How to use ApprovalTests with xUnit's Theory attribute

Problem

In ApprovalTests, the Namer generates a unique name for each approved/received file. This filename takes the format of ..approved.txt.

This works perfectly for Fact based tests. But, if you are writing a Theory based test, the filename will not be unique as a theory-based test is data-driven and therefore has multiple calls to the same method.

Example

Let's look at an example.

public class TestClass
{
    [InlineData(true)]
    [InlineData(false)]
    [Theory]
    public void Test(bool flag)
    {
        var result = TestThisMethod(flag);
        Approvals.Verify(result);
    }
}

In the above snippet, the filename generated for both the tests will be TestClass.Test.approved.txt. This means that you have only 1 approval file for both tests.

Solution

The naming pattern of the default namer is [ClassName].[MethodName].[AdditionalInformation(optional)].approved.[Extension]. So, we can leverage the AdditionalInformation part to generate unique filenames for our tests.

public class TestClass
{
    [InlineData(true)]
    [InlineData(false)]
    [Theory]
    public void Test(bool flag)
    {
        NamerFactory.AdditionalInformation = $"Flag-{flag}";
        var result = TestThisMethod(flag);
        Approvals.Verify(result);
    }
}

Now, when we run the tests, 2 files will be generated.

• TestClass.Test.Flag-true.approved.txt
• TestClass.Test.Flag-false.approved.txt

Note: We can pass any information to the AdditionalInformation property as long as it is unique between tests.