NAnt, MbUnit, CruiseControl, Selenium - passing settings to the test assembly - selenium

Question

I am putting together some ideas for our automated testing platform and have been looking at Selenium for the test runner.
I am wrapping the recorded Selenium C# scripts in an MbUnit test, which is being triggered via the MbUnit NAnt task. The Selenium test client is created as follows:
selenium = new DefaultSelenium("host", 4444, "*iexplore", "http://[url]/");
How can I pass the host, port and url settings into the test so their values can be controlled via the NAnt task?
For example, I may have multiple Selenium RC servers listening and I want to use the same test code passing in each server address instead of embedding the settings within the tests themselves.
I have an approach mocked up using a custom NAnt task I have written but it is not the most elegant solution at present and I wondered if there was an easier way to accomplish what I want to do.
Many thanks if anyone can help.

Answer 1

Thanks for the responses so far.
Environment variables could work, however, we could be running parallel tests via a single test assembly so I wouldn't want settings to be overwritten during execution, which could break another test. Interesting line of thought though, thanks, I reckon I could use that in other areas.
My current solution involves a custom NAnt task build on top of the MbUnit task, which allows me to specify the additional host, port, url settings as attributes. These are then saved as a config file within the build directory and then read in by the test assemblies. This feels a bit "clunky" to me as my tests need to inherit from a specific class. Not too bad but I'd like to have less dependencies and concentrate on the testing.
Maybe I am worrying too much!!

Answer 2

I have a base class for all test fixtures which has the following setup code:
[FixtureSetUp]
public virtual void TestFixtureSetup ()
{
BrowserType = (BrowserType) Enum.Parse (typeof (BrowserType),
System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["BrowserType"],
true);
testMachine = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["TestMachine"];
seleniumPort = int.Parse (System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SeleniumPort"],
System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
seleniumSpeed = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SeleniumSpeed"];
browserUrl = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["BrowserUrl"];
targetUrl = new Uri (System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["TargetUrl"]);
string browserExe;
switch (BrowserType)
{
case BrowserType.InternetExplorer:
browserExe = "*iexplore";
break;
case BrowserType.Firefox:
browserExe = "*firefox";
break;
default:
throw new NotSupportedException ();
}
selenium = new DefaultSelenium (testMachine, seleniumPort, browserExe, browserUrl);
selenium.Start ();
System.Console.WriteLine ("Started Selenium session (browser type={0})",
browserType);
// sets the speed of execution of GUI commands
if (false == String.IsNullOrEmpty (seleniumSpeed))
selenium.SetSpeed (seleniumSpeed);
}
I then simply supply the test runner with a config. file:

Answer 3

For MSBuild I use environment variables, I create those in my CC.NET config then they would be available in the script. I think this would work for you too.

Answer 4

Anytime I need to integrate with an external entity using NAnt I either end up using the exec task or writing a custom task. Given the information you posted it would seem that writing your own would indeed be a good solution, However you state you're not happy with it. Can you elaborate a bit on why you don't think you current solution is an elegant one?
Update
Not knowing internal details it seems like you've solved it pretty well with a custom task. From what I've heard, that's how I would have done it.
Maybe a new solution will show itself in time, but for now be light on yourself!