Neovolve.Logging.Xunit 5.0.0

Introduction

Neovolve.Logging.Xunit is a NuGet package that returns an ILogger or ILogger<T> that wraps around the ITestOutputHelper supplied by xUnit. xUnit uses this helper to write log messages to the test output of each test execution. This means that any log messages from classes being tested will end up in the xUnit test result output.

• Installation
• Usage
• Output Formatting
• Inspection
• Configured LoggerFactory
• Existing Loggers
• Sensitive Values
• Configuration

Installation

Run the following in the NuGet command line or visit the NuGet package page.

Install-Package Neovolve.Logging.Xunit

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Usage

The common usage of this package is to call the BuildLogger<T> extension method on the xUnit ITestOutputHelper.

Consider the following example of a class to test.

using System;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

public class MyClass
{
    private readonly ILogger _logger;

    public MyClass(ILogger<MyClass> logger)
    {
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public string DoSomething()
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("Hey, we did something");

        return Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
    }
}

Call BuildLoggerFor<T>() on ITestOutputHelper to generate the ILogger<T> to inject into the class being tested.

public class MyClassTests
{
    private readonly ITestOutputHelper _output;

    public MyClassTests(ITestOutputHelper output)
    {
        _output = output;
    }

    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        using var logger = output.BuildLoggerFor<MyClass>();

        var sut = new MyClass(logger);

        var actual = sut.DoSomething();

        // The xUnit test output should now include the log message from MyClass.DoSomething()

        actual.Should().NotBeNull();
    }
}

This would output the following in the test results.

Information [0]: Hey, we did something

Similarly, using the BuildLogger() extension method will return an ILogger configured with xUnit test output.

The above examples inline the declaration of the logger with using var to ensure that the logger instance (and internal ILoggerFactory) is disposed.

You can avoid having to build the logger instance in each unit test method by deriving the test class from either LoggingTestsBase or LoggingTestsBase<T>. These classes provide the implementation to build the logger and dispose it. They also provide access to the ITestOutputHelper instance for writing directly to the test output.

public class MyClassTests : LoggingTestsBase<MyClass>
{
    public MyClassTests(ITestOutputHelper output) : base(output, LogLevel.Information)
    {
    }

    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        var sut = new MyClass(Logger);

        var actual = sut.DoSomething();

        // The xUnit test output should now include the log message from
        MyClass.DoSomething()

        Output.WriteLine("This works too");

        actual.Should().NotBeNullOrWhiteSpace();
    }
}

The BuildLogger and BuildLoggerFor<T> extension methods along with the LoggingTestsBase and LoggingTestsBase<T> abstract classes also provide overloads to set the logging level or define logging configuration.

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Output Formatting

The default formatting to the xUnit test results may not be what you want. You can define your own ILogFormatter class to control how the output looks. There is a configurable formatter for standard messages and another configurable formatter for scope start and end messages.

public class MyFormatter : ILogFormatter
{
    public string Format(
        int scopeLevel,
        string categoryName,
        LogLevel logLevel,
        EventId eventId,
        string message,
        Exception exception)
    {
        var builder = new StringBuilder();

        if (scopeLevel > 0)
        {
            builder.Append(' ', scopeLevel * 2);
        }

        builder.Append($"{logLevel} ");

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(categoryName))
        {
            builder.Append($"{categoryName} ");
        }

        if (eventId.Id != 0)
        {
            builder.Append($"[{eventId.Id}]: ");
        }

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(message))
        {
            builder.Append(message);
        }

        if (exception != null)
        {
            builder.Append($"\n{exception}");
        }

        return builder.ToString();
    }
}

public class MyConfig : LoggingConfig
{
    public MyConfig()
    {
        base.Formatter = new MyFormatter();
    }

    public static MyConfig Current { get; } = new MyConfig();
}

The custom ILogFormatter is defined on a LoggingConfig class that can be provided when creating a logger. The MyConfig.Current property above is there provide a clean way to share the config across test classes.

