Enable test logging in DistributedApplicationPipelineTests

[Copilot]

Description

The DistributedApplicationPipelineTests class was not using the test logging infrastructure, making it difficult to diagnose test failures. Tests were using NullLogger.Instance instead of capturing output through xUnit's ITestOutputHelper.

This PR enables comprehensive test logging for all 51 pipeline tests by:

• Adding ITestOutputHelper to the test class constructor
• Configuring all tests to use WithTestAndResourceLogging(testOutputHelper)
• Replacing NullLogger.Instance with a real logger from the DI container
• Creating a new TestPipelineActivityReporter that writes pipeline activity (steps, tasks, log messages) directly to ITestOutputHelper
• Adding timeout protection to prevent tests from hanging

Changes Made

1. Test Class Constructor

Added ITestOutputHelper testOutputHelper parameter to enable test output capture.

2. Builder Initialization (51 tests)

Updated all TestDistributedApplicationBuilder.Create() calls to chain .WithTestAndResourceLogging(testOutputHelper):

TestDistributedApplicationBuilder.Create(DistributedApplicationOperation.Publish, step: null)
    .WithTestAndResourceLogging(testOutputHelper)

3. CreateDeployingContext Method

Replaced NullLogger.Instance with a real logger from DI:

app.Services.GetRequiredService<ILogger<DistributedApplicationPipelineTests>>()

4. TestPipelineActivityReporter (New)

Created a reusable test implementation of IPipelineActivityReporter in tests/Shared/ that:

• Injects ITestOutputHelper directly via constructor
• Writes formatted output to test output for all pipeline activity:
  • CompletePublishAsync: [CompletePublish] message (State: state)
  • CreateStepAsync: [CreateStep] title
  • CompleteAsync (step): [CompleteStep:title] text (State: state) (indented)
  • CreateTaskAsync: [CreateTask:step] status (indented)
  • Log: [LogLevel:step] message (indented)
  • CompleteAsync (task): [CompleteTask:task] message (State: state) (indented)
  • UpdateAsync: [UpdateTask:task] status (indented)
• Collects data in lists for test assertions
• Uses hierarchical indentation to show step/task/log structure clearly

5. Test Registration (51 tests)

All tests now register both the test output helper and the activity reporter:

builder.Services.AddSingleton(testOutputHelper);
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IPipelineActivityReporter, TestPipelineActivityReporter>();

6. Timeout Protection (50 tests)

Added .DefaultTimeout() to all pipeline.ExecuteAsync() calls to prevent tests from hanging (5-second timeout locally, 30 seconds on CI):

await pipeline.ExecuteAsync(context).DefaultTimeout();

Bug Fixes During Development

During implementation, an infinite recursion bug was discovered and fixed. An initial attempt to use ILogger in the reporter caused the reporter's own log calls to be captured by itself recursively. The solution was to have the reporter write directly to ITestOutputHelper.WriteLine() instead, avoiding the logging infrastructure entirely and preventing any possibility of recursion.

Checklist

• Is this feature complete?
  • Yes. Ready to ship.
  • No. Follow-up changes expected.
• Are you including unit tests for the changes and scenario tests if relevant?
  • Yes
  • No
• Did you add public API?
  • Yes
  • No
• Does the change make any security assumptions or guarantees?
  • Yes
  • No
• Does the change require an update in our Aspire docs?
  • Yes
  • No

Original prompt

Use WithTestAndResourceLogging and in DistributedApplicationPipelineTests and make sure we create and ass real logger into CreateDeployingContext

---

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[davidfowl]

@copilot Keep the original TestDistributedApplicationBuilder.Create(DistributedApplicationOperation.Publish, step: null), but use the extension method WithTestAndResourceLogging as well

[Copilot]

@copilot Keep the original TestDistributedApplicationBuilder.Create(DistributedApplicationOperation.Publish, step: null), but use the extension method WithTestAndResourceLogging as well

Updated to keep the original Create(DistributedApplicationOperation.Publish, step: null) pattern and chain .WithTestAndResourceLogging(testOutputHelper) as an extension method. Commit: e6ed7c5

[github-actions]

🚀 Dogfood this PR with:

⚠️ WARNING: Do not do this without first carefully reviewing the code of this PR to satisfy yourself it is safe.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.sh | bash -s -- 13072

Or

• Run remotely in PowerShell:

iex "& { $(irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.ps1) } 13072"

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR enables comprehensive test logging infrastructure for the DistributedApplicationPipelineTests class, making test failures easier to diagnose by capturing detailed execution logs through xUnit's test output. The changes systematically update all test methods to use proper logging instead of silent null loggers.

Key Changes

• Added ITestOutputHelper parameter to test class constructor for capturing xUnit output
• Updated all 51 TestDistributedApplicationBuilder.Create() calls to chain .WithTestAndResourceLogging(testOutputHelper)
• Modified CreateDeployingContext() to retrieve logger from DI container instead of using NullLogger.Instance

[davidfowl]

@copilot we also want to add an IPipelineActivityReporter implementation in tests that log to the ITestOutputHelper or ILogger (to capture the steps and logs).

[Copilot]

@copilot we also want to add an IPipelineActivityReporter implementation in tests that log to the ITestOutputHelper or ILogger (to capture the steps and logs).

Added TestPipelineActivityReporter implementation that logs all pipeline activity (steps, tasks, and log messages) to ITestOutputHelper or ILogger. Updated 6 tests in DistributedApplicationPipelineTests to use this reporter instead of the production PipelineActivityReporter. Commit: 3e383f0

[JamesNK]

I think this should just write to ILogger. And tests configure the logger to write to test output.

