How to use Google Test for C++ in Visual Studio

In Visual Studio 2017 version 15.5 and later, Google Test is integrated into the Visual Studio IDE as a default component of the Desktop Develoment with C++ workload. To verify that it is installed on your machine, open the Visual Studio Installer and find Google Test under the list of workload components:

Add a Google Test Project to the solution

1. In Solution Explorer, right click on the solution node and choose Add | New Project.
2. In the left pane, choose Visual C++ | Test and then choose Google Test Project in the center pane.
3. Give the test project a name and click OK.

Configure the test project

In the Test Project Configuration dialog that appears, you can choose the project you want to test. When you choose a project, Visual Studio adds a reference to the selected project. If you choose no project, then you need to manually add references to the project(s) you want to test. When choosing between static and dynamic linking to the Google Test binaries, the considerations are the same as for any C++ program. For more information, see DLLs in Visual C++.

Set additional options

From the main menu, choose Tools | Options | Test Adapter for Google Test to set additional options. See the Google Test documentation for more information about these settings.

Add include directives

In your test .cpp file, add any needed #include directives to make your program's types and functions visible to the test code. Typically, the program is up one level in the folder hierarchy. If you type #include "../" an IntelliSense window will appear and enable you to select the full path to the header file.

Write and run Tests

You are now ready to write and run Google Tests. See the Google Test Primer for information about the test macros. See Run unit tests with Test Explorer for information about discovering, running, and grouping your tests by using Test Explorer.

See also

Writing Unit Tests for C/C++