trx-to-vsplaylist 1.3.0

VSTestPlaylistTools.TrxToPlaylist

A command-line tool for converting TRX test result files into Visual Studio Test Playlist (V1) files. Supports filtering by test outcome, merging multiple TRX files, and combining existing playlists with automatic de-duplication.

Features

• Convert .trx test result files to Visual Studio .playlist files (V1 format)
• Merge multiple TRX files into a single playlist (automatically de-duplicates tests)
• Create separate playlists from multiple TRX files with --separate option
• Merge multiple playlist files into a single consolidated playlist
• Filter included tests by outcome (e.g., Passed, Failed, Skipped, NotExecuted, etc.)
• Specify output file path or use default naming
• Skip creation of empty playlists with --skip-empty option
• Simple, scriptable CLI interface

Commands

convert - Convert TRX file(s) to a playlist

Converts one or more TRX test result files into a Visual Studio Test Playlist. When multiple TRX files are provided, tests are automatically de-duplicated by default.

Arguments

• <trx-files>: Path(s) to the TRX file(s) to convert (one or more required)
• --output, -o: Path to the output playlist file or directory (optional). If not specified, the playlist will be saved in the same directory as the first TRX file with the same name but .playlist extension. When a directory is specified, the output file will be created in that directory.
• --outcome, -f: Test outcomes to include (optional, repeatable). Accepts one or more of: Passed, Failed, Skipped, NotExecuted, etc.
• --skip-empty: Do not create a playlist file if there are no tests (optional)
• --separate: When multiple TRX files are provided, create separate playlist files for each instead of merging into one. Output path must be a directory (optional)

Examples

Convert a single TRX file with all tests:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert results.trx

Convert a single TRX file to a specific directory:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert results.trx --output OutputDir

Convert only failed tests to a playlist:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert results.trx --outcome Failed

Convert passed and failed tests, specifying output file:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert results.trx --outcome Passed Failed --output my_playlist.playlist

Merge multiple TRX files (e.g., from different target frameworks) into a single playlist (default behavior):

trx-to-vsplaylist convert test-net8.0.trx test-net6.0.trx test-net48.trx --output merged.playlist

Merge multiple TRX files with only failed tests:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert test-net8.0.trx test-net6.0.trx --outcome Failed --output failures.playlist

Create separate playlists from multiple TRX files (output must be a directory):

trx-to-vsplaylist convert test-net8.0.trx test-net6.0.trx --output OutputDir --separate

Create separate playlists with only failed tests, skipping empty ones:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert test-net8.0.trx test-net6.0.trx --outcome Failed --separate --skip-empty --output OutputDir

Skip creating a playlist if no tests match the filter:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert results.trx --outcome Failed --skip-empty

Important Notes

• Single file mode: When converting a single TRX file, --output can be either a file path or a directory. If it's a directory, the playlist will be created in that directory with the same name as the TRX file.
• Multiple files + --separate: When using --separate with multiple TRX files, --output must be a directory, not a file path. This will create one playlist per TRX file in that directory.
• Multiple files without --separate: When merging multiple TRX files (default), --output can be a file path or directory. If it's a directory, the merged playlist will be created with the name of the first TRX file.

merge - Merge playlist files

Merges multiple existing playlist files into a single playlist with automatic de-duplication of tests. Supports file globbing patterns for easy batch operations.

Arguments

• <playlist-files>: Path(s) or glob pattern(s) to the playlist file(s) to merge (one or more required). Supports wildcards like *.playlist or **/*.playlist
• --output, -o: Path to the output merged playlist file or directory (optional when all input files are in the same directory)
  • If the path exists and is a directory, the merged file will be created as merged.playlist in that directory
  • If the path exists and is a file, that file will be overwritten
  • If the path doesn't exist:
    • Paths with a file extension (e.g., .playlist) are treated as file paths
    • Paths without an extension are treated as directory paths (the directory will be created)
    • Paths ending with a directory separator (\ or /) are treated as directory paths
• --skip-empty: Do not create a playlist file if there are no tests (optional)

Glob Pattern Support

The merge command supports file globbing patterns using standard wildcards:

• * matches zero or more characters (except directory separators)
• ** matches any number of directory levels (recursive search) https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/extensions/file-globbing?WT.mc_id=8B97120A00B57354

Examples

Merge multiple playlist files with explicit output:

trx-to-vsplaylist merge playlist1.playlist playlist2.playlist playlist3.playlist --output combined.playlist

Merge to a specific directory:

trx-to-vsplaylist merge playlist1.playlist playlist2.playlist --output C:\Users\foo\Downloads\playlists
# Creates C:\Users\foo\Downloads\playlists\merged.playlist

Recursively find and merge all playlists:

trx-to-vsplaylist merge "TestResults\**\*.playlist" --output ./all-frameworks.playlist

Use Cases

Multi-TFM Projects

When a project targets multiple frameworks (e.g., net8.0, net6.0, net48), running tests generates separate TRX files for each framework. Use the convert command with multiple TRX files to create a single, de-duplicated playlist:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert \
  TestResults/MyProject_net8.0.trx \
  TestResults/MyProject_net6.0.trx \
  TestResults/MyProject_net48.trx \
  --outcome Failed \
  --output failed-tests.playlist

Alternatively, create separate playlists for each framework:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert \
  TestResults/MyProject_net8.0.trx \
  TestResults/MyProject_net6.0.trx \
  TestResults/MyProject_net48.trx \
  --outcome Failed \
  --output TestResults \
  --separate

CI/CD Integration

Generate a playlist of all failed tests across multiple test runs:

Option 1: Direct conversion (recommended)

trx-to-vsplaylist convert proj1-results.trx proj2-results.trx --outcome Failed --output all-failures.playlist

Option 2: Convert then merge

# Convert each TRX to a playlist
trx-to-vsplaylist convert proj1-results.trx --outcome Failed --output proj1-failures.playlist
trx-to-vsplaylist convert proj2-results.trx --outcome Failed --output proj2-failures.playlist

# Merge all failure playlists
trx-to-vsplaylist merge proj1-failures.playlist proj2-failures.playlist --output all-failures.playlist

Separate Playlists for Analysis

Create individual playlists for each TRX file while filtering:

trx-to-vsplaylist convert \
  *.trx \
  --outcome Failed Skipped \
  --output playlists \
  --separate \
  --skip-empty

This creates one playlist per TRX file in the playlists directory, containing only failed and skipped tests, and skips files with no matching tests.

Supported Test Outcomes

The following values are supported for the --outcome option (case-insensitive):

• Passed
• Failed
• Skipped
• NotExecuted
• Inconclusive
• Timeout
• Pending

De-duplication

When multiple TRX or playlist files are merged, tests are automatically de-duplicated by their fully qualified test name (case-insensitive comparison). This is especially useful when:

• A project targets multiple frameworks and generates duplicate test results
• Tests are run multiple times across different configurations
• Combining playlists from different sources

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.