azure-sdk-for-go: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Use github.com/stretchr/testify for assertions rather than hand-rolled if got != want { t.Errorf(...) } checks or helpers that reimplement basic assertions testify already provides (a custom assertEqual, a home-grown assertion package). Some commonly used functions: require.Equal, require.NoError, require.NotNil.

Domain-specific helpers that compose testify are encouraged, not discouraged — for example a requireEqualAttributes(t, a, b) that asserts the fields of a model, or a requireEqualCloudEvent that normalizes recorded values before comparing. Mark them with t.Helper() so failures report the caller's line.

Choose between require and assert based on what follows the assertion:

• Use require when the rest of the test depends on the predicate holding, so a failure stops the test instead of panicking or cascading. Typical cases are checking an error before using the result, checking for nil before a dereference, and checking length before indexing.
• Use assert for independent checks that should each be reported in a single run, for example verifying several unrelated fields on a response.

require.NoError(t, err)
require.NotNil(t, resp.Value)
assert.Equal(t, "value", *resp.Value)
assert.Equal(t, 200, resp.StatusCode)

In tests that record and play back, use recording.Sleep rather than time.Sleep when waiting for eventual consistency or provisioning. recording.Sleep sleeps while recording and is a no-op in PlaybackMode, so playback runs don't pay a delay that only matters against the live service. Live-only tests, which never play back, may use time.Sleep directly.

Environment variables required for live testing can be found by looking for recording.Getenv() calls, or os.Getenv() calls in the code. You should place these into a .env file at the root of the module, before testing.