Setup Reqnroll Project¶

This page guides you through setting up your Reqnroll project. It is also recommended to configure your Integrated Development Environment (IDE, e.g. Visual Studio 2022) to work conveniently with Reqnroll. To set up your IDE, please follow the Setup an IDE for Reqnroll guide first.

Choosing your test execution framework¶

Reqnroll uses test execution frameworks (MsTest, NUnit or xUnit) to run the tests. So first of all, you need to decide, which one you would like to use. Reqnroll does not have a favorite one, so you should better choose the one you have the most experience with. If you don’t have any preference, choose NUnit. The following table gives you a quick comparison of the different supported execution frameworks.

Framework	NuGet package	Description
NUnit	`Reqnroll.NUnit`	Easy to use testing framework with respectful history. Supports test attachments and comes with an extensive assertion library.
MsTest	`Reqnroll.MsTest`	A widely supported framework by Microsoft. Supports test attachments and input parameters through the `TestContext` class.
xUnit	`Reqnroll.xUnit`	Simple and modern testing framework that reports the original names of the scenarios during execution. It does not support test attachments and writing test execution output cannot be done with `Console.WriteLine`, so it is less practical for integration tests.

Note

If you changed your mind and you would like to switch to another test execution framework, check out the How to change the test execution framework used by Reqnroll guide. Using independent assertion frameworks, like Fluent Assertions makes the change much easier.

Setting up a Reqnroll project¶

Once you have chosen your test execution framework, you need to setup the Reqnroll project. This can be done by creating a new Reqnroll project or setup an existing .NET test project.

Depending on your situation, you can find the necessary setup instructions in one of the following sub-sections.

Creating a new Reqnroll project from Visual Studio
Creating a new Reqnroll project from console
Setup an existing test project

Creating a new Reqnroll project from Visual Studio¶

If you have installed the Reqnroll Visual Studio integration, you can easily create a new Reqnroll project using the Add new project wizard, by performing the following steps:

From the context menu of your solution in the Solution Explorer window select Add / New Project…
In the Add a new project dialog enter Reqnroll to the Search for templates text box.
Choose *Reqnroll Project” from the list and click on Next button.
Follow the wizard by choosing the name, the target framework and the test framework for the project.

As a result, a new Reqnroll project is created with a sample feature file and step definition class.

Build your project and execute the sample scenarios.

Creating a new Reqnroll project from console¶

Reqnroll projects can also be installed using the .NET template infrastructure and the dotnet new command.

First, you need to make sure that the Reqnroll templates are installed on your computer by running the dotnet new install Reqnroll.Templates.DotNet:

.NET CLI¶

dotnet new install Reqnroll.Templates.DotNet

Once the templates have been installed, you can create a new project using the dotnet new reqnroll-project command in a new directory.

Terminal¶

> mkdir MyReqnrollProject
> cd MyReqnrollProject
> dotnet new reqnroll-project
The template "Reqnroll Project Template" has been created successfully.

This command creates a Reqnroll project with NUnit for the latest .NET framework. In order to use other test execution framework or .NET version, you can use the -t and the -f option. For the possible values and all options, you can invoke dotnet new reqnroll-project --help.

.NET CLI¶

dotnet new reqnroll-project --help

The following command creates a Reqnroll project with MsTest using .NET 6.0

.NET CLI¶

dotnet new reqnroll-project -t mstest -f net6.0

As a result, a new Reqnroll project is created with a sample feature file and step definition class.

You can go ahead and execute the sample scenarios from console.

To add further feature file or a Reqnroll configuration file, you can also use the reqnroll-feature and reqnroll-config item templates. The following command adds a new feature file to the project named MyFeature.feature.

.NET CLI¶

dotnet new reqnroll-feature -n MyFeature

Setup an existing test project¶

Reqnroll can also be configured for an existing test project. For that you need to add the NuGet package of your chosen test execution framework to your project. (Check the NuGet package names above). The chosen test execution framework has to match the framework used in your existing test project.

The following example adds the Reqnroll NuGet package for an MsTest project.

.NET CLI¶

dotnet add package Reqnroll.MsTest

Although the Reqnroll tests can be mixed with normal unit tests in the same .NET project, for the sake of clarity it is recommended to create a separate project for your Reqnroll BDD scenarios.