Question

We’re using MSpec for unit tests after having previously used MbUnit.

I’m used to being able to say

Assert.IsTrue(status, "Status should be true");

in MbUnit, i.e. adding a message to the assertion which is output if it fails.

I can’t find any corresponding functionality in MSpec. I’m testing that some XML validates and, if it fails, I want to report the validation error message. So my MSpec code looks like

string message;

bool isValid = ValidateXml(myXml, out message);

isValid.ShouldBeTrue();

But I want to be able to add the message to the test output if the ShouldBeTrue() fails.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

Looking at the source for MSpec, no. The extension methods do not take a string parameter for a message.

You could trivially add the functionality yourself, in terms of code to write; the code is in machine.specifications / Source / Machine.Specifications / ExtensionMethods.cs. I don’t know how hard it is to build.

For example you could create overloads of ShouldBeFalse and ShouldBeTrue like so:

[AssertionMethod]
public static void ShouldBeFalse([AssertionCondition(AssertionConditionType.IS_FALSE)] this bool condition, string message)
{
  if (condition)
    throw new SpecificationException(message);
}

[AssertionMethod]
public static void ShouldBeTrue([AssertionCondition(AssertionConditionType.IS_TRUE)] this bool condition, string message)
{
  if (!condition)
    throw new SpecificationException(message);
}