1015 lines
40 KiB
Plaintext
1015 lines
40 KiB
Plaintext
===========================
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Testing Django applications
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===========================
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Automated testing is an extremely useful bug-killing tool for the modern
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Web developer. You can use a collection of tests -- a **test suite** -- to
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solve, or avoid, a number of problems:
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* When you're writing new code, you can use tests to validate your code
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works as expected.
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* When you're refactoring or modifying old code, you can use tests to
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ensure your changes haven't affected your application's behavior
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unexpectedly.
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Testing a Web application is a complex task, because a Web application is made
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of several layers of logic -- from HTTP-level request handling, to form
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validation and processing, to template rendering. With Django's test-execution
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framework and assorted utilities, you can simulate requests, insert test data,
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inspect your application's output and generally verify your code is doing what
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it should be doing.
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The best part is, it's really easy.
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This document is split into two primary sections. First, we explain how to
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write tests with Django. Then, we explain how to run them.
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.. admonition:: Note
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This testing framework is currently under development. It may change
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slightly before the next official Django release.
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(That's *no* excuse not to write tests, though!)
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Writing tests
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=============
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There are two primary ways to write tests with Django, corresponding to the
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two test frameworks that ship in the Python standard library. The two
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frameworks are:
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* **Doctests** -- tests that are embedded in your functions' docstrings and
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are written in a way that emulates a session of the Python interactive
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interpreter. For example::
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def my_func(a_list, idx):
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"""
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>>> a = ['larry', 'curly', 'moe']
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>>> my_func(a, 0)
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'larry'
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>>> my_func(a, 1)
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'curly'
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"""
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return a_list[idx]
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* **Unit tests** -- tests that are expressed as methods on a Python class
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that subclasses ``unittest.TestCase``. For example::
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import unittest
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class MyFuncTestCase(unittest.TestCase)
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def testBasic(self):
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a = ['larry', 'curly', 'moe']
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self.assertEquals(my_func(a, 0), 'larry')
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self.assertEquals(my_func(a, 1), 'curly')
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You can choose the test framework you like, depending on which syntax you
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prefer, or you can mix and match, using one framework for some of your code and
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the other framework for other code. You can also use any *other* Python test
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frameworks, as we'll explain in a bit.
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Writing doctests
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----------------
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Doctests use Python's standard doctest_ module, which searches your docstrings
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for statements that resemble a session of the Python interactive interpreter.
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A full explanation of how doctest works is out of the scope of this document;
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read Python's official documentation for the details.
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.. admonition:: What's a **docstring**?
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A good explanation of docstrings (and some guidelines for using them
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effectively) can be found in :PEP:`257`:
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A docstring is a string literal that occurs as the first statement in
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a module, function, class, or method definition. Such a docstring
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becomes the ``__doc__`` special attribute of that object.
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For example, this function has a docstring that describes what it does::
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def add_two(num):
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"Adds 2 to the given number and returns the result."
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return num + 2
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Because tests often make great documentation, putting tests directly in
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your docstrings is an effective way to document *and* test your code.
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For a given Django application, the test runner looks for doctests in two
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places:
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* The ``models.py`` file. You can define module-level doctests and/or a
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doctest for individual models. It's common practice to put
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application-level doctests in the module docstring and model-level
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doctests in the model docstrings.
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* A file called ``tests.py`` in the application directory -- i.e., the
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directory that holds ``models.py``. This file is a hook for any and all
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doctests you want to write that aren't necessarily related to models.
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Here is an example model doctest::
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# models.py
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from django.db import models
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class Animal(models.Model):
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"""
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An animal that knows how to make noise
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# Create some animals
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>>> lion = Animal.objects.create(name="lion", sound="roar")
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>>> cat = Animal.objects.create(name="cat", sound="meow")
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# Make 'em speak
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>>> lion.speak()
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'The lion says "roar"'
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>>> cat.speak()
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'The cat says "meow"'
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"""
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name = models.CharField(max_length=20)
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sound = models.CharField(max_length=20)
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def speak(self):
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return 'The %s says "%s"' % (self.name, self.sound)
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When you `run your tests`_, the test runner will find this docstring, notice
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that portions of it look like an interactive Python session, and execute those
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lines while checking that the results match.
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In the case of model tests, note that the test runner takes care of creating
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its own test database. That is, any test that accesses a database -- by
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creating and saving model instances, for example -- will not affect your
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production database. Each doctest begins with a "blank slate" -- a fresh
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database containing an empty table for each model. (See the section on
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fixtures, below, for more on this.)
