All,
I am using Unit test framework to write my tests in .net. I wrote some unit tests that all access a configuration object (via AppConfig.Current) that is internally a class static.
In the startup I initialize this configuration object and use it immediately in the following line like this:
[AssemblyInitialize]
public static void AssemblyInitialize(TestContext context)
{
var appCfg = AppConfig.Current;
string path = Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "conf/app.settings.xml");
appCfg.Load(path);
var _ = AccountingContext.Current; // <= AccountingContext references the configuration object via "AppConfig.Current" to read some configuration values and initialize the accounting context but I receive a different instance (ONLY in release mode) ....
}
After loading configuration, next line uses this configuration object (AccountingContext.Current) to initialize itself from the configuration object. The issue is, the tests run fine in Debug mode but in Release mode when I reference the configuration object I get a different object (I know this for a fact because the configuration is not loaded).
So what is the deal with using static reference in unit tests in release mode???
UPDATE: SELF ANSWERED
The issued lied in the "AccountingContext" class. This class is also a static and it initialized itself like this:
public static AccountingContext Current { get; set; } = new AccountingContext();
public AccountingContext()
{
CompanyAccessContext = _CreateCompanyAccessContext();
}
Changing this intialization to using a static ctor resolved this issue and now everything works:
public static AccountingContext Current { get; set; }
static AccountingContext()
{
Current = new AccountingContext();
}
public AccountingContext()
{
CompanyAccessContext = _CreateCompanyAccessContext();
}
Looks like optimizations were made which changed the actual flow of initialization of AccountingContext. That's a bit unwanted, not sure if this is what everyone expects.
I also found this good resource: Static member variable not being initialized in Release - Compiler/clr bug?
