Setting Environment Variables in Developer PowerShell in Visual Studio

While writing UI automated test scenarios using Gherkin SpecFlow framework and C# Steps, I needed to set an environment variable to run a single test case from the command line. In the Windows Command Prompt, I would set the environment variable like this:

Set ENV=envName

For example:

Set ENV=autotests-rc

Then, I would run the test scenario using:

dotnet test --filter FullyQualifiedName=project_api_testing.Features.Admin.Structure.VerifyAdminPayItemsFunctionalityFeature.VerifyUserCanGetPayItemOptions

However, setting the environment variable like this doesn’t work in the Developer PowerShell in Visual Studio. Instead, you need to use the following syntax:

$env:ENV = "autotest-rc"

To run all the test cases from the Developer PowerShell in Visual Studio, I use the following command:

To run the all the test case from the developer power shell in visual studio.

dotnet test ; py .\SanitizeJsonReport.py ; livingdoc test-assembly ./bin/Debug/net6.0/project_api_testing.dll -t ./TestExecution.json

Happy Coding 🙂