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For more details about how doctest works, see the `standard library
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documentation for doctest`_
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.. _doctest: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-doctest.html
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.. _standard library documentation for doctest: doctest_
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Writing unit tests
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------------------
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Like doctests, Django's unit tests use a standard library module: unittest_.
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This module uses a different way of defining tests, taking a class-based
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approach.
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As with doctests, for a given Django application, the test runner looks for
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unit tests in two places:
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* The ``models.py`` file. The test runner looks for any subclass of
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``unittest.TestCase`` in this module.
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* A file called ``tests.py`` in the application directory -- i.e., the
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directory that holds ``models.py``. Again, the test runner looks for any
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subclass of ``unittest.TestCase`` in this module.
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This example ``unittest.TestCase`` subclass is equivalent to the example given
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in the doctest section above::
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import unittest
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from myapp.models import Animal
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class AnimalTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
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def setUp(self):
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self.lion = Animal.objects.create(name="lion", sound="roar")
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self.cat = Animal.objects.create(name="cat", sound="meow")
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def testSpeaking(self):
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self.assertEquals(self.lion.speak(), 'The lion says "roar"')
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self.assertEquals(self.cat.speak(), 'The cat says "meow"')
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When you `run your tests`_, the default behavior of the test utility is
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to find all the test cases (that is, subclasses of ``unittest.TestCase``)
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in ``models.py`` and ``tests.py``, automatically build a test suite out of
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those test cases, and run that suite.
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In the Django development version, there is a second way to define the test
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suite for a module: if you define a function called ``suite()`` in either
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``models.py`` or ``tests.py``, the Django test runner will use that function
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to construct the test suite for that module. This follows the
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`suggested organization`_ for unit tests. See the Python documentation for
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more details on how to construct a complex test suite.
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For more details about ``unittest``, see the `standard library unittest
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documentation`_.
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.. _unittest: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-unittest.html
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.. _standard library unittest documentation: unittest_
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.. _run your tests: `Running tests`_
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.. _suggested organization: http://docs.python.org/lib/organizing-tests.html
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Which should I use?
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-------------------
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Because Django supports both of the standard Python test frameworks, it's up to
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you and your tastes to decide which one to use. You can even decide to use
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*both*.
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For developers new to testing, however, this choice can seem confusing. Here,
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then, are a few key differences to help you decide which approach is right for
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you:
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* If you've been using Python for a while, ``doctest`` will probably feel
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more "pythonic". It's designed to make writing tests as easy as possible,
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so it requires no overhead of writing classes or methods. You simply put
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tests in docstrings. This has the added advantage of serving as
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documentation (and correct documentation, at that!).
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If you're just getting started with testing, using doctests will probably
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get you started faster.
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* The ``unittest`` framework will probably feel very familiar to developers
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coming from Java. ``unittest`` is inspired by Java's JUnit, so you'll
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feel at home with this method if you've used JUnit or any test framework
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inspired by JUnit.
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* If you need to write a bunch of tests that share similar code, then
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you'll appreciate the ``unittest`` framework's organization around
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classes and methods. This makes it easy to abstract common tasks into
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common methods. The framework also supports explicit setup and/or cleanup
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routines, which give you a high level of control over the environment
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in which your test cases are run.
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Again, remember that you can use both systems side-by-side (even in the same
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app). In the end, most projects will eventually end up using both. Each shines
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in different circumstances.
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Running tests
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=============
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Once you've written tests, run them using your project's ``manage.py`` utility::
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$ ./manage.py test
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By default, this will run every test in every application in ``INSTALLED_APPS``.
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If you only want to run tests for a particular application, add the
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application name to the command line. For example, if your ``INSTALLED_APPS``
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contains ``'myproject.polls'`` and ``'myproject.animals'``, you can run the
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``myproject.animals`` unit tests alone with this command::
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# ./manage.py test animals
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Note that we used ``animals``, not ``myproject.animals``.
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**New in Django development version:** If you use unit tests, as opposed to
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doctests, you can be even *more* specific in choosing which tests to execute.
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To run a single test case in an application (for example, the
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``AnimalTestCase`` described in the "Writing unit tests" section), add the
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name of the test case to the label on the command line::
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$ ./manage.py test animals.AnimalTestCase
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And it gets even more granular than that! To run a *single* test method inside
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a test case, add the name of the test method to the label::
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$ ./manage.py test animals.AnimalTestCase.testFluffyAnimals
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Understanding the test output
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-----------------------------
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When you run your tests, you'll see a number of messages as the test runner
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prepares itself::
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Creating test database...
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Creating table myapp_animal
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Creating table myapp_mineral
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Loading 'initial_data' fixtures...
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No fixtures found.
