How to run a single [Theory]-based test with xunit

[sebastienros]

I would understand if it was a question to ask on the xunit repository, but here is my issue:

• I only reference xunit.v3.mtp-v2@3.2.1 (no other test sdk or runner)
• I have some tests with [Theory] values (inlinedata, classdata)
• I can run dotnet test --list-tests and see all these "computed" tests
• I can run dotnet test and see all these tests executed
• I can individually run a single test in VS or VS Code
• But I can't find a way to run only a "single" one of these tests from command line

I would assume there should be a way to run one from the output of the --list-tests but can't find any example for this. I tried the --filter-uid but have no idea what to use here.

Or is it missing something like --filter-displayname? method, ... are useless unless it can filter on the provided data too.

I found some ways around it but they are quite complex as it means listing the full details of a test including its technical id, grep it, and then run with the id. I assume that might be what test hosts are doing but I feel there should be a native command to do it by name.

[Youssef1313]

@sebastienros It is indeed more of xunit question. From what I know, xunit theories can have two modes of running:

• test cases are pre-enumerated: this means that a theory method is expanded to multiple test cases. Each should probably have different test case ID, and they are reported in TRX files as multiple test cases, etc.
• test cases are not pre-enumerated: this folds all the test cases into a single test case, and reports a single result.

There is a --pre-enumerate-theories command-line option to control that.

For discovery, it looks like this default to "not pre-enumerate":
https://github.com/xunit/xunit/blob/45bbafd93f8ae076a8aef4655b585c34daf99b90/src/common/MicrosoftTestingPlatform/TestPlatformTestFramework.cs#L159 (but I must be missing something as pre-enumerates in IDE discvory AFAIK)

For execution, it only pre-enumerates in Test Explorer: https://github.com/xunit/xunit/blob/45bbafd93f8ae076a8aef4655b585c34daf99b90/src/common/MicrosoftTestingPlatform/TestPlatformTestFramework.cs#L206-L207

cc @bradwilson

[bradwilson]

I'm think I'm now in the same place as @sebastienros in that I don't know how to get --list-tests to show the test UIDs.

[bradwilson]

Consistency issue is fixed in v3 3.2.2-pre.17. https://xunit.net/docs/using-ci-builds

I was able to see test UIDs by using --diagnostic when using --list-tests and then pulling them from the diagnostic list, but it feels like --list-tests should have a way to show the test UID, given the existence of --filter-uid.

[Youssef1313]

Indeed, we should fix --list-tests here, likely by adding multiple modes/options to control how to display the test cases.

[bradwilson]

@Youssef1313 You may also want to consider including machine-parseable lists as an option. We allow adding /json to the end of any of our -list options (in the native UX):

[Youssef1313]

Tracked in dotnet/sdk#49754