How to run a web application project (ASP.NET MVC) within C#, NUnit project in Visual Studio 2022

Question

I'm building a NUnit test project in Visual Studio (VS) 2022 in order to test an older web site (MVC 4, ASP.NET). I would like to run a Selenium WebDriver to test the older, MVC 4, web application in VS 2022. The issue I've run across is that I need to run the site and run the tests at the same time. In the Selenium WebDriver documentation, I need to give a URL for it to test, but the web site is running in debug in VS 2022. The code I need to test doesn't have a URL. How can I run the website from the C# code in the test project, and then run the Selenium WebDriver to test the site? Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

If you are using IIS Express to debug your web app, you can use following code in test module init (SetUp if i'm not wrong):

        Process _iisExpressProcess;

        const string webAppPath = @"..."; // path to web app folder with web.config 
        const string webAppPort = "..."; // port of your web app

        ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
        {
            WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal,
            ErrorDialog = true,
            LoadUserProfile = true,
            CreateNoWindow = false,
            UseShellExecute = true,
            Arguments = string.Format("/path:\"{0}\" /port:{1}", webAppPath, webAppPort)
        };
        
        startInfo.FileName = "..."; // absolute path to your iisexpress.exe f.e. C:\Program Files\IIS Express\iisexpress.exe

        _iisExpressProcess = new Process { StartInfo = startInfo };
        _iisExpressProcess.Start();

than your selenium tests methods is going to be be executed.

On test module uninit (TearDown if i'm not wrong) you should terminate iisexpress execution by calling

_iisExpressProcess.CloseMainWindow();