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This tells you that the test runner is creating a test database -- a blank,
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from-scratch database that it will use for any tests that happen to require a
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database (namely, model tests).
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Don't worry -- the test runner will not touch your "real" (production)
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database. It creates a separate database purely for the tests. This test
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database gets its name by prepending ``test_`` to the value of the
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``DATABASE_NAME`` setting. If you want to use a different name, specify the
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``TEST_DATABASE_NAME`` setting.
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Aside from using a separate database, the test runner will otherwise use all of
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the same database settings you have in your settings file: ``DATABASE_ENGINE``,
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``DATABASE_USER``, ``DATABASE_HOST``, etc. The test database is created by the
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user specified by ``DATABASE_USER``, so you'll need to make sure that the given
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user account has sufficient privileges to create a new database on the system.
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**New in Django development version:** For fine-grained control over the
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character encoding of your test database, use the ``TEST_DATABASE_CHARSET``
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setting. If you're using MySQL, you can also use the ``TEST_DATABASE_COLLATION``
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setting to control the particular collation used by the test database. See the
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settings_ documentation for details of these advanced settings.
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.. _settings: ../settings/
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Once the test database has been created, Django will run your tests.
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If everything goes well, you'll see something like this::
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Ran 22 tests in 0.221s
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OK
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If there are test failures, however, you'll see full details about which tests
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failed::
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======================================================================
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FAIL: Doctest: ellington.core.throttle.models
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Traceback (most recent call last):
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File "/dev/django/test/doctest.py", line 2153, in runTest
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raise self.failureException(self.format_failure(new.getvalue()))
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AssertionError: Failed doctest test for myapp.models
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File "/dev/myapp/models.py", line 0, in models
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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File "/dev/myapp/models.py", line 14, in myapp.models
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Failed example:
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throttle.check("actor A", "action one", limit=2, hours=1)
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Expected:
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True
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Got:
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False
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Ran 2 tests in 0.048s
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FAILED (failures=1)
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A full explanation of this error output is beyond the scope of this document,
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but it's pretty intuitive. You can consult the documentation of Python's
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``unittest`` library for details.
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Note that the return code for the test-runner script is the total number of
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failed and erroneous tests. If all the tests pass, the return code is 0. This
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feature is useful if you're using the test-runner script in a shell script and
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need to test for success or failure at that level.
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Regardless of whether the tests pass or fail, the test database is destroyed when
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all the tests have been executed.
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Testing tools
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=============
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Django provides a small set of tools that come in handy when writing tests.
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The test client
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---------------
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The test client is a Python class that acts as a dummy Web browser, allowing
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you to test your views and interact with your Django-powered application
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programatically.
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Some of the things you can do with the test client are:
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* Simulate GET and POST requests on a URL and observe the response --
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everything from low-level HTTP (result headers and status codes) to
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page content.
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* Test that the correct view is executed for a given URL.
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* Test that a given request is rendered by a given Django template, with
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a template context that contains certain values.
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Note that the test client is not intended to be a replacement for Twill_,
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Selenium_, or other "in-browser" frameworks. Django's test client has
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a different focus. In short:
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* Use Django's test client to establish that the correct view is being
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called and that the view is collecting the correct context data.
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* Use in-browser frameworks such as Twill and Selenium to test *rendered*
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HTML and the *behavior* of Web pages, namely JavaScript functionality.
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A comprehensive test suite should use a combination of both test types.
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.. _Twill: http://twill.idyll.org/
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.. _Selenium: http://www.openqa.org/selenium/
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Overview and a quick example
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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To use the test client, instantiate ``django.test.client.Client`` and retrieve
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Web pages::
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>>> from django.test.client import Client
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>>> c = Client()
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>>> response = c.post('/login/', {'username': 'john', 'password': 'smith'})
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>>> response.status_code
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200
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>>> response = c.get('/customer/details/')
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>>> response.content
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'<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 ...'
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As this example suggests, you can instantiate ``Client`` from within a session
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of the Python interactive interpreter.
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Note a few important things about how the test client works:
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* The test client does *not* require the Web server to be running. In fact,
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it will run just fine with no Web server running at all! That's because
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it avoids the overhead of HTTP and deals directly with the Django
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framework. This helps make the unit tests run quickly.
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* When retrieving pages, remember to specify the *path* of the URL, not the
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whole domain. For example, this is correct::
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>>> c.get('/login/')
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This is incorrect::
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>>> c.get('http://www.example.com/login/')
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The test client is not capable of retrieving Web pages that are not
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powered by your Django project. If you need to retrieve other Web pages,
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use a Python standard library module such as urllib_ or urllib2_.
