Document more MSTest attributes and APIs #50979

Evangelink · 2026-01-08T11:16:08Z

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docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md	MSTest attributes

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR enhances the MSTest attributes documentation by adding comprehensive coverage of previously undocumented attributes and APIs. The changes focus on data-driven testing features, test lifecycle management, threading models, conditional execution, and test control mechanisms.

Key changes include:

Addition of DiscoverInternalsAttribute documentation for discovering internal test classes and methods.
Comprehensive documentation of data-driven testing features including DynamicDataAttribute, TestDataRow, and UnfoldingStrategy.
Documentation of global test lifecycle attributes (GlobalTestInitialize and GlobalTestCleanup).
Reorganization of test execution control attributes with new sections for threading, parallelization, timeout/retry, and conditional execution attributes.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (5)

docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md:415

This list is missing Oxford commas. The style guidelines require Oxford commas in all lists. Add commas before "and" in items where multiple concepts are joined.

- <xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.UnfoldingStrategy.Auto?displayProperty=nameWithType> (default): MSTest automatically determines whether to unfold test cases based on the number of data rows. Test cases are collapsed (folded) when there are many data rows to avoid cluttering Test Explorer, and unfolded when there are few data rows for better visibility.
- <xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.UnfoldingStrategy.Unfold?displayProperty=nameWithType>: All test cases are expanded and shown individually in Test Explorer and TRX results. Each test case can be run independently.
- <xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.UnfoldingStrategy.Fold?displayProperty=nameWithType>: Test cases are collapsed into a single test node. Individual test cases cannot be run independently; the entire data-driven test runs as one unit.

docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md:378

The list is missing an Oxford comma. Add a comma before "and" in the last item to comply with the Markdown writing style guidelines requiring Oxford commas in all lists.

- **Custom display names**: Set a unique display name for each test case using the <xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.TestDataRow.DisplayName> property
- **Test properties**: Attach metadata to individual test cases using the <xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.TestDataRow.TestProperties> property
- **Type-safe data**: Use the generic `TestDataRow<T>` to provide strongly-typed test data

docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md:639

The list is missing an Oxford comma. Add a comma before "and a delay backoff type" to comply with the Markdown writing style guidelines requiring Oxford commas in all lists.

The [Retry](xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.RetryAttribute) attribute was introduced in MSTest 3.8. This attribute causes the test method to be retried when it fails or timeouts. It allows you to specify the maximum number of retry attempts, the time delay between retries, and a delay backoff type, which is either constant or exponential.

docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md:705

Add a comma after "for example" to properly set off this introductory phrase.

You can specify which operating systems the test supports or doesn't support using the [OperatingSystems](xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.OperatingSystems) flags enum, which includes `Windows`, `Linux`, `OSX` (macOS), and `FreeBSD`. You can combine multiple operating systems using the bitwise OR operator.

docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md:378

According to the Markdown writing style guidelines, list items should be complete sentences with proper punctuation. The benefit descriptions on lines 376-378 are sentence fragments without ending punctuation. Add periods at the end of each item to make them complete sentences.

- **Custom display names**: Set a unique display name for each test case using the <xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.TestDataRow.DisplayName> property
- **Test properties**: Attach metadata to individual test cases using the <xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.TestDataRow.TestProperties> property
- **Type-safe data**: Use the generic `TestDataRow<T>` to provide strongly-typed test data

docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md

Copilot · 2026-01-08T11:20:49Z

docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md

-### `ParallelizeAttribute`
+#### `UITestMethodAttribute`
+
+When applied to a test method, the `UITestMethod` attribute indicates that the test method should be scheduled on the UI thread of the platform. This attribute is specifically designed for testing UWP (Universal Windows Platform) and WinUI applications that require UI thread access.


The UITestMethod attribute is not referenced with an xref cross-reference like other attributes in the document. For consistency with the rest of the document and to provide proper linking, this should be [UITestMethod](xref:Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting.UITestMethodAttribute) or similar.

For some reason the API doc related to this attribute doesn't exist. @Youssef1313 is it because the attribute is not present in all TFMs?

Evangelink · 2026-01-08T11:23:04Z

@Youssef1313 @meaghanlewis working on this doc page, I feel like the attribute grouping is too technical and it would probably be better to have something like:

Overview (basics + getting started)
Data-Driven Testing (keep separate - it's substantial)
Test Lifecycle & Setup (fixtures)
Test Execution & Control (threading, parallelization, timeout, retry, conditional execution combined)
Metadata & Organization (all metadata attributes)

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Copilot · 2026-01-08T11:26:21Z

@Evangelink I've opened a new pull request, #50980, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-01-08T11:26:25Z

@Evangelink I've opened a new pull request, #50981, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-01-08T11:26:29Z

@Evangelink I've opened a new pull request, #50982, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-01-08T11:26:33Z

@Evangelink I've opened a new pull request, #50983, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-01-08T11:26:35Z

@Evangelink I've opened a new pull request, #50984, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-01-08T11:26:40Z

@Evangelink I've opened a new pull request, #50985, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

* Initial plan * Fix ambiguous contraction in TestPropertyAttribute documentation Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]>

#50982) * Initial plan * Change 'may take' to 'might take' for style compliance Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]>

* Initial plan * Add periods to list items per style guide Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]>

…50981) * Initial plan * Add missing using System.Reflection directive to DynamicDataDisplayName example Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]>

* Initial plan * Add missing comma after "for example" on line 450 Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]>

* Initial plan * Add missing Oxford commas and list punctuation Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Amaury Levé <[email protected]>

Document more MSTest attributes and APIs

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Evangelink requested a review from meaghanlewis as a code owner January 8, 2026 11:16

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings January 8, 2026 11:16

Evangelink requested a review from Youssef1313 as a code owner January 8, 2026 11:16

dotnetrepoman bot added this to the January 2026 milestone Jan 8, 2026

dotnet-policy-service bot added the dotnet-fundamentals/svc label Jan 8, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Evangelink January 8, 2026 11:16 View session

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Evangelink and others added 2 commits January 8, 2026 12:24

Update docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md

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Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Update docs/core/testing/unit-testing-mstest-writing-tests-attributes.md

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Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

Add missing comma after "for example" introductory phrase #50980

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Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

Add missing using directive to DynamicDataDisplayName code example #50981

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Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

Fix style guideline violation: change "may" to "might" for possibility #50982

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Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

[WIP] WIP address feedback on MSTest documentation enhancements #50983

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Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

Add periods to list items per Markdown style guide #50984

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Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

Add missing Oxford commas and list punctuation #50985

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Copilot AI and others added 6 commits January 8, 2026 12:30

Add periods to list items per Markdown style guide (#50984)

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* Initial plan * Add periods to list items per style guide Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: Evangelink <[email protected]>

Evangelink enabled auto-merge (squash) January 8, 2026 14:16

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