3.0 and above, see the section below.
`Addins`	List of third-party NUnit addins to be used. For more information on using NUnit addins, refer to NUnit Addins Support page.
`HaltIfTestFailed`	True to fail task, if any test fails.
`Assemblies`	List of assemblies to run tests with.
`RunProcessPerAssembly`	Set true, if you want to run each assembly in a new process.

Example (part of the MSBuild build script):

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <UsingTask TaskName="NUnitTeamCity" AssemblyFile="$(teamcity_dotnet_nunitlauncher_msbuild_task)"/>

  <Target Name="SayHello">
     <NUnitTeamCity Assemblies="!!!*put here item group of assemblies to run tests on*!!!"/>
  </Target>
</Project>

Important Notes

Be sure to replace "." with "_" when using System Properties in MSBuild scripts. For example, use teamcity_dotnet_nunitlauncher_msbuild_task instead of teamcity.dotnet.nunitlauncher.msbuild.task
TeamCity also provides Visual Studio Solution Runner for solution files of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and above. It allows you to use MSBuild-style wildcards for the assemblies to run unit tests on.

Examples

Run NUnit tests using specific NUnit runner version:

<Target Name="build_01">
     <!-- start tests for NUnit-2.2.10 -->
     <NUnitTeamCity Assemblies="@(TestAssembly)" NUnitVersion="NUnit-2.2.10"/>

     <!-- start tests for NUnit-2.4.6 -->
     <NUnitTeamCity Assemblies="@(TestAssembly)" NUnitVersion="NUnit-2.4.8"/>
  </Target>

Run NUnit tests with custom addins with NUnit 2.4.6:

<Target Name="build">
     <NUnitTeamCity Assemblies="@(TestAssembly)" Addins="NUnitExtension.RowTest.AddIn.dll" NUnitVersion="NUnit-2.4.6"/>
  </Target>

Run NUnit tests with custom addins with NUnit 2.4.6 in per-assembly mode:

<Target Name="build">
     <NUnitTeamCity Assemblies="@(TestAssembly)" Addins="NUnitExtension.RowTest.AddIn.dll" NUnitVersion="NUnit-2.4.6" RunProcessPerAssembly="True"/>
</Target>

Working with NUnit 3.0

The information in this section is applicable if you are using NUnit 3.0 and above. For earlier versions of NUnit, refer to the section above.

Starting from version 3.0, NUnit supports TeamCity natively, so there is no need to use a special task for MSBuild as it was done for the earlier NUnit versions. The simplest way is to run the NUnit console via the standard Exec task. For example:

Getting Started with NUnit contains details and more examples.

Last modified: 20 April 2023