using System;
using FluentAssertions;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using Xunit;
using Xunit.Abstractions;

public class MyClassTests
{
    private readonly ITestOutputHelper _output;

    public MyClassTests(ITestOutputHelper output)
    {
        _output = output;
    }

    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        using var logger = _output.BuildLogger(MyConfig.Current);
        var sut = new MyClass(logger);

        var actual = sut.DoSomething();

        // The xUnit test output should now include the log message from MyClass.DoSomething()

        actual.Should().NotBeNull();
    }
}

In the same way the format of start and end scope messages can be formatted by providing a custom formatter on LoggingConfig.ScopeFormatter.

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Inspection

Using this library makes it really easy to output log messages from your code as part of the test results. You may want to also inspect the log messages written as part of the test assertions as well.

The BuildLogger and BuildLoggerFor<T> extension methods support this by returning a ICacheLogger or ICacheLogger<T> respectively. The cache logger is a wrapper around the created logger and exposes all the log entries written by the test.

using System;
using Neovolve.Logging.Xunit;
using FluentAssertions;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using Xunit;
using Xunit.Abstractions;

public class MyClassTests
{
    private readonly ITestOutputHelper _output;

    public MyClassTests(ITestOutputHelper output)
    {
        _output = output;
    }

    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        using var logger = _output.BuildLogger();
        var sut = new MyClass(logger);

        sut.DoSomething();
        
        logger.Count.Should().Be(1);
        logger.Entries.Should().HaveCount(1);
        logger.Last.Message.Should().Be("Hey, we did something");
    }
}

Perhaps you don't want to use the xUnit ITestOutputHelper but still want to use the ICacheLogger to run assertions over log messages written by the class under test. You can do this by creating a CacheLogger or CacheLogger<T> directly.

using System;
using Neovolve.Logging.Xunit;
using FluentAssertions;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using Xunit;

public class MyClassTests
{
    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        var logger = new CacheLogger();

        var sut = new MyClass(logger);

        sut.DoSomething();
        
        logger.Count.Should().Be(1);
        logger.Entries.Should().HaveCount(1);
        logger.Last.Message.Should().Be("Hey, we did something");
    }
}

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Configured LoggerFactory

You may have an integration or acceptance test that requires additional configuration to the log providers on ILoggerFactory while also supporting the logging out to xUnit test results. You can do this by create a factory that is already configured with xUnit support.

You can get an xUnit configured ILoggerFactory by calling output.BuildLoggerFactory().

using System;
using Neovolve.Logging.Xunit;
using FluentAssertions;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using Xunit;
using Xunit.Abstractions;

public class MyClassTests
{
    private readonly ILogger _logger;

    public MyClassTests(ITestOutputHelper output)
    {
        var factory = output.BuildLoggerFactory();

        // call factory.AddConsole or other provider extension method

        _logger = factory.CreateLogger(nameof(MyClassTests));
    }

    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        var sut = new MyClass(_logger);

        // The xUnit test output should now include the log message from MyClass.DoSomething()

        var actual = sut.DoSomething();

        actual.Should().NotBeNullOrWhiteSpace();
    }
}

The BuildLoggerFactory extension methods provide overloads to set the logging level or define logging configuration.

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Existing Loggers

Already have an existing logger and want the above cache support? Got you covered there too using the WithCache() method.

using System;
using Neovolve.Logging.Xunit;
using FluentAssertions;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using NSubstitute;
using Xunit;

public class MyClassTests
{
    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        var logger = Substitute.For<ILogger>();

        logger.IsEnabled(Arg.Any<LogLevel>()).Returns(true);

        var cacheLogger = logger.WithCache();

        var sut = new MyClass(cacheLogger);

        sut.DoSomething();

        cacheLogger.Count.Should().Be(1);
        cacheLogger.Entries.Should().HaveCount(1);
        cacheLogger.Last.Message.Should().Be("Hey, we did something");
    }
}

