Create a diagnostic data adapter to collect custom data or affect a test machine
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
You might want to create your own diagnostic data adapter to collect data when you run a test, or you might want to affect the test machine as part of your test. For example, you might want to collect log files that are created by your application under test and attach them to your test results, or you might want to run your tests when there is limited disk space left on your computer. Using APIs provided within Visual Studio Enterprise, you can write code to perform tasks at specific points in your test run. For example, you can perform tasks when a test run starts, before and after each individual test is run, and when the test run finishes.
You can provide default input to your custom diagnostic data adapter using a configuration settings file. For example, you can provide information about the location of the file you want to collect and attach to your test results, or how much disk space you want to be left on the system. This data can be configured for each test settings that you create. It can be displayed and edited using the default editor provided with Microsoft Test Manager or you can create your own user control to use as an editor. Any changes that are made to the adapter configuration in your editor are stored with your test settings.
If you are running your tests from Visual Studio, you must set these test settings to be active. For more information about test settings, see Collect diagnostic information using test settings.
Note
Web performance and load test functionality is deprecated. Visual Studio 2019 is the last version where web performance and load testing will be fully available. For more information, see the Cloud-based load testing service end of life blog post. To reduce the impact on users some minimum support is still available in Visual Studio 2022 Preview 3 or later. Users should also note web performance and load test functionality only supports Internet Explorer which is not available on Windows 11 and some versions of Windows 10. Read more on Internet Explorer Lifecycle policy.
Tasks
Use the following topics to help you create Diagnostic Data Adapters:
| Tasks | Associated Topics |
|---|---|
| Creating a Diagnostic Data Adapter: You create a diagnostic data adapter by creating a class library, and then use the diagnostic data adapter APIs to collect information that you want or impact a test system that you are using to run your tests. | - How to: Create a diagnostic data adapter |
| Selecting a Custom Diagnostic Data Adapter to Use When Tests are Run: You can select which diagnostic data adapter to use for your test settings, so that the adapter is used when you run your tests. | - Collect diagnostic data while testing (Azure Test Plans) - Collect diagnostic data in manual tests (Azure Test Plans) |