Developer who uses Visual Studio Professional Edition can now create and run two types of tests: unit and ordered. A unit test is used to validate that a specific method of production code works correctly, to test for regressions, or to perform buddy testing or smoke testing. Ordered tests run other tests in a specified order. For more information, see Using Testing Tools in Visual Studio Professional Edition.

New menus and key combinations have been added that let developers of units tests start tests runs and select the tests to run more quickly. Also, you can now generate tests from a binary file, without access to product source code, and generate tests for generic data types as return values and method parameters. For more information, see How to: Run Selected Tests, How to: Generate a Unit Test, and Unit Tests and Generics.

Test classes can now inherit members from other test classes. This lets developers create initializations or tests in a base test class, which all other derived tests classes will inherit. This feature eliminates duplicated test code and gives developers more options to customize their unit tests correctly. For more information, see Unit Tests Overview.

Visual Studio provides a suite of tools for testing C# and Visual Basic smart device applications. These tools provide a subset of the functionality found in Test Edition. For more information, see Testing Tools for Smart Device Projects.

You typically run tests in the default environment that provided by the Team System testing tools. To run tests in a different environment, you use a host adapter. You can use the Visual Studio SDK to create new host adapters. You can download the Visual Studio SDK from this site.

Visual Studio 2008 now includes built in support for CSV and XML files. There is a new wizard to make the data binding process easier. You can also preview the data before you complete the process. For more information, see Data Binding in Web Tests.

Visual Studio 2008 now includes support for test level validation rules. You can create validation rules at the test level that apply to all individual requests in the test. You can also stop a Web test if an error occurs in the test, and validate that an expected HTTP status code is returned. For more information, see Using Validation and Extraction Rules.

In Visual Studio 2008 you can now extract requests from Web tests to create new Web tests. You can also insert calls to other Web tests. This means that you can create Web test components and reuse your Web tests and Web requests. For more information, see How to: Extract a Web Test and How to: Insert a Call to Another Web Test.

In Team System 2008 Test Edition, the Web test recorder can record HTTP requests made through Javascript, AJAX calls, and popup windows. Dynamic parameter values such as session IDs that appear in query string parameters or form post parameters are automatically detected and correlated. For example, the ASP.NET view state in AJAX requests is automatically correlated.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 now includes support to run a WebTestPlugin either before the start or after the completion of a Web test transaction or page.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 now allows you to change the outcome of a Web test request or the entire Web test. For more information, see Setting Web Test Properties, Outcome and Outcome.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 now supports an option for the Extract Text extraction rule to randomly select among multiple text strings that match the criteria that are specified by the rule. For more information, see ExtractText.

Load tests will now offer more load-modeling options that let you create load tests that more accurately model the expected real-world usage of an application or Web site. You can now model usage based on the number of tests run, the amount of time spent on each test, or the pace at which the users run the tests. For more information, see About Test Mix.

Visual Studio 2008 Load Test Analyzer includes a new summary view that displays the key indicators and results in a single page that you can print and export. There are also four new built-in graphs that display key information, and you can view up to four graph at the same time. The tables have also been improved so that you can view up to four tables at the same time. For more information, see the following:

• The Load Test Results Summary

• Working with Load Test Tables

• Working with Load Test Results Graphs

Visual Studio 2008 includes a new Repository Management dialog box that lets you directly access the load test results repository. You can use this to easily open, import, export, and delete load test results. For more information, see Managing Results in a Repository.

As you work with Test Edition, it creates and stores data in XML files, which include the following:

• Test metadata file. This type of file has the extension .vsmdi. Test metadata files store information about the tests in your solution. For more information, see Reusing Tests.

• Test results file. This type of file has the extension .trx. When you run tests, Visual Studio automatically saves test results to a .trx file. For more information, see How to: Export Test Results.

• Manual tests in text format. This type of file has the extension .mtx. When you create a manual test in text format, it is saved into your test project as a file of this type. For more information, see How to: Create a Manual Test.

In Visual Studio 2008, all the XML files that are used by Test Edition are defined by a new XSD named TestTypes.xsd. Any edits that you make, manually or programmatically, to any of these files must result in XML that conforms to the schema defined in this XSD. Similarly, any files that you create with these extensions must also conform to the schema defined in this XSD. Otherwise, Visual Studio 2008 Test Edition cannot use them.

Test projects that were created in Visual Studio 2005 contain XML files. When you open a Visual Studio 2005 test project, the Visual Studio 2008 project upgrade wizard prompts you for permission to convert the files into the new format. To use the files in Visual Studio 2008, you must let Visual Studio convert the files. If you decide not to convert or upgrade one or more files, Visual Studio cannot open your test project. Similarly, if you add an existing file of the previous format to a test project, you will be prompted to let Visual Studio upgrade the file format. If you answer yes, Visual Studio converts the file and makes it available as part of the test project. If you answer no, your request to add the files is canceled.

In Visual Studio 2008 SP1, you can now use ILoadTestPlugin to get or set properties of the running load test's load pattern. You can also assign a completely new load pattern, including a custom implementation of a load pattern. For more information, see About Load Pattern and How to: Create a Load Test Plug-In.