Reasons for running FitNesse tests from the command line.

• Can be included in build scripts like ANT
• Can generate XML output to a file

The best way to run tests from the command line is to use the -c command line option. See CommandLineRestCommands

Using the TestRunner (Deprecated)

usage: java fitnesse.runner.TestRunner [options] host port page-name
        -v                              verbose: prints test progress to stdout
        -xml <file>                     Sends xml test results to the file.  If file is 'stdout' sends xml to standard out.
        -suiteFilter <filter>           runs only those tests of a suite which have been marked with the respective filter
        -credentials <user:pwd>         Authenticates with given credentials when sending commands to the server

There are three required arguments: host port page-name. The command to run the FitNesse test suite on your local instance of FitNesse is:

java -cp fitnesse.jar fitnesse.runner.TestRunner localhost 80 FitNesse.SuiteAcceptanceTests

The TestRunner, regardless of options, exits with the number of pages with failures + exceptions that occurred during execution. An exit value of 0 means all the tests passed. Adding the -v prints a summary of the test results on standard out. The page designated by page-name may be either a suite or test page.

For the XML format see RestfulTests

More details about suite filters can be found here.