Using the test runner, you can run a test suite or the individual test cases within a suite. A test suite (a file containing multiple test cases) can be one of the following formats: .dll (Windows), .so (UNIX), .jar, .int, or .gnt.
If you run a test suite from the Visual COBOL command line or shell prompt, the options you specify are applied to all test cases that are run. You can also use metadata embedded in your test cases, enabling you to selectively run test cases that have been marked with a certain trait (the MFU-MD-TRAITS variable), or prioritize certain test cases over others (the MFU-MD-TESTCASE-PRIORITY variable).
Using test fixture files (.mfu files) is another way of running test suites or one or more test cases. These files provide some additional options that you can apply to individual test cases.
If you are running a test suite that calls into an executable file to test code, there is some additional preparation that is required so that the testing framework can call into the code. The executable must be rebuilt using its original source code, but a new main entry point is built into it that is capable of interacting with the framework. This entry point only needs to be employed when running tests; it is not required when running the executable outside of the testing framework. See Creating Framework-Compatible Executables within Examples for more information.