The WithCache() also supports ILogger<T>.

using System;
using Neovolve.Logging.Xunit;
using FluentAssertions;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using NSubstitute;
using Xunit;

public class MyClassTests
{
    [Fact]
    public void DoSomethingReturnsValue()
    {
        var logger = Substitute.For<ILogger<MyClass>>();

        logger.IsEnabled(Arg.Any<LogLevel>()).Returns(true);

        var cacheLogger = logger.WithCache();

        var sut = new MyClass(cacheLogger);

        sut.DoSomething();

        cacheLogger.Count.Should().Be(1);
        cacheLogger.Entries.Should().HaveCount(1);
        cacheLogger.Last.Message.Should().Be("Hey, we did something");
    }
}

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Sensitive Values

The LoggingConfig class exposes a SensitiveValues property that holds a collection of strings. All sensitive values found in a log message or a start/end scope message will be masked out.

public class ScopeScenarioTests : LoggingTestsBase<ScopeScenarioTests>
{
    private static readonly LoggingConfig _config = new LoggingConfig().Set(x => x.SensitiveValues.Add("secret"));

    public ScopeScenarioTests(ITestOutputHelper output) : base(output, _config)
    {
    }

    [Fact]
    public void TestOutputWritesScopeBoundariesUsingObjectsWithSecret()
    {
        Logger.LogCritical("Writing critical message with secret");
        Logger.LogDebug("Writing debug message with secret");
        Logger.LogError("Writing error message with secret");
        Logger.LogInformation("Writing information message with secret");
        Logger.LogTrace("Writing trace message with secret");
        Logger.LogWarning("Writing warning message with secret");

        var firstPerson = Model.Create<StructuredData>().Set(x => x.Email = "secret");

        using (Logger.BeginScope(firstPerson))
        {
            Logger.LogInformation("Inside first scope with secret");

            var secondPerson = Model.Create<StructuredData>().Set(x => x.FirstName = "secret");

            using (Logger.BeginScope(secondPerson))
            {
                Logger.LogInformation("Inside second scope with secret");
            }

            Logger.LogInformation("After second scope with secret");
        }

        Logger.LogInformation("After first scope with secret");
    }

The above test will render the following to the test output.

Critical [0]: Writing critical message with ****
Debug [0]: Writing debug message with ****
Error [0]: Writing error message with ****
Information [0]: Writing information message with ****
Trace [0]: Writing trace message with ****
Warning [0]: Writing warning message with ****
<Scope 1>
   Scope data: 
   {
     "DateOfBirth": "1972-10-07T16:35:31.2039449Z",
     "Email": "****",
     "FirstName": "Amos",
     "LastName": "Burton"
   }
   Information [0]: Inside first scope with ****
      <Scope 2>
      Scope data: 
      {
        "DateOfBirth": "1953-07-04T06:55:31.2333376Z",
        "Email": "james.holden@rocinante.space",
        "FirstName": "****",
        "LastName": "Holden"
      }
      Information [0]: Inside second scope with ****
   </Scope 2>
   Information [0]: After second scope with ****
</Scope 1>
Information [0]: After first scope with ****

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Configuration

Logging configuration can be controled by using a LoggingConfig class as indicated in the Output Formatting section above. The following are the configuration options that can be set.

Formatter: Defines a custom formatter for rendering log messages to xUnit test output.

ScopeFormatter: Defines a custom formatter for rendering start and end scope messages to xUnit test output.

IgnoreTestBoundaryException: Defines whether exceptions thrown while logging outside of the test execution will be ignored.

LogLevel: Defines the minimum log level that will be written to the test output. This helps to limit the noise in test output when set to higher levels. Defaults to LogLevel.Trace.

ScopePaddingSpaces: Defines the number of spaces to use for indenting scopes.

SensitiveValues: Defines a collection of sensitive values that will be masked in the test output logging.

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