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* To resolve URLs, the test client uses whatever URLconf is pointed-to by
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your ``ROOT_URLCONF`` setting.
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* Although the above example would work in the Python interactive
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interpreter, some of the test client's functionality, notably the
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template-related functionality, is only available *while tests are running*.
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The reason for this is that Django's test runner performs a bit of black
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magic in order to determine which template was loaded by a given view.
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This black magic (essentially a patching of Django's template system in
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memory) only happens during test running.
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.. _urllib: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib.html
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.. _urllib2: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html
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Making requests
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Use the ``django.test.client.Client`` class to make requests. It requires no
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arguments at time of construction::
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>>> c = Client()
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Once you have a ``Client`` instance, you can call any of the following methods:
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``get(path, data={})``
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Makes a GET request on the provided ``path`` and returns a ``Response``
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object, which is documented below.
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The key-value pairs in the ``data`` dictionary are used to create a GET
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data payload. For example::
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>>> c = Client()
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>>> c.get('/customers/details/', {'name': 'fred', 'age': 7})
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...will result in the evaluation of a GET request equivalent to::
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/customers/details/?name=fred&age=7
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``post(path, data={}, content_type=MULTIPART_CONTENT)``
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Makes a POST request on the provided ``path`` and returns a ``Response``
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object, which is documented below.
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The key-value pairs in the ``data`` dictionary are used to submit POST
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data. For example::
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>>> c = Client()
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>>> c.post('/login/', {'name': 'fred', 'passwd': 'secret'})
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...will result in the evaluation of a POST request to this URL::
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/login/
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...with this POST data::
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name=fred&passwd=secret
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If you provide ``content_type`` (e.g., ``text/xml`` for an XML payload),
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the contents of ``data`` will be sent as-is in the POST request, using
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``content_type`` in the HTTP ``Content-Type`` header.
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If you don't provide a value for ``content_type``, the values in
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``data`` will be transmitted with a content type of ``multipart/form-data``.
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In this case, the key-value pairs in ``data`` will be encoded as a
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multipart message and used to create the POST data payload.
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To submit multiple values for a given key -- for example, to specify
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the selections for a ``<select multiple>`` -- provide the values as a
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list or tuple for the required key. For example, this value of ``data``
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would submit three selected values for the field named ``choices``::
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{'choices': ('a', 'b', 'd')}
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Submitting files is a special case. To POST a file, you need only provide
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the file field name as a key, and a file handle to the file you wish to
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upload as a value. For example::
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>>> c = Client()
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>>> f = open('wishlist.doc')
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>>> c.post('/customers/wishes/', {'name': 'fred', 'attachment': f})
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>>> f.close()
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|
|
(The name ``attachment`` here is not relevant; use whatever name your
|
|
file-processing code expects.)
|
|
|
|
Note that you should manually close the file after it has been provided to
|
|
``post()``.
|
|
|
|
``login(**credentials)``
|
|
**New in Django development version**
|
|
|
|
If your site uses Django's `authentication system`_ and you deal with
|
|
logging in users, you can use the test client's ``login()`` method to
|
|
simulate the effect of a user logging into the site.
|
|
|
|
After you call this method, the test client will have all the cookies and
|
|
session data required to pass any login-based tests that may form part of
|
|
a view.
|
|
|
|
The format of the ``credentials`` argument depends on which
|
|
`authentication backend`_ you're using (which is configured by your
|
|
``AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS`` setting). If you're using the standard
|
|
authentication backend provided by Django (``ModelBackend``),
|
|
``credentials`` should be the user's username and password, provided as
|
|
keyword arguments::
|
|
|
|
>>> c = Client()
|
|
>>> c.login(username='fred', password='secret')
|
|
>>> # Now you can access a view that's only available to logged-in users.
|
|
|
|
If you're using a different authentication backend, this method may require
|
|
different credentials. It requires whichever credentials are required by
|
|
your backend's ``authenticate()`` method.
|
|
|
|
``login()`` returns ``True`` if it the credentials were accepted and login
|
|
was successful.
|
|
|
|
Finally, you'll need to remember to create user accounts before you can use
|
|
this method. As we explained above, the test runner is executed using a
|
|
test database, which contains no users by default. As a result, user
|
|
accounts that are valid on your production site will not work under test
|
|
conditions. You'll need to create users as part of the test suite -- either
|
|
manually (using the Django model API) or with a test fixture.
|
|
|
|
``logout()``
|
|
**New in Django development version**
|
|
|
|
If your site uses Django's `authentication system`_, the ``logout()``
|
|
method can be used to simulate the effect of a user logging out of
|
|
your site.
