.. _fixture: .. _fixtures: .. _`fixture functions`: pytest fixtures: explicit, modular, scalable ======================================================== .. currentmodule:: _pytest.python .. versionadded:: 2.0/2.3/2.4 .. _`xUnit`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XUnit .. _`purpose of test fixtures`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_fixture#Software .. _`Dependency injection`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection#Definition The `purpose of test fixtures`_ is to provide a fixed baseline upon which tests can reliably and repeatedly execute. pytest fixtures offer dramatic improvements over the classic xUnit style of setup/teardown functions: * fixtures have explicit names and are activated by declaring their use from test functions, modules, classes or whole projects. * fixtures are implemented in a modular manner, as each fixture name triggers a *fixture function* which can itself use other fixtures. * fixture management scales from simple unit to complex functional testing, allowing to parametrize fixtures and tests according to configuration and component options, or to re-use fixtures across class, module or whole test session scopes. In addition, pytest continues to support :ref:`xunitsetup`. You can mix both styles, moving incrementally from classic to new style, as you prefer. You can also start out from existing :ref:`unittest.TestCase style ` or :ref:`nose based ` projects. .. _`funcargs`: .. _`funcarg mechanism`: .. _`fixture function`: .. _`@pytest.fixture`: .. _`pytest.fixture`: Fixtures as Function arguments (funcargs) ----------------------------------------- Test functions can receive fixture objects by naming them as an input argument. For each argument name, a fixture function with that name provides the fixture object. Fixture functions are registered by marking them with :py:func:`@pytest.fixture <_pytest.python.fixture>`. Let's look at a simple self-contained test module containing a fixture and a test function using it:: # content of ./test_smtpsimple.py import pytest @pytest.fixture def smtp(): import smtplib return smtplib.SMTP("merlinux.eu") def test_ehlo(smtp): response, msg = smtp.ehlo() assert response == 250 assert "merlinux" in msg assert 0 # for demo purposes Here, the ``test_ehlo`` needs the ``smtp`` fixture value. pytest will discover and call the :py:func:`@pytest.fixture <_pytest.python.fixture>` marked ``smtp`` fixture function. Running the test looks like this:: $ py.test test_smtpsimple.py =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.3 -- pytest-2.3.5 collected 1 items test_smtpsimple.py F ================================= FAILURES ================================= ________________________________ test_ehlo _________________________________ smtp = def test_ehlo(smtp): response, msg = smtp.ehlo() assert response == 250 assert "merlinux" in msg > assert 0 # for demo purposes E assert 0 test_smtpsimple.py:12: AssertionError ========================= 1 failed in 0.20 seconds ========================= In the failure traceback we see that the test function was called with a ``smtp`` argument, the ``smtplib.SMTP()`` instance created by the fixture function. The test function fails on our deliberate ``assert 0``. Here is an exact protocol of how py.test comes to call the test function this way: 1. pytest :ref:`finds ` the ``test_ehlo`` because of the ``test_`` prefix. The test function needs a function argument named ``smtp``. A matching fixture function is discovered by looking for a fixture-marked function named ``smtp``. 2. ``smtp()`` is called to create an instance. 3. ``test_ehlo()`` is called and fails in the last line of the test function. Note that if you misspell a function argument or want to use one that isn't available, you'll see an error with a list of available function arguments. .. Note:: You can always issue:: py.test --fixtures test_simplefactory.py to see available fixtures. In versions prior to 2.3 there was no ``@pytest.fixture`` marker and you had to use a magic ``pytest_funcarg__NAME`` prefix for the fixture factory. This remains and will remain supported but is not anymore advertised as the primary means of declaring fixture functions. Funcargs a prime example of dependency injection --------------------------------------------------- When injecting fixtures to test functions, pytest-2.0 introduced the term "funcargs" or "funcarg mechanism" which continues to be present also in docs today. It now refers to the specific case of injecting fixture values as arguments to test functions. With pytest-2.3 there are more possibilities to use fixtures but "funcargs" remain as the main way as they allow to directly state the dependencies of a test function. As the following examples show in more detail, funcargs allow test functions to easily receive and work against specific pre-initialized application objects without having to care about import/setup/cleanup details. It's a prime example of `dependency injection`_ where fixture functions take the role of the *injector* and test functions are the *consumers* of fixture objects. .. _smtpshared: Working with a module-shared fixture ----------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Fixtures requiring network access depend on connectivity and are usually time-expensive to create. Extending the previous example, we can add a ``scope='module'`` parameter to the :py:func:`@pytest.fixture <_pytest.python.fixture>` invocation to cause the decorated ``smtp`` fixture function to only be invoked once per test module. Multiple test functions in a test module will thus each receive the same ``smtp`` fixture instance. The next