In this section:

Overview

dotTEST ships with the coverage.exe tool that facilitates collecting coverage information from .NET managed code during execution of standalone applications. Running coverage.exe launches a wizard that allows you to specify the necessary information in the GUI. Alternatively, you can provide the information with the dedicated command line options.

Additionally, dotTEST ships with a component called the coverage agent, which can be enabled or disabled when coverage information is being collected. Enabling the coverage agent allows you to connect with the Coverage Agent Manager (CAM) - a web interface for measuring coverage with a wide range of testing techniques; see the Parasoft Coverage Agent Manager User Guide.

Both workflows, with and without the coverage agent, enable you to generate a local coverage report and upload the results to DTP.

dotTEST can collect coverage for .NET Core standalone applications (configuring additional dependencies with the dedicated environment variable or the dotnet.exe command line switch --additional-deps is not supported).

You can leverage the capabilities of the the coverage.exe tool to collect coverage for .NET Core web applications by providing the entry point of the application under test and the path to dotnet.exe; see Configuring the Coverage Wizard for details.

Note: In typical workflows, dotTEST collects coverage for web applications deployed on IIS server (see Application Coverage for Standalone Applications).

Configuring the Coverage Wizard

Run the [INSTALL_DIR]\coverage.exe tool and specify the following information:
- Full path to the application
- Command line arguments
- Working directory
Complete the Full path to the application field with the path to dotnet.exe and the Command line arguments field with the entry point of the application. For example:
Specify the .NET CLR version used by the application.
Specify a directory where the scripts generated by the wizard will be saved.
Specify if you want to collect coverage information with or without the Coverage Agent:
- If you enable the Use Coverage Agent option, enable or disable the Collect coverage without admin privileges option (see Collecting Coverage without Admin Privileges), then skip steps 5-7 and click Finish.
- If you enable the Without Coverage Agent option (default), proceed to steps 5-7.
Define the scope of coverage to import by providing -solution or -project switches that will be passed to the dotTEST executable so that it can locate sources. See Configuring the Test Scope for more information about the switches.
Enable or disable the Remove old coverage data before each run option. This option is enabled by default.
By default, dynamic coverage information that was collected during previous executions is deleted. Disabling this option will prevent removing the data from previous runs.
Enable or disable the Run application immediately option to automatically launch the monitorCoverage.bat script ( if enabled, the application must be manually launched with the script generated by the wizard in the location specified in step 3).

Using the Command Line Options

You can run coverage.exe with the dedicated command line options to specify the information necessary for collecting application coverage:

coverage.exe -app [path] -workingDir [path] -appArgs [arguments] -commandsDir [path] -scope [dotTEST scope switch] -clr [version] -run

The following options are available:

Option Name	Value	Description
`-app`	`[path]`	Specifies the full path to the application.
`-workingDir`	`[path]`	Specifies the path to the working directory.
`-appArgs`	`[argument]`	Specifies the application command line arguments.
`-commandsDir`	`[path]`	Specifies the directory for the *.bat scripts generated by the coverage tool.
`-scope`	`-solution [path]` `-project [path]`	Specifies the scope of the coverage to import by providing `-solution` or `-project` switches that will be passed to dotTEST executable so that it can locate sources. For example: `-scope "-solution C:\temp\Scope.sln"` `-scope "-project C:\temp\Scope.csproj"` See Configuring the Test Scope for more information about the switches.
`-clr`	`v20` `v40`	Specifies the .NET CLR version used by the application;
`-run`	`none`	Automatically launches the `monitorCoverage.bat` script (optional; you can also open the directory specified with the `-commandDir` option and manually run the script).
`-doNotRemoveOldCoverage`	`none`	Specifies that old coverage data is not deleted before each run. If this option is not specified, coverage data collected during previous runs is deleted by default.
`-withCoverageAgent`	`none`	Specifies that coverage is collected with the Coverage Agent.

