How can I use a single variables to track all of my tests

Question

I'm using MSTest, when I first run all of my unit tests (or tests on their own) i want to create a unique identifier that I can put into db records to track the test. Problem is I want the same unique reference to be created and used across all tests. What I really want to use is a DateTime stamp. I'm looking for an event that always gets raised and then I can put it in a static container for the duration of the tests and then just access this static container from within the tests... Is this possible?....

Answer 1

You could use the AssemblyInitialize attribute on a method to ensure it runs before any other methods in your test assembly. In that method you could generate your unique ID and set it to a static variable. If your testing methods span assemblies this won't work though.

Answer 2

You could go down the route of having a separate class responsible for holding a static DateTime:

public static class TestIdGenerator
{
    private static readonly Lazy<DateTime> _testId = new Lazy<DateTime>(() => DateTime.Now);
    public static DateTime TestId
    {
        get { return _testId.Value; }
    }
}

in your test, you access it with

var testId = TestIdGenerator.TestId;

The DateTime will be set the first time the TestId property is accessed, and will remain the same on each subsequent access until the CLR is unloaded - which will happen when all the tests in a particular test run have completed.

I've just tested this, and it does remain constant for all the tests in the fixture, but is then different on the next test run.