In this article, Paul DeVito discusses how to set up integration tests in .NET without using a WebApplicationFactory. He introduces a new test type called Functional tests that focuses on testing the overall functionality of an application that behaves with end-user like interactions. He also goes through the setup process and provides an example project. By using a service collection instead of a WebApplicationFactory, setup is much simpler and can manageably test a collection of work without needing to have heavily mocked unit tests. External services and mocks are more testable and can be done on a per-test basis. Additionally, functional tests are faster than WebApplicationFactory testing, making them an efficient option for testing applications.
