Meziantou.Framework

Getting started

edit

Install the package

Add the Meziantou.Framework.TemporaryDirectory package to a project:

dotnet package add Meziantou.Framework.TemporaryDirectory

The package depends on Meziantou.Framework.FullPath, which provides the path type the examples use. The examples of this documentation omit the using directives: they need using Meziantou.Framework;.

Create a temporary folder

FullPath directoryPath;
using (var directory = TemporaryDirectory.Create())
{
    directoryPath = directory.FullPath;

    // Create files and folders inside the directory
    var input = directory.CreateTextFile("input/data.csv", "id,name");
    var output = directory / "output" / "result.txt";
    output.CreateParentDirectory();
    File.Copy(input, output);

    Assert.Equal("id,name", File.ReadAllText(output));
}

// Disposing the instance deletes the directory and everything it contains
Assert.False(Directory.Exists(directoryPath));
  • TemporaryDirectory.Create creates a new, empty folder with a unique name in the temporary folder of the user.
  • CreateTextFile creates a file in it, and the folders that contain the file.
  • The / operator combines the folder with a relative path and returns a FullPath, without creating anything.
  • Disposing the TemporaryDirectory deletes the folder and its content.

Use it in tests

A temporary folder per test keeps tests independent from each other and from the machine: each test gets an empty folder, and tests that run in parallel never share one. Declare it with using at the start of the test, so it is deleted even when an assertion fails.

Next steps