Building and loading file in NUnit - nunit

Question

I am following a book called "The Art of Unit Testing". I have reached a point where I need to test my test method that I have writtent using NUNit. The author instructs to build the project and then locate the path to the assembly file that was built and give the path to NUnit for testing.
My problem is that I cant seem to get this Assembly file path. Where is it located?
Plus, when I run my code, I am getting the following error:
Error 2 Program 'c:\Users\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\Loganalyzer\Loganalyzer\obj\Debug\Loganalyzer.exe' does not contain a static 'Main' method suitable for an entry point c:\users\documents\visual studio 2012\Projects\Loganalyzer\Loganalyzer\CSC Loganalyzer
Here's my code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace Loganalyzer
{
public class LogAnalyzer
{
public bool IsValidLogFileName(string fileName)
{
if (!fileName.EndsWith(".SLF"))
{
return false;
}
return true;
}
}
}
I am following the exact example that's in the book but cant get it to work as you can see. I will appreciate your help folks.
using Loganalyzer;
using NUnit.Framework;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace LogAnalyzerTest
{
[TestFixture]
class LogAnalyzerTest
{
[Test]
public void IsValidFileName_validFile_ReturnsTrue()
{
//Arrange ( Arranges objects, creating and setting them up as necessary).
LogAnalyzer analyzer = new LogAnalyzer();
//Act
bool result = analyzer.IsValidLogFileName("whatever.SLF");
//Assert ( Asserts that something is as expected)
Assert.IsTrue(result, "file name should be valid");
}
}
}

Answer 1

It seems as though you're trying to run your class project Loganalyzer, but you'll probably be wanting to use some sort of test runner. I prefer TestDriven.net.

Answer 2

NUnit is just the testing framework (very simplified, it specifies the rules for how to set up tests, etc).
What you need is some application or plugin to actually run them. You run the tests in the concole runner, or the GUI runner that come with NUnit for example, or in TestDriven.net (which I've heard is excellent).
Personally, I use the runner that comes with Resharper (although that is only free to try for a month or so).
The point is that you don't have an executable project, but rather a class library, containing stuff to test. The runner runs your tests, which in turn, call your code.

Answer 3

If you want to use the native nunit runner you typically use a class like this
static class NUnitLauncher
{
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
AppEntry.Main(new[] { Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location });
}
}
You'll also have to have it set as the start-up object (in the project's properties).
You'll also need to reference nunit-gui-runner.dll which you can find in the nunit install directory (normally program files). Mine is at
C:\Program Files (x86)\NUnit 2.5.7\bin\net-2.0\lib
The native nunit runner has it's problems but I find the resharper (6.1) test runner is unstable when debugging - it sometimes bombs out randomly. It also doesnt understand all the different types of parameterised tests you can have in nunit. Hopefully this isnt the case in the newer versions - it's got a much nicer UI.
The problems you describe above are two seperate things - one sounds like it is because you dont have a startup object set; the other sounds like it is confusion about what an assembly is. The executable that gets produced when you compile will contain an assembly - if you point nunit at that then it should work (assuming it has some nunit stuff in there (eg stuff tagged up with [Test] etc))