Enable ReSharper unit tests runner with TypeMock isolator

If you use TypeMock isolator for writing unit tests (which is great library for mocking from my point of view) and ReSharper to make user experience in Visual Studio better (which is another great tool :) ) then you may face with the following problem when try to run unit tests in ReSharper test runner: tests will fail with the following error

TypeMock.TypeMockException :
*** Typemock Isolator is currently disabled. Enable using the following:

* Within Visual Studio:
    - Use Typemock Smart Runner 
    - For other runners, Choose Typemock Menu and click "Integrate with Other Runners"
 
  * To run Typemock Isolator as part of an automated process you can:
     - run tests via TMockRunner.exe command line tool
     - use 'TypeMockStart' tasks for MSBuild or NAnt
 
For more information consult the documentation (see 'Running Unit Tests in an Automated Build')
    at TypeMock.InterceptorsWrapper.VerifyInterceptorsIsLoaded()

This error will be still there even if “Integrate with other runners” option will be checked in Typemock menu:

In order to fix this problem do the following:

1. Go to TypeMock installation folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Typemock\Isolator\x.x) and create or edit knownRunners.dat file there (you may also try to put it to C:\Program Files (x86)\Typemock\Isolator\x.x\BuildScripts\AutoDeploy folder).

2. In this file add process name of ReSharper unit tests runner on separate line: for ReSharper 2020 it will be “ReSharperTestRunner64c.exe” (for ReSharper 2021 "ReSharperTestRunner.exe").
In order to know process name of the runner - run unit tests with it, find it in Process Explorer (if runner was ran from Visual Studio it will be shown under Visual Studio process tree) > right click > Properties > copy exe file name.

After that run unit tests with TypeMock in ReSharper test runner – they should work now.

Remote debugging of Azure functions in Visual Studio

When developing for Azure you should definitely take a look on Visual Studio’s Cloud Explorer (Views > Cloud Explorer) as it has features which are missing in basic Azure portal. E.g. when working with Notification hubs it allows to manage existing subscriptions for push notifications (view and delete if needed). There is one more useful feature if you develop Azure functions which I explored recently: remote debugging. It allows you to attach debugger to remote process of your Azure function app running in Azure and debug it in your Visual Studio.

In order to do that open Cloud explorer > choose subscription > App services > right click on Azure function app > Attach debugger:

If it will show error:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x89710023): Unable to connect to the Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugger named '{tenant}.azurewebsites.net'.  The Visual Studio 2017 Remote Debugger (MSVSMON.EXE) does not appear to be running on the remote computer. This may be because a firewall is preventing communication to the remote computer. Please see Help for assistance on configuring remote debugging.

ensure that port 4022 which is used by remote debugger is opened in firewall. After that you should be able to debug remote Azure functions running on Azure.

Different access rights for creating new Azure function project in Visual Studio 2017

When you create new Azure functions project in Visual Studio 2017:

it asks you to specify Access rights for the newly created function:

There are 3 following options available which mean the following (see Azure Functions HTTP triggers and bindings):

• Function – a function-specific API key is required. This is the default value if none is provided.
• Anonymous - no API key is required
• Admin - the master key is required

More info about these keys can be found here. But how this chose affects Visual Studio project? There are number of files created after you click Ok on the above dialog window:

• sln – solution file
• csproj – project file
• host.json – host settings file
• local.settings.json – local app settings file
• Function1.cs – code of Azure function

The difference is only in function code cs file (Function1.cs): different AuthorizationLevel values will be passed to HttpTrigger attribute when different access rights are chosen:

Other files are equal. Hope that this info will help to understand Azure functions project structure better.

Fix bug in Visual Studio 2012 with deleting generated ascx.g.cs files for web parts

If you develop web parts in Visual Studio 2012 for Sharepoint 2013, you may notice that now for each web part VS creates files differently, then in VS2010 and Sharepoint 2010:

• ascx file – contains layout of web part;
• ascx.cs – contains partial class with your code;
• ascx.g.cs – contains automatically generated partial class, which contains code representation of layout from ascx file.

The main difference with VS2010 is that automatically generated file contains all initialization code for all elements in ascx, not just declaration of protected controls (like ASP.Net does when request goes to aspx files). With this approach it is not needed to copy ascx files to ControlTemplates folder, because all web part code is now compiled into the assembly. With this approach it is easier to develop web parts for O365 sites.

There is one bug in VS2012: when you try to change ascx file for web part automatically generated ascx.g.cs file is deleted. In order to avoid this problem you need to specify url of the correct Sharepoint site in “Site URL” for the project with the web part in VS:

Seems like VS tries to connect to Sharepoint site, when you change ascx file.

Note that if you use host headers for your sites on local dev environment, then it is necessary to add these host headers to your hosts file:

127.0.0.1 example.com

Otherwise when you will try to save “Site URL”, you will see error “Remote SharePoint site connections are not supported”:

Hope that it will help you if you will encounter with this problem.