VSTS - test project location and output

As a seasoned developer, I have a legacy of project folder structure preferences. Among other things, I like to keep non-source code stuff such as solutions and setup projects separate from the actual source code.The structure typically looks like this:

\source
\sln
\app1
\src
\app1
\test
\app1.test
\setup
\latestbuild
\references


\test
\app1.test
\testresults

Adding a unit test using VSTS (right click method name - "Create unit test"), however, creates the test project folder as a subfolder at the location of your .SLN file. It is easy to move the generated test project. Just remove it from the solution, move the project files and folders with Explorer, then add the test project to the solution from the new location (Add-Existing project). You should also move the localtestrun.testrunconfig file to the applicable test project folder. Note that the Test Manager file (.VSMDI) of a solution cannot be moved.

The bottom \test\ folder in the above list is the target for all output and reports created when running unit tests. I use a folder outside the \source\ folder to keep this stuff separate from the source code of the unit tests and the application itself.

VSTS produces a 'run details' file each time you run a unit test, and the test results are stored as .TRX files in a TestResults folder (yes) at the location of your .SLN file. The location of the test output was configurable in 'Edit test run configurations - Local test run - Deployment' in the VSTS betas, but this setting is now visually gone. Fear not, the setting is still in the .testrunconfig file, which is plain XML.

Open your .testrunconfig file and edit these elements:

<userDeploymentRoot type="System.String">..\..\test\app1.test\testresults\ </userDeploymentRoot>
<useDefaultDeploymentRoot type="System.Boolean">False</useDefaultDeploymentRoot>

Note that the last setting must be false, not true as someone has posted on forums.microsoft.com.

With these modifications to the default VSTS unit testing structure, my solution is now the way I like it. Maybe I am fighting the Visual Studio system too much, afterall Microsoft may have done usability studies to decide that their structure is the best...