|
|
|
|
After you call this method, the test client will have all the cookies and
|
|
session data cleared to defaults. Subsequent requests will appear to
|
|
come from an AnonymousUser.
|
|
|
|
.. _authentication system: ../authentication/
|
|
.. _authentication backend: ../authentication/#other-authentication-sources
|
|
|
|
Testing responses
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
The ``get()`` and ``post()`` methods both return a ``Response`` object. This
|
|
``Response`` object is *not* the same as the ``HttpResponse`` object returned
|
|
Django views; this object is simpler and has some additional data useful for
|
|
tests.
|
|
|
|
Specifically, a ``Response`` object has the following attributes:
|
|
|
|
=============== ==========================================================
|
|
Attribute Description
|
|
=============== ==========================================================
|
|
``client`` The test client that was used to make the request that
|
|
resulted in the response.
|
|
|
|
``content`` The body of the response, as a string. This is the final
|
|
page content as rendered by the view, or any error
|
|
message (such as the URL for a 302 redirect).
|
|
|
|
``context`` The template ``Context`` instance that was used to render
|
|
the template that produced the response content.
|
|
|
|
If the rendered page used multiple templates, then
|
|
``context`` will be a list of ``Context``
|
|
objects, in the order in which they were rendered.
|
|
|
|
``request`` The request data that stimulated the response.
|
|
|
|
``status_code`` The HTTP status of the response, as an integer. See
|
|
RFC2616_ for a full list of HTTP status codes.
|
|
|
|
``template`` The ``Template`` instance that was used to render the
|
|
final content. Use ``template.name`` to get the
|
|
template's file name, if the template was loaded from a
|
|
file. (The name is a string such as
|
|
``'admin/index.html'``.)
|
|
|
|
If the rendered page used multiple templates -- e.g.,
|
|
using `template inheritance`_ -- then ``template`` will
|
|
be a list of ``Template`` instances, in the order in
|
|
which they were rendered.
|
|
=============== ==========================================================
|
|
|
|
.. _RFC2616: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html
|
|
.. _template inheritance: ../templates/#template-inheritance
|
|
|
|
Exceptions
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
If you point the test client at a view that raises an exception, that exception
|
|
will be visible in the test case. You can then use a standard ``try...catch``
|
|
block or ``unittest.TestCase.assertRaises()`` to test for exceptions.
|
|
|
|
The only exceptions that are not visible to the test client are ``Http404``,
|
|
``PermissionDenied`` and ``SystemExit``. Django catches these exceptions
|
|
internally and converts them into the appropriate HTTP response codes. In these
|
|
cases, you can check ``response.status_code`` in your test.
|
|
|
|
Persistent state
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
The test client is stateful. If a response returns a cookie, then that cookie
|
|
will be stored in the test client and sent with all subsequent ``get()`` and
|
|
``post()`` requests.
|
|
|
|
Expiration policies for these cookies are not followed. If you want a cookie
|
|
to expire, either delete it manually or create a new ``Client`` instance (which
|
|
will effectively delete all cookies).
|
|
|
|
A test client has two attributes that store persistent state information. You
|
|
can access these properties as part of a test condition.
|
|
|
|
=============== ==========================================================
|
|
Attribute Description
|
|
=============== ==========================================================
|
|
``cookies`` A Python ``SimpleCookie`` object, containing the current
|
|
values of all the client cookies. See the
|
|
`Cookie module documentation`_ for more.
|
|
|
|
``session`` A dictionary-like object containing session information.
|
|
See the `session documentation`_ for full details.
|
|
=============== ==========================================================
|
|
|
|
.. _Cookie module documentation: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-Cookie.html
|
|
.. _session documentation: ../sessions/
|
|
|
|
Example
|
|
~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
The following is a simple unit test using the test client::
|
|
|
|
import unittest
|
|
from django.test.client import Client
|
|
|
|
class SimpleTest(unittest.TestCase):
|
|
def setUp(self):
|
|
# Every test needs a client.
|
|
self.client = Client()
|
|
|
|
def test_details(self):
|
|
# Issue a GET request.
|
|
response = self.client.get('/customer/details/')
|
|
|
|
# Check that the respose is 200 OK.
|
|
self.failUnlessEqual(response.status_code, 200)
|
|
|
|
# Check that the rendered context contains 5 customers.
|
|
self.failUnlessEqual(len(response.context['customers']), 5)
|
|
|
|
TestCase
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
Normal Python unit test classes extend a base class of ``unittest.TestCase``.
|
|
Django provides an extension of this base class -- ``django.test.TestCase``
|
|
-- that provides some additional capabilities that can be useful for
|
|
testing Web sites.