Collecting Coverage without Coverage Agent

If you configure the coverage wizard to run without the coverage agent, the tool creates the following scripts in the directory specified as the Target scripts directory (see Configuring the Coverage Wizard):

monitorCoverage.bat runs and monitors the application
importCoverage.bat imports and reports coverage data

Run the monitorCoverage.bat script (skip this step if you launched the coverage wizard with the Run application immediately option enabled). This will run the specified application.
Interact with the application and perform your tests.
Close the application.
Run the importCoverage.bat script to generate the report in the following location: [Target scripts directory]\reports.
View the coverage information.

Collecting Coverage with Coverage Agent

If you configure the coverage wizard to run with the coverage agent, the tool creates the following scripts in the directory specified as the Target scripts directory (see Configuring the Coverage Wizard):

monitorCoverage.bat runs and monitors the application
runCamAgent.bat runs the Coverage Agent

To collect application coverage with the Coverage Agent:

Generate the static coverage file; see Generating the Static Coverage File.
Run the runCamAgent.bat script to launch the Coverage Agent.
Do not close the Coverage Agent process until you stop working with CAM.
Run the monitorCoverage.bat script to launch the application.
Connect with Coverage Agent Manager and perform testing; see Parasoft Coverage Agent Manager for details.
Download dynamic coverage and test results.
Close the application.
Merge dynamic coverage downloaded with CAM with static coverage and send the merged coverage data to DTP; see Merging the Coverage Data and Uploading to DTP.
Upload test results to DTP, see Uploading Test Results and Coverage to DTP.
View the merged coverage information in DTP.

Generating the Static Coverage File

Generate the static coverage file by running the following test configuration on the solution:

dottestcli.exe -config "builtin://Collect Static Coverage" -solution SOLUTION_PATH

The dottestcli console output indicates where the static coverage data is saved, for example:

Saving static coverage information into: 'C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\Parasoft\dotTEST\Coverage\Static\[FILE].data

Merging the Coverage Data and Uploading to DTP

To view coverage information collected with CAM, you need to upload the test results and coverage to DTP. To upload the coverage, you need to merge the runtime coverage that you downloaded form CAM with the static coverage generated by the Coverage Agent. To properly merge and upload the coverage data, ensure that the required settings are configured in the .properties file (see Configuration Overview):

Ensure that dotTEST is properly configured, including DTP, scope and authorship settings. See Connecting to DTP, Sending Results and Publishing Source Code to DTP, Configuration.
Configure the following settings in the dottestcli.properties file in order to properly merge coverage data:
- report.coverage.images - Specifies a set of tags that are used to create coverage images in DTP. A coverage image is a unique identifier for aggregating coverage data from runs with the same build ID. DTP supports up to three coverage images per report.
- session.tag - Specifies a unique identifier for the test run and is used to distinguish different runs on the same build.
- build.id - Specifies a build identifier used to label results. It may be unique for each build, but it may also label several test sessions executed during a specified build.
- report.coverage.limit (optional) - Specifies the lower coverage threshold. Coverage results lower than this value are highlighted in the report (the default value is 40).

Merging and Uploading the Coverage Data to DTP

Copy the dynamic (runtime) coverage and static coverage files to the same machine and run dottestcli with the following switches:

-runtimeCoverage: Specifies the path to runtime coverage that you download with CAM (see Coverage Agent Manager (CAM) section of the DTP documentation for details). You can provide a path to an individual .data file with coverage information from one testing session, or a path to a folder that contains many .data files from multiple testing sessions.
-staticCoverage: Specifies the path to the static coverage file (see Generating the Static Coverage File).

dottestcli.exe -runtimeCoverage [path] -staticCoverage [path] -report [path] -publish -settings [path]

The coverage data will be automatically uploaded to DTP.

Uploading Test Results to DTP

Go to Report Center in the DTP interface.
Click the gear icon and choose Report Center Settings> Additional Settings> Report Center Administration> Tools> Data Collector Upload Form.
Click Choose File and browse for the report.xml file that you downloaded from CAM.
Click the Upload button to upload the file to DTP.

Collecting Coverage without Admin Privileges

By default, dotTEST requires admin privileges to collect coverage with Coverage Agent, but you can configure the tool to collect coverage by users without admin privileges.

