Question

i have a problem with a c# test method.

it looks like:

public void GetRolesTest()
{
    RoleProvider target = new RoleProvider(); 
    string username = "FOO"; 
    string[] expected = new string[2];
    expected[0] = "Admin";
    expected[1] = "User";
    string[] actual;
    actual = target.GetRoles(username);
    Assert.AreEqual<string[]>(expected, actual);
}

the method which is tested just makes the following:

public override string[] GetRoles(string username)
{
    string[] output = new string[2];
    output[0] = "Admin";
    output[1] = "User";
    return output;
}

after running the test i get the following error:

Error in "Assert.AreEqual". Expected:<System.String[]>. Acutally:<System.String[]>.

can sombody tell me what is wrong there?

Answer 1

The reason you got your exception is that Assert.AreEqual will use default comparer for type which in case of string[] would be simple reference comparison (actual and expected are different objects – different references).

You can use collection assertion instead:

CollectionAssert.AreEquivalent(expected, actual);

Or, doing true verification with LINQ:

Assert.IsTrue(actual.SequenceEqual(expected));