|
|
|
|
Converting a normal ``unittest.TestCase`` to a Django ``TestCase`` is easy:
|
|
just change the base class of your test from ``unittest.TestCase`` to
|
|
``django.test.TestCase``. All of the standard Python unit test functionality
|
|
will continue to be available, but it will be augmented with some useful
|
|
additions.
|
|
|
|
Default test client
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
**New in Django development version**
|
|
|
|
Every test case in a ``django.test.TestCase`` instance has access to an
|
|
instance of a Django test client. This client can be accessed as
|
|
``self.client``. This client is recreated for each test, so you don't have to
|
|
worry about state (such as cookies) carrying over from one test to another.
|
|
|
|
This means, instead of instantiating a ``Client`` in each test::
|
|
|
|
import unittest
|
|
from django.test.client import Client
|
|
|
|
class SimpleTest(unittest.TestCase):
|
|
def test_details(self):
|
|
client = Client()
|
|
response = client.get('/customer/details/')
|
|
self.failUnlessEqual(response.status_code, 200)
|
|
|
|
def test_index(self):
|
|
client = Client()
|
|
response = client.get('/customer/index/')
|
|
self.failUnlessEqual(response.status_code, 200)
|
|
|
|
...you can just refer to ``self.client``, like so::
|
|
|
|
from django.test import TestCase
|
|
from django.test.client import Client
|
|
|
|
class SimpleTest(TestCase):
|
|
def test_details(self):
|
|
response = self.client.get('/customer/details/')
|
|
self.failUnlessEqual(response.status_code, 200)
|
|
|
|
def test_index(self):
|
|
response = self.client.get('/customer/index/')
|
|
self.failUnlessEqual(response.status_code, 200)
|
|
|
|
Fixture loading
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
A test case for a database-backed Web site isn't much use if there isn't any
|
|
data in the database. To make it easy to put test data into the database,
|
|
Django's custom ``TestCase`` class provides a way of loading **fixtures**.
|
|
|
|
A fixture is a collection of data that Django knows how to import into a
|
|
database. For example, if your site has user accounts, you might set up a
|
|
fixture of fake user accounts in order to populate your database during tests.
|
|
|
|
The most straightforward way of creating a fixture is to use the
|
|
``manage.py dumpdata`` command. This assumes you already have some data in
|
|
your database. See the `dumpdata documentation`_ for more details.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
If you've ever run ``manage.py syncdb``, you've already used a fixture
|
|
without even knowing it! When you call ``syncdb`` in the database for
|
|
the first time, Django installs a fixture called ``initial_data``.
|
|
This gives you a way of populating a new database with any initial data,
|
|
such as a default set of categories.
|
|
|
|
Fixtures with other names can always be installed manually using the
|
|
``manage.py loaddata`` command.
|
|
|
|
Once you've created a fixture and placed it somewhere in your Django project,
|
|
you can use it in your unit tests by specifying a ``fixtures`` class attribute
|
|
on your ``django.test.TestCase`` subclass::
|
|
|
|
from django.test import TestCase
|
|
from myapp.models import Animal
|
|
|
|
class AnimalTestCase(TestCase):
|
|
fixtures = ['mammals.json', 'birds']
|
|
|
|
def setUp(self):
|
|
# Test definitions as before.
|
|
|
|
def testFluffyAnimals(self):
|
|
# A test that uses the fixtures.
|
|
|
|
Here's specifically what will happen:
|
|
|
|
* At the start of each test case, before ``setUp()`` is run, Django will
|
|
flush the database, returning the database to the state it was in
|
|
directly after ``syncdb`` was called.
|
|
|
|
* Then, all the named fixtures are installed. In this example, Django will
|
|
install any JSON fixture named ``mammals``, followed by any fixture named
|
|
``birds``. See the `loaddata documentation`_ for more details on defining
|
|
and installing fixtures.
|
|
|
|
This flush/load procedure is repeated for each test in the test case, so you
|
|
can be certain that the outcome of a test will not be affected by
|
|
another test, or by the order of test execution.
|
|
|
|
.. _dumpdata documentation: ../django-admin/#dumpdata-appname-appname
|
|
.. _loaddata documentation: ../django-admin/#loaddata-fixture-fixture
|
|
|
|
Emptying the test outbox
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
**New in Django development version**
|
|
|
|
If you use Django's custom ``TestCase`` class, the test runner will clear the
|
|
contents of the test e-mail outbox at the start of each test case.
|
|
|
|
For more detail on e-mail services during tests, see `E-mail services`_.
