Unit test for verifying references from DataAnnotation validation to the ErrorMessageResourceName value

I love the new model validation features in System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations. One thing I don’t like though, is that the ErrorMessageResourceName is loosely typed. The ErrorMessageResourceType, however, is a System.Type which will be strongly typed by assigning its value using the typeof(Namespace.ResourceSetType) method.

Since there’s no build-breaking reference between a resource file and the value of the ErrorMessageResourceName on all classes where you use it, I thought it would be cool to have a unit test that verifies the existence of all referenced resource keys.

Remember to add a reference to System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.

Code

///

/// Verifies that all properties that are decorated with validation data-annotations, refers to /// an existing resource. This will make sure, that missing resources are not referenced./// [TestMethod] publicvoid All_Properties_With_Validation_Annotations_Must_Refer_To_Existing_Resource() { Assembly assembly = Assembly.Load(new AssemblyName("MyApp.Model.Namespace")); var types = assembly.GetTypes().Where(t => t.IsClass && !t.IsAbstract); foreach (var type in types) { var properties = type.GetProperties(); foreach (PropertyInfo property in properties) { var attributes = property.GetCustomAttributes(true); foreach (var item in attributes) { if (item is ValidationAttribute) { ValidationAttribute val = item as ValidationAttribute; Assert.IsNotNull(val); if (val.ErrorMessageResourceType != null) { Assert.AreNotEqual(String.Empty, val.ErrorMessageResourceName, String.Format(@"Validation Error Resource specified on property: {0}.{1} is empty!", type.ToString(), property.Name)); try { ResourceManager rm = new ResourceManager(val.ErrorMessageResourceType); string resourceValue = rm.GetString(val.ErrorMessageResourceName); Assert.IsFalse(String.IsNullOrEmpty(resourceValue), String.Format(@"The value of the Validation Error Resource specified on property: {0}.{1} is empty!", type.ToString(), property.Name)); } catch (MissingManifestResourceException) { Assert.Fail(String.Format(@"Validation Error Resource specified on property: {0}.{1} could not be found!", type.ToString(), property.Name)); } } } } } } }