Unit tests - Pattern for time changing test methods

Some of our recent unit tests change the system time within the execution of the test method. e.g. testing components which escalate purchase orders to new users if the approvers don't respond within a configured time period. We test this by setting up configuration, such as the period of time which must elapse before escalation occurs, and then changing the system time to add this time period and call the component again. The assertion is usually a simple one e.g. a new user such as the approvers manager should now in the approval route for the order.

We currently use a simple method of restoring the system time when the test method is executed by resetting it to the value captured when the test method is started. If the test method takes 2 seconds to elapsed and we have perhaps 10 test methods we can easily see that we lose 20 seconds of time every time the test fixture is called.

I've thought of a better way to do this using a class such as RestoreTimeChangingCode. The class should be created as the first object which holds the following values

a) StartTickCount
b) StartTime

The StartTickCount value is obtained using Environment.TickCount and StartTime from DateTime.Now. The Restore method should be called when the test method has finished executing, preferrably in a finally block so it's called even if an exception is raised. The Restore method simply adds the number of ticks which have elapsed since the object was created, which represents the elapsed time the test method took to execute, and adds this to the start time, and sets this as the current time.

Whilst this class is useful it would be great if the NUnit framework provided perhaps an attribute called TestChangesSystemTime which could be added in addition to the standard Test attribute. The NUnit framework could then time the method and restore the time appropriately. It could also use a more accurate timer such as the performance counter timer.

The TestChangesSystemTime attribute, in addition to reducing the amount of repeatable code you have to write in each test method, would also provide the ability to reflect on a testing assembly to see whether any test methods change the system time. This would be useful if changing the system time was a concern on any server e.g. we would not want to execute this test assembly on our source control server to avoid clients inadvertently checking in / checking out files with the incorrect date / time.