|
|
|
|
Assertions
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
**New in Django development version**
|
|
|
|
As Python's normal ``unittest.TestCase`` class implements assertion
|
|
methods such as ``assertTrue`` and ``assertEquals``, Django's custom
|
|
``TestCase`` class provides a number of custom assertion methods that are
|
|
useful for testing Web applications:
|
|
|
|
``assertContains(response, text, count=None, status_code=200)``
|
|
Asserts that a ``Response`` instance produced the given ``status_code`` and
|
|
that ``text`` appears in the content of the response. If ``count`` is
|
|
provided, ``text`` must occur exactly ``count`` times in the response.
|
|
|
|
``assertFormError(response, form, field, errors)``
|
|
Asserts that a field on a form raises the provided list of errors when
|
|
rendered on the form.
|
|
|
|
``form`` is the name the ``Form`` instance was given in the template
|
|
context. Note that this works only for ``newforms.Form`` instances, not
|
|
``oldforms.Form`` instances.
|
|
|
|
``field`` is the name of the field on the form to check. If ``field``
|
|
has a value of ``None``, non-field errors (errors you can access via
|
|
``form.non_field_errors()``) will be checked.
|
|
|
|
``errors`` is an error string, or a list of error strings, that are
|
|
expected as a result of form validation.
|
|
|
|
``assertTemplateNotUsed(response, template_name)``
|
|
Asserts that the template with the given name was *not* used in rendering
|
|
the response.
|
|
|
|
``assertRedirects(response, expected_url, status_code=302, target_status_code=200)``
|
|
Asserts that the response return a ``status_code`` redirect status,
|
|
it redirected to ``expected_url`` (including any GET data), and the subsequent
|
|
page was received with ``target_status_code``.
|
|
|
|
``assertTemplateUsed(response, template_name)``
|
|
Asserts that the template with the given name was used in rendering the
|
|
response.
|
|
|
|
The name is a string such as ``'admin/index.html'``.
|
|
|
|
E-mail services
|
|
---------------
|
|
|
|
**New in Django development version**
|
|
|
|
If any of your Django views send e-mail using `Django's e-mail functionality`_,
|
|
you probably don't want to send e-mail each time you run a test using that
|
|
view. For this reason, Django's test runner automatically redirects all
|
|
Django-sent e-mail to a dummy outbox. This lets you test every aspect of
|
|
sending e-mail -- from the number of messages sent to the contents of each
|
|
message -- without actually sending the messages.
|
|
|
|
The test runner accomplishes this by transparently replacing the normal
|
|
`SMTPConnection`_ class with a different version. (Don't worry -- this has no
|
|
effect on any other e-mail senders outside of Django, such as your machine's
|
|
mail server, if you're running one.)
|
|
|
|
During test running, each outgoing e-mail is saved in
|
|
``django.core.mail.outbox``. This is a simple list of all `EmailMessage`_
|
|
instances that have been sent. It does not exist under normal execution
|
|
conditions, i.e., when you're not running unit tests. The outbox is created
|
|
during test setup, along with the dummy `SMTPConnection`_. When the test
|
|
framework is torn down, the standard `SMTPConnection`_ class is restored, and
|
|
the test outbox is destroyed.
|
|
|
|
Here's an example test that examines ``django.core.mail.outbox`` for length
|
|
and contents::
|
|
|
|
from django.core import mail
|
|
from django.test import TestCase
|
|
|
|
class EmailTest(TestCase):
|
|
def test_send_email(self):
|
|
# Send message.
|
|
mail.send_mail('Subject here', 'Here is the message.',
|
|
'from@example.com', ['to@example.com'],
|
|
fail_silently=False)
|
|
|
|
# Test that one message has been sent.
|
|
self.assertEqual(len(mail.outbox), 1)
|
|
|
|
# Verify that the subject of the first message is correct.
|
|
self.assertEqual(mail.outbox[0].subject, 'Subject here')
|
|
|
|
As noted `previously`_, the test outbox is emptied at the start of every
|
|
test in a Django ``TestCase``. To empty the outbox manually, assign the
|
|
empty list to ``mail.outbox``::
|
|
|
|
from django.core import mail
|
|
|
|
# Empty the test outbox
|
|
mail.outbox = []
|
|
|
|
.. _`Django's e-mail functionality`: ../email/
|
|
.. _`SMTPConnection`: ../email/#the-emailmessage-and-smtpconnection-classes
|
|
.. _`EmailMessage`: ../email/#the-emailmessage-and-smtpconnection-classes
|
|
.. _`previously`: #emptying-the-test-outbox
|
|
|
|
Using different testing frameworks
|
|
==================================
|
|
|
|
Clearly, ``doctest`` and ``unittest`` are not the only Python testing
|
|
frameworks. While Django doesn't provide explicit support for alternative
|
|
frameworks, it does provide a way to invoke tests constructed for an
|
|
alternative framework as if they were normal Django tests.