example puts the fixture function into a separate ``conftest.py`` file so that tests from multiple test modules in the directory can access the fixture function:: # content of conftest.py import pytest import smtplib @pytest.fixture(scope="module") def smtp(): return smtplib.SMTP("merlinux.eu") The name of the fixture again is ``smtp`` and you can access its result by listing the name ``smtp`` as an input parameter in any test or fixture function (in or below the directory where ``conftest.py`` is located):: # content of test_module.py def test_ehlo(smtp): response = smtp.ehlo() assert response[0] == 250 assert "merlinux" in response[1] assert 0 # for demo purposes def test_noop(smtp): response = smtp.noop() assert response[0] == 250 assert 0 # for demo purposes We deliberately insert failing ``assert 0`` statements in order to inspect what is going on and can now run the tests:: $ py.test test_module.py =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.3 -- pytest-2.3.5 collected 2 items test_module.py FF ================================= FAILURES ================================= ________________________________ test_ehlo _________________________________ smtp = def test_ehlo(smtp): response = smtp.ehlo() assert response[0] == 250 assert "merlinux" in response[1] > assert 0 # for demo purposes E assert 0 test_module.py:6: AssertionError ________________________________ test_noop _________________________________ smtp = def test_noop(smtp): response = smtp.noop() assert response[0] == 250 > assert 0 # for demo purposes E assert 0 test_module.py:11: AssertionError ========================= 2 failed in 0.26 seconds ========================= You see the two ``assert 0`` failing and more importantly you can also see that the same (module-scoped) ``smtp`` object was passed into the two test functions because pytest shows the incoming argument values in the traceback. As a result, the two test functions using ``smtp`` run as quick as a single one because they reuse the same instance. If you decide that you rather want to have a session-scoped ``smtp`` instance, you can simply declare it:: @pytest.fixture(scope=``session``) def smtp(...): # the returned fixture value will be shared for # all tests needing it .. _`contextfixtures`: fixture finalization / teardowns ------------------------------------------------------------- pytest supports two styles of fixture finalization: - (new in pytest-2.4) by writing a contextmanager fixture generator where a fixture value is "yielded" and the remainder of the function serves as the teardown code. This integrates very well with existing context managers. - by making a fixture function accept a ``request`` argument with which it can call ``request.addfinalizer(teardownfunction)`` to register a teardown callback function. Both methods are strictly equivalent from pytest's view and will remain supported in the future. Because a number of people prefer the new contextmanager style we describe it first:: # content of test_ctxfixture.py import smtplib import pytest @pytest.fixture(scope="module") def smtp(): smtp = smtplib.SMTP("merlinux.eu") yield smtp # provide the fixture value print ("teardown smtp") smtp.close() pytest detects that you are using a ``yield`` in your fixture function, turns it into a generator and: a) iterates once into it for producing the value b) iterates a second time for tearing the fixture down, expecting a StopIteration (which is produced automatically from the Python runtime when the generator returns). .. note:: The teardown will execute independently of the status of test functions. You do not need to write the teardown code into a ``try-finally`` clause like you would usually do with ``contextlib.contextmanager`` decorated functions. If the fixture generator yields a second value pytest will report an error. Yielding cannot be used for parametrization. We'll describe ways to implement parametrization further below. Prior to pytest-2.4 you always needed to register a finalizer by accepting a ``request`` object into your fixture function and calling ``request.addfinalizer`` with a teardown function:: import smtplib import pytest @pytest.fixture(scope="module") def smtp(request): smtp = smtplib.SMTP("merlinux.eu") def fin(): print ("teardown smtp") smtp.close() return smtp # provide the fixture value This method of registering a finalizer reads more indirect than the new contextmanager style syntax because ``fin`` is a callback function. .. _`request-context`: Fixtures can interact with the requesting test context ------------------------------------------------------------- pytest provides a builtin :py:class:`request ` object, which fixture functions can use to introspect the function, class or module for which they are invoked. Further extending the previous ``smtp`` fixture example, let's read an optional server URL from the module namespace:: # content of conftest.py import pytest import smtplib @pytest.fixture(scope="module") def smtp(request): server = getattr(request.module, "smtpserver", "merlinux.eu") smtp = smtplib.SMTP(server) yield smtp # provide the fixture print ("finalizing %s" % smtp) smtp.close() The finalizing part after the ``yield smtp`` statement will execute when the last test using the ``smtp`` fixture has executed:: $ py.test -s -q --tb=no FF finalizing We see that the ``smtp`` instance is finalized after the two tests which use it finished executin. If we rather specify ``scope='function'`` then fixture setup and cleanup occurs around each single test. Note that in either case the test module itself does not need to change! Let's quickly create another test module that actually sets the server