How to exclude execution of certain specflow tests marked with #ignore keyword in Azure Pipeline - specflow

Question

I have many specflow feature files in my solution and there are multiple UI test cases.
At the page level, I have defined a tag eg #Feature1 for the first file and #feature2 for the second file. They are passed onto as the parameter in the yaml file
I pass the tag to my pipeline yml. Now I am in a situation wherein I have few test cases marked as #ignore as well
So then the pipeline runs, these test cases are not exculded but eventually fail.
I want to skip the test cases marked with the #ignore attribute/tag.
Here is a snippet from my pipeline
parameters:
- name: 'featuresToRun'
type: object
default:
- Performance
- AutoComplete
- Benches
- CATMI
- Export
- GemIntegration
- Keyboard
- MainMenu
- NewVoyages
- ReferenceData
- Settings
- SimilarVoyages
- Validation
- Views
- VolumeConversion
- Voyages
- LaycanRanges
trigger: none
jobs:
- job: startVM
timeoutInMinutes: 10
pool:
vmImage: 'windows-latest'
steps:
- checkout: none
- job: runTests
timeoutInMinutes: 1800
dependsOn: startVM
condition: not(canceled())
pool:
name: 'UI Automation'
steps:
- task: ScreenResolutionUtility#1
inputs:
displaySettings: 'optimal'
- task: VisualStudioTestPlatformInstaller#1
inputs:
packageFeedSelector: 'nugetOrg'
versionSelector: 'latestStable'
- task: NuGetCommand#2
inputs:
command: 'restore'
restoreSolution: '**/*.sln'
feedsToUse: 'config'
- task: MSBuild#1
inputs:
solution: 'UIAutomation.sln'
msbuildArchitecture: 'x64'
clean: true
- ${{each feature in parameters.featuresToRun}}:
- task: VSTest#2
displayName: ${{feature}} Tests
inputs:
testSelector: 'testAssemblies'
testAssemblyVer2: |
UIAutomation.Specs\bin\Debug\UIAutomation.Specs.dll
!**\*TestAdapter.dll
!**\obj\**
searchFolder: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
uiTests: true
testRunTitle: '${{feature}}'
testFiltercriteria: 'Category=${{feature}}'
rerunFailedTests: true
rerunMaxAttempts: 2
rerunFailedThreshold: 80
codeCoverageEnabled: true
continueOnError: true

Answer 1

Modify the testFiltercriteria to exclude that category:
testFiltercriteria: 'Category=${{feature}}&Category!=ignore'
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
it appears the testFiltercriteria property translates to the --filter argument to dotnet test or the --testcasefilter:<Expression> argument to vstest.console.exe.
The #ignore tag in Gherkin gets translates to a [TestCategory(...)] attribute above the test methods (when using MS Test). Other unit test providers have a similar conversion.
More info:
https://github.com/Microsoft/vstest-docs/blob/main/docs/filter.md
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/test/vstest-console-options