Enable the Collect coverage without admin privileges option (see Configuring the Coverage Wizard) and launch the wizard. As a result, two additional .bat scripts will be generated:
- runCamAgentInit.bat
- runCamAgentUninit.bat
Run the runCamAgentInit.bat script with admin privileges to setup and initialize the Coverage Agent. This will enable the users without admin privileges to perform testing with CAM, as described in Collecting Coverage with Coverage Agent.
When testing is completed, run the runCamAgentUninit.bat script to stop the process

Customizing Scope of Coverage

By default, coverage is measured for the entire application. To narrow down the scope of collecting coverage, provide paths to the selected parts of the application with the -solution, -resource, -include, and/or -exclude options (see Configuring the Test Scope for details) when generating static coverage. As a result, dotTEST will generate a scope configuration file that would include the customized scope for collecting static coverage.

You don' need to modify the content of the scope configuration file. However, if you collect coverage for large applications, you may want to additionally fine-tune the scope of collecting dynamic coverage (i.e. coverage collected while interacting with the application under test) to optimize performance. To customize collecting dynamic coverage, open the scope.instumentation.txt file and remove the the assemblies for which you do not want to collect coverage data from the list of assemblies.

Customizing the Coverage Scope with the Coverage Agent

Add the paths to resources to your regular command line (see Generating the Static Coverage File), for example.

dottestcli.exe -config "builtin://Collect Static Coverage" 
-solution "C:\Devel\FooSolution\FooSolution.sln" 
-resource "FooSolution/QuxProject" 
-include "C:\Devel\FooSolution\src\QuxProject\**\*.cs" 
-exclude "C:\Devel\FooSolution\src\QuxProject\**\tests\**\*.cs"

When static coverage is generated, the scope information is stored in a scope configuration file. The output from the console indicates the location of the scope configuration file, for example:

Saving static coverage scope configuration into: 'C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\Parasoft\dotTEST\Coverage\Static\scope.instrumentation.txt'

Open the runCamAgent.bat script (see Collecting Coverage with Coverage Agent).
Add the path to the scope configuration file to the script using the -scope option, for example:
-scope 'C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\Parasoft\dotTEST\Coverage\Static\scope.instrumentation.txt

Customizing the Coverage Scope without the Coverage Agent

To customize the scope for collecting coverage without the Coverage Agent, you need to manually generate static coverage before you start interacting with the application.

Generate the static coverage file by running the built-in Collect Static Coverage test configuration and providing paths to the selected parts of the application with the -solution, -resource, -include, and/or -exclude options (see Configuring the Test Scope for details). Your command line may resemble the following:

dottestcli.exe -config "builtin://Collect Static Coverage" 
-solution "C:\Devel\FooSolution\FooSolution.sln" 
-resource "FooSolution/QuxProject" 
-include "C:\Devel\FooSolution\src\QuxProject\**\*.cs" 
-exclude "C:\Devel\FooSolution\src\QuxProject\**\tests\**\*.cs"

When static coverage is generated, the scope information is stored in a scope configuration file. The output from the console indicates the location of the scope configuration file, for example:

Saving static coverage scope configuration into: 'C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\Parasoft\dotTEST\Coverage\Static\scope.instrumentation.txt'

Open the monitorCoverage.bat script and configure the PARASOFT_PROFILING_ASM_LIST_PATH environment variable that points to the location of the scope configuration file, for example:
SET PARASOFT_PROFILING_ASM_LIST_PATH=C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\Parasoft\dotTEST\Coverage\Static\scope.instrumentation.txt
Run the monitorCoverage.bat script to run the application.
Interact with the application and perform your tests, then close the application.
Run dottestcli with the following options to merge static and dynamic coverage:
-runtimeCoverage: Specifies the path to runtime coverage that you download with CAM (see Coverage Agent Manager (CAM) section of the DTP documentation for details). You can provide a path to an individual .data file with coverage information from one testing session, or a path to a folder that contains many .data files from multiple testing sessions.
-staticCoverage: Specifies the path to the static coverage file (see Generating the Static Coverage File).
-publish: Sends the merged coverage to DTP.
dottestcli.exe -runtimeCoverage [path] -publish -staticCoverage [path]

Reviewing Coverage in DTP

You can use the Coverage Explorer in DTP to review the application coverage achieved during test execution. See the DTP documentation for details on viewing coverage information.