MbUnit : ExpectedExceptionAttribute

This page last changed on May 15, 2007 by grahamhay.

The ExpectedExceptionAttribute is a TestDecorator that enables you to create negative tests, i.e. tests that check that your application fails the way it should.

Use this CustomAttribute to tag a test with the expected exception type:

[Test]
[ExpectedException(typeof(MyCustomException))]
public void NegativeTest()
{ ... }

A classical example of usage is to check that a method checks that it's arguments are non-null.

public class Foo
{
   public Object Method(Object o)
   {
       return o.ToString();
    }
}

[Test]
[ExpectedException(typeof(ArgumentNullException))]
public void MethodArgumentNull()
{
   Foo foo = new Foo();
   foo.Method(null);
}

This test will fail because the thrown exception (NullReferenceException) is not of the right type (ArgumentNullException).

As of version 2.4, you can also test the expected message:

[Test, ExpectedException(typeof(NotImplementedException), "This should match.")]
public void ExceptionAndExpectedMessage()
{
    throw new NotImplementedException("This should match.");
}

and the inner exception:

[Test, ExpectedException(typeof(NotImplementedException), typeof(ArgumentException))]
public void ExceptionAndInnerException()
{
    throw new NotImplementedException("", new ArgumentException());
}

Document generated by Confluence on Jun 11, 2007 11:56