|
|
|
|
When you run ``./manage.py test``, Django looks at the ``TEST_RUNNER``
|
|
setting to determine what to do. By default, ``TEST_RUNNER`` points to
|
|
``'django.test.simple.run_tests'``. This method defines the default Django
|
|
testing behavior. This behavior involves:
|
|
|
|
#. Performing global pre-test setup.
|
|
|
|
#. Creating the test database.
|
|
|
|
#. Running ``syncdb`` to install models and initial data into the test
|
|
database.
|
|
|
|
#. Looking for unit tests and doctests in the ``models.py`` and
|
|
``tests.py`` files in each installed application.
|
|
|
|
#. Running the unit tests and doctests that are found.
|
|
|
|
#. Destroying the test database.
|
|
|
|
#. Performing global post-test teardown.
|
|
|
|
If you define your own test runner method and point ``TEST_RUNNER`` at that
|
|
method, Django will execute your test runner whenever you run
|
|
``./manage.py test``. In this way, it is possible to use any test framework
|
|
that can be executed from Python code.
|
|
|
|
Defining a test runner
|
|
----------------------
|
|
|
|
**New in Django development version**
|
|
|
|
By convention, a test runner should be called ``run_tests``. The only strict
|
|
requirement is that it has the same arguments as the Django test runner:
|
|
|
|
``run_tests(test_labels, verbosity=1, interactive=True, extra_tests=[])``
|
|
|
|
``test_labels`` is a list of strings describing the tests to be run. A test
|
|
label can take one of three forms:
|
|
|
|
* ``app.TestCase.test_method`` -- Run a single test method in a test case.
|
|
* ``app.TestCase`` -- Run all the test methods in a test case.
|
|
* ``app`` -- Search for and run all tests in the named application.
|
|
|
|
If ``test_labels`` has a value of ``None``, the test runner should run
|
|
search for tests in all the applications in ``INSTALLED_APPS``.
|
|
|
|
``verbosity`` determines the amount of notification and debug information
|
|
that will be printed to the console; ``0`` is no output, ``1`` is normal
|
|
output, and ``2`` is verbose output.
|
|
|
|
If ``interactive`` is ``True``, the test suite has permission to ask the
|
|
user for instructions when the test suite is executed. An example of this
|
|
behavior would be asking for permission to delete an existing test
|
|
database. If ``interactive`` is ``False``, the test suite must be able to
|
|
run without any manual intervention.
|
|
|
|
``extra_tests`` is a list of extra ``TestCase`` instances to add to the
|
|
suite that is executed by the test runner. These extra tests are run
|
|
in addition to those discovered in the modules listed in ``module_list``.
|
|
|
|
This method should return the number of tests that failed.
|
|
|
|
Testing utilities
|
|
-----------------
|
|
|
|
To assist in the creation of your own test runner, Django provides
|
|
a number of utility methods in the ``django.test.utils`` module.
|
|
|
|
``setup_test_environment()``
|
|
Performs any global pre-test setup, such as the installing the
|
|
instrumentation of the template rendering system and setting up
|
|
the dummy ``SMTPConnection``.
|
|
|
|
``teardown_test_environment()``
|
|
Performs any global post-test teardown, such as removing the
|
|
black magic hooks into the template system and restoring normal e-mail
|
|
services.
|
|
|
|
``create_test_db(verbosity=1, autoclobber=False)``
|
|
Creates a new test database and runs ``syncdb`` against it.
|
|
|
|
``verbosity`` has the same behavior as in ``run_tests()``.
|
|
|
|
``autoclobber`` describes the behavior that will occur if a database with
|
|
the same name as the test database is discovered:
|
|
|
|
* If ``autoclobber`` is ``False``, the user will be asked to approve
|
|
destroying the existing database. ``sys.exit`` is called if the user
|
|
does not approve.
|
|
|
|
* If autoclobber is ``True``, the database will be destroyed without
|
|
consulting the user.
|
|
|
|
``create_test_db()`` has the side effect of modifying
|
|
``settings.DATABASE_NAME`` to match the name of the test database.
|
|
|
|
New in the Django development version, this function returns the name of
|
|
the test database that it created.
|
|
|
|
``destroy_test_db(old_database_name, verbosity=1)``
|
|
Destroys the database whose name is in the ``DATABASE_NAME`` setting
|
|
and restores the value of ``DATABASE_NAME`` to the provided name.
|
|
|
|
``verbosity`` has the same behavior as in ``run_tests()``.
|