How to assert that two list contains elements with the same public properties in NUnit?

Question

I want to assert that the elements of two list contains values that I expected, something like:

var foundCollection = fooManager.LoadFoo();
var expectedCollectio         


        

Answer 1

I recommend against using reflection or anything complex, it just adds more work/maintenace.

Serialize the object (i recommend json) and string compare them. I'm unsure why you object to order by but I'd still recommend it as it will save a custom compare's for each type.

And it automatically works with domain objects change.

Example (SharpTestsEx for fluent)

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using SharpTestsEx;

JsonConvert.SerializeObject(actual).Should().Be.EqualTo(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(expected));

You can write it as a simple extensions and make it more readable.

   public static class CollectionAssertExtensions
    {
        public static void CollectionAreEqual(this IEnumerable actual, IEnumerable expected)
        {
            JsonConvert.SerializeObject(actual).Should().Be.EqualTo(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(expected));
        }
    }

and then using your example call it like so:

var foundCollection = fooManager.LoadFoo();
var expectedCollection = new List() 
{
    new Foo() { Bar = "a", Bar2 = "b" },
    new Foo() { Bar = "c", Bar2 = "d" }
};


foundCollection.CollectionAreEqual(foundCollection);

You'll get an assert message like so:

...:"a","Bar2":"b"},{"Bar":"d","Bar2":"d"}]

...:"a","Bar2":"b"},{"Bar":"c","Bar2":"d"}]

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