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Basic Terms

Code coverage

Code coverage (or test coverage) is a measure reflecting the degree to which application source code is covered with tests. Knowing this information helps determine which subsets of application functionality are not properly tested and thus need to be covered with tests in priority manner. Code coverage doesn't express the quality of tests or application logic but instead serves as a guidance that can be used in prioritizing application development and testing activities.

Code coverage analysis

Code coverage analysis is therefore a process of executing application source code for the purpose of obtaining knowledge as to which parts of the code are actually executed and which are not in specific scenarios.

Statement coverage

From the large variety of coverage metrics that exist, dotCover uses statement coverage. Statement coverage reports whether each statement in application code is executed by application tests. This metric ensures sensible coverage analysis results in most cases but it also has its limitations: for example, ternary operators are assumed fully covered even if only one branch is effectively executed.

Coverage snapshot

Coverage snapshot is a data unit that contains raw coverage analysis results for a particular coverage run (unit test session or application coverage run). dotCover provides graphical representation of coverage snapshots in the Coverage Results Browser window or in the Unit Test Coverage window and a proprietary storage format for saving and reopening coverage snapshots in dotCover. For more information, refer to What is Coverage Snapshot?.

Unit test session

Unit test session is a collection of unit tests that can be run simultaneously. You can view currently opened unit test sessions in the Unit Test Sessions window. Each unit test session can be executed in the coverage mode so the code coverage is recorded during the execution. For more information, refer to Unit test sessions.

Unit test runner

Unit test runner is a component that runs target assemblies and executes unit tests on them. It supports several unit test frameworks. Unit test runner is launched every time you run or debug unit tests and when you use dotCover command-line tool. For more information, refer to Coverage Analysis of Unit Tests.

Application coverage run

Application coverage run is a period of execution of a particular scenario, during which the code coverage is recorded. After the coverage run, you can retrospectively discover which parts of the application source code have been involved in the scenario and which have not been covered. For more information, refer to Coverage Analysis of Applications.

Coverage filter

Coverage filter is a set of rules that tells which parts of application code should be included or excluded from the coverage analysis. For more information, refer to Set up coverage filters.

Symbol files (PDB)

Locating symbol files (PDB) for the target binaries is vital for calculating coverage. If you cover unit tests or cover the startup project, dotCover easily locates symbol files using the structure of the current solution. However, if you cover an external application or if you run unit tests with the command-line tool there may be cases when dotCover fails to locate symbol files with default settings. In these cases, you can configure additional ways of searching for symbol files for external applications and for the command-line tool.

Last modified: 11 February 2024