Populating test data using C# for realistic unit and integration testing

Is there any framework for .NET to populate test data? Yes here’s one I made earlier — Faker C# for generating fake data such as names, addresses, emails and the classic lorem ipsum placeholder text.


  .NET Test-driven development Behavior-driven development

Faker C# is a port of the Ruby gem of the same name, which itself is a port of Perl’s Data::Faker library. It allows you to easily generate fake data: names, addresses, phone numbers, emails and lorem ipsum placeholder text.

Useful for populating seed data for local development and within unit tests. I’ve also used it to good effect within BDD-style tests when driving a web browser (e.g. Given a user account creates a user with a Faker generated name, username and email address).

Getting started

Pull the code via git:

git clone git://github.com/slashdotdash/faker-cs.git

Or just grab the pre-built assembly Download »

Dependencies

  • Requires the .NET framework 3.5 or later

Usage

  1. Add a reference to Faker.dll in you project within Visual Studio.

  2. Start using the Faker methods to generate your random test data.

Names, phone numbers and emails

var name = Faker.Name.FullName();  // "Alene Hayes"
Faker.Internet.Email(name);  // "alene_hayes@hartmann.co.uk"
Faker.Internet.UserName(name);  // "alene.hayes"

Faker.Internet.Email();  // "morris@friesen.us"
Faker.Internet.FreeEmail();  // "houston_purdy@yahoo.com"

Faker.Internet.DomainName();  // "larkinhirthe.com"

Faker.Phone.Number();  // "(033)216-0058 x0344"

Addresses

Faker.Address.StreetAddress();  // "52613 Turcotte Lock"
Faker.Address.SecondaryAddress();  // "Suite 656"
Faker.Address.City();  // "South Wavaside"

Faker.Address.UkCounty();  // "West Glamorgan"
Faker.Address.UkPostCode().ToUpper();  // "BQ7 3AM"

Faker.Address.UsState();  // "Tennessee"
Faker.Address.ZipCode();  // "66363-7828"

Lorem Ipsum sentences and paragraphs

Faker.Lorem.Sentence();  // "Voluptatem repudiandae necessitatibus assumenda dolor illo maiores in."
Faker.Lorem.Paragraph();  /* "Rerum dolor cumque cum animi consequatur praesentium. Enim quia quia modi est ut. Dolores qui debitis qui perspiciatis autem quas. Expedita distinctio earum aut. Delectus assumenda rerum quibusdam harum iusto." */

Buzzword bingo

Last, but not least, you can generate company names, catchphrases and bs!

Faker.Company.Name();  // "Dickens Group"
Faker.Company.CatchPhrase();  // "User-centric neutral internet solution"
Faker.Company.BS();  // "transition proactive solutions"

Faker also supports i18n thanks to Patrick Drechsler who added the multi-lingual support and German translations.