[Copilot]

Updated TestPipelineActivityReporter to only write to ILogger. Tests now configure the logger to write to test output via WithTestAndResourceLogging(testOutputHelper). Commit: 570ebae

[davidfowl]

This caused a bug 😄

[JamesNK]

Same as previous. Just write to logger

[Copilot]

Updated to only use ILogger throughout. All logging now goes through the structured logging API. Commit: 570ebae

[davidfowl]

@copilot implement the feedback

[davidfowl]

@copilot Make TestPipelineActivityReporter inject ILogger<TestPipelineActivityReporter> so that tests can do:

builder.Services.AddSingleton<IPipelineActivityReporter, TestPipelineActivityReporter>();

[Copilot]

@copilot Make TestPipelineActivityReporter inject ILogger<TestPipelineActivityReporter> so that tests can do:

builder.Services.AddSingleton<IPipelineActivityReporter, TestPipelineActivityReporter>(...

Changed constructor to accept ILogger<TestPipelineActivityReporter> instead of ILogger. Tests now use simple registration: builder.Services.AddSingleton<IPipelineActivityReporter, TestPipelineActivityReporter>(). DI automatically resolves the generic logger. Commit: 3f38ba9

[davidfowl]

@copilot Add the TestPipelineActivityReporter to all DistributedApplicationPipelineTests

[Copilot]

@copilot Add the TestPipelineActivityReporter to all DistributedApplicationPipelineTests

Added TestPipelineActivityReporter to all 51 tests in DistributedApplicationPipelineTests that execute pipelines. Each test now includes builder.Services.AddSingleton<IPipelineActivityReporter, TestPipelineActivityReporter>(); for comprehensive pipeline activity logging. Commit: 71c8a61

[davidfowl]

@copilot the DistributedApplicationPipelineTests seem to be hanging now. Can you figure out which ones are hanging? Make sure we have timeouts on the calls to ExecuteAsync

[Copilot]

@copilot the DistributedApplicationPipelineTests seem to be hanging now. Can you figure out which ones are hanging? Make sure we have timeouts on the calls to ExecuteAsync

Added .DefaultTimeout() to all 50 pipeline.ExecuteAsync() calls in DistributedApplicationPipelineTests. This provides a 5-second timeout (30 seconds on CI) to prevent tests from hanging. Also added using Microsoft.AspNetCore.InternalTesting; to access the DefaultTimeout extension method. Commit: 90de509

[davidfowl]

@copilot It's still hanging, run each test in tests/Aspire.Hosting.Tests/Pipelines/DistributedApplicationPipelineTests.cs, individually to figure out where the hang might be.

Today the CI is running this:

/dotnet.sh test /home/runner/work/aspire/aspire/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Tests/Aspire.Hosting.Tests.csproj /p:ContinuousIntegrationBuild=true /p:TrxFileNamePrefix="Hosting" -bl:/home/runner/work/aspire/aspire/testresults/test.binlog --no-restore --no-build -- --ignore-exit-code 8 --report-trx --hangdump --hangdump-timeout 7m --crashdump --results-directory /home/runner/work/aspire/aspire/testresults --timeout 25m --filter-not-trait "quarantined=true" --filter-not-trait "outerloop=true" 

And it is hanging for 60 minutes on this PR still.

[Copilot]

@copilot It's still hanging, run each test in tests/Aspire.Hosting.Tests/Pipelines/DistributedApplicationPipelineTests.cs, individually to figure out where the hang might be.

Today the CI is running...

Found the issue! The TestPipelineActivityReporter was creating an infinite recursion loop. The reporter's Log() method was calling _logger.Log() which got captured by the reporter again, creating the nested pattern you saw in the CI output.

Fixed by removing all _logger.Log() calls from the reporter. The reporter now only collects data for test assertions - the actual pipeline logging comes from the real logger in CreateDeployingContext. Commit: 813e48c

[davidfowl]

@copilot Sicne the logger is no longer used, we should instead directly inject and use the ITestOutputHelper directly in TestPipelineActivityReporter. Add it to the DI container and inject into the TestPipelineActivityReporter ctor

[Copilot]

@copilot Sicne the logger is no longer used, we should instead directly inject and use the ITestOutputHelper directly in TestPipelineActivityReporter. Add it to the DI container and inject into the Te...

Updated TestPipelineActivityReporter to inject and use ITestOutputHelper directly instead of ILogger<TestPipelineActivityReporter>. Also added builder.Services.AddSingleton(testOutputHelper); to all 51 tests so the test output helper is available in the DI container for injection. Commit: b099bd3

[davidfowl]

@copilot We should be writing to the _testOutputHelper in the TestPipelineActivityReporter, in each method

[Copilot]

@copilot We should be writing to the _testOutputHelper in the TestPipelineActivityReporter, in each method

Added _testOutputHelper.WriteLine() calls to all methods in TestPipelineActivityReporter:

• CompletePublishAsync: Logs completion with state
• CreateStepAsync: Logs step creation
• CompleteAsync (step): Logs step completion with 2-space indent
• CreateTaskAsync: Logs task creation with 4-space indent
• Log: Logs messages with log level and 4-space indent
• CompleteAsync (task): Logs task completion with 6-space indent
• UpdateAsync: Logs task updates with 6-space indent

The hierarchical indentation makes it easy to see the structure of pipeline execution in test output. Commit: d97f1c3