Test-PSModule

Test PowerShell modules with Pester and PSScriptAnalyzer.

This GitHub Action is a part of the PSModule framework. It is recommended to use the Process-PSModule workflow to automate the whole process of managing the PowerShell module.

Specifications and practices

Test-PSModule enables:

• Test-Driven Development using Pester and PSScriptAnalyzer

How it works

The action runs the following the Pester test framework:

• PSScriptAnalyzer tests
• PSModule framework tests
• If TestType is set to Module:
  • The module manifest is tested using Test-ModuleManifest.
  • The module is imported.
  • Custom module tests from the tests directory in the module repository are run.
  • CodeCoverage is calculated.
• If TestType is set to SourceCode:
  • The source code is tested with:
    • PSScriptAnalyzer for best practices, using custom settings.
    • PSModule.SourceCode for other PSModule standards.
• The action returns a passed output that is true if all tests pass, else false.
• The following reports are calculated and uploaded as artifacts:
  • Test suite results.
  • Code coverage results.

The action fails if any of the tests fail or it fails to run the tests. This is mitigated by the continue-on-error option in the workflow.

How to use it

To use the action, create a new file in the .github/workflows directory of the module repository and add the following content.

Workflow suggestion - before module is built

name: Test-PSModule

on: [push]

jobs:
  Test-PSModule:
    name: Test-PSModule
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Initialize environment
        uses: PSModule/Initialize-PSModule@main

      - name: Test-PSModule
        uses: PSModule/Test-PSModule@main
        with:
          Path: src
          TestType: SourceCode

Workflow suggestion - after module is built

name: Test-PSModule

on: [push]

jobs:
  Test-PSModule:
    name: Test-PSModule
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Initialize environment
        uses: PSModule/Initialize-PSModule@main

      - name: Test-PSModule
        uses: PSModule/Test-PSModule@main
        with:
          Path: outputs/modules
          TestType: Module

Usage

Inputs

Name	Description	Required	Default
Path	The path to the code to test.	true
TestType	The type of tests to run. Can be either Module or SourceCode.	true
Name	The name of the module to test. The name of the repository is used if not specified.	false
TestsPath	The path to the tests to run.	false	tests
StackTraceVerbosity	Verbosity level of the stack trace. Allowed values: None, FirstLine, Filtered, Full.	false	None
Verbosity	Verbosity level of the test output. Allowed values: None, Normal, Detailed, Diagnostic.	false	Detailed

Outputs

Name	Description	Possible values
passed	If the tests passed.	true, false

PSModule tests

The PSModule framework tests verifies the following coding practices that the framework enforces:

• Script filename and function/filter name should match.

Tools

• Pester | Docs | GitHub | PS Gallery
• PSScriptAnalyzer Docs | GitHub | PS Gallery
• PSResourceGet | Docs | GitHub | PS Gallery
• Test-ModuleManifest | Microsoft Learn
• PowerShellGet | Microsoft Learn