URL in its module namespace:: # content of test_anothersmtp.py smtpserver = "mail.python.org" # will be read by smtp fixture def test_showhelo(smtp): assert 0, smtp.helo() Running it:: $ py.test -qq --tb=short test_anothersmtp.py F ================================= FAILURES ================================= ______________________________ test_showhelo _______________________________ test_anothersmtp.py:5: in test_showhelo > assert 0, smtp.helo() E AssertionError: (250, 'mail.python.org') voila! The ``smtp`` fixture function picked up our mail server name from the module namespace. .. _`fixture-parametrize`: Parametrizing a fixture ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fixture functions can be parametrized in which case they will be called multiple times, each time executing the set of dependent tests, i. e. the tests that depend on this fixture. Test functions do usually not need to be aware of their re-running. Fixture parametrization helps to write exhaustive functional tests for components which themselves can be configured in multiple ways. Extending the previous example, we can flag the fixture to create two ``smtp`` fixture instances which will cause all tests using the fixture to run twice. The fixture function gets access to each parameter through the special :py:class:`request ` object:: # content of conftest.py import pytest import smtplib @pytest.fixture(scope="module", params=["merlinux.eu", "mail.python.org"]) def smtp(request): smtp = smtplib.SMTP(request.param) yield smtp print ("finalizing %s" % smtp) smtp.close() The main change is the declaration of ``params`` with :py:func:`@pytest.fixture <_pytest.python.fixture>`, a list of values for each of which the fixture function will execute and can access a value via ``request.param``. No test function code needs to change. So let's just do another run:: $ py.test -q test_module.py FFFF ================================= FAILURES ================================= __________________________ test_ehlo[merlinux.eu] __________________________ smtp = def test_ehlo(smtp): response = smtp.ehlo() assert response[0] == 250 assert "merlinux" in response[1] > assert 0 # for demo purposes E assert 0 test_module.py:6: AssertionError __________________________ test_noop[merlinux.eu] __________________________ smtp = def test_noop(smtp): response = smtp.noop() assert response[0] == 250 > assert 0 # for demo purposes E assert 0 test_module.py:11: AssertionError ________________________ test_ehlo[mail.python.org] ________________________ smtp = def test_ehlo(smtp): response = smtp.ehlo() assert response[0] == 250 > assert "merlinux" in response[1] E assert 'merlinux' in 'mail.python.org\nSIZE 25600000\nETRN\nSTARTTLS\nENHANCEDSTATUSCODES\n8BITMIME\nDSN' test_module.py:5: AssertionError ________________________ test_noop[mail.python.org] ________________________ smtp = def test_noop(smtp): response = smtp.noop() assert response[0] == 250 > assert 0 # for demo purposes E assert 0 test_module.py:11: AssertionError We see that our two test functions each ran twice, against the different ``smtp`` instances. Note also, that with the ``mail.python.org`` connection the second test fails in ``test_ehlo`` because a different server string is expected than what arrived. .. _`interdependent fixtures`: Modularity: using fixtures from a fixture function ---------------------------------------------------------- You can not only use fixtures in test functions but fixture functions can use other fixtures themselves. This contributes to a modular design of your fixtures and allows re-use of framework-specific fixtures across many projects. As a simple example, we can extend the previous example and instantiate an object ``app`` where we stick the already defined ``smtp`` resource into it:: # content of test_appsetup.py import pytest class App: def __init__(self, smtp): self.smtp = smtp @pytest.fixture(scope="module") def app(smtp): return App(smtp) def test_smtp_exists(app): assert app.smtp Here we declare an ``app`` fixture which receives the previously defined ``smtp`` fixture and instantiates an ``App`` object with it. Let's run it:: $ py.test -v test_appsetup.py =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.3 -- pytest-2.3.5 -- /home/hpk/p/pytest/.tox/regen/bin/python collecting ... collected 2 items test_appsetup.py:12: test_smtp_exists[merlinux.eu] PASSED test_appsetup.py:12: test_smtp_exists[mail.python.org] PASSED ========================= 2 passed in 5.38 seconds ========================= Due to the parametrization of ``smtp`` the test will run twice with two different ``App`` instances and respective smtp servers. There is no need for the ``app`` fixture to be aware of the ``smtp`` parametrization as pytest will fully analyse the fixture dependency graph. Note, that the ``app`` fixture has a scope of ``module`` and uses a module-scoped ``smtp`` fixture. The example would still work if ``smtp`` was cached on a ``session`` scope: it is fine for fixtures to use "broader" scoped fixtures but not the other way round: A session-scoped fixture could not use a module-scoped one in a meaningful way. .. _`automatic per-resource grouping`: Automatic grouping of tests by fixture instances ---------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc: wipe pytest minimizes the number of active fixtures during test runs. If you have a parametrized fixture, then all the tests using it will first execute with one instance and then finalizers are called before the next fixture instance is created. Among other things, this eases testing of applications which create and use global state. The following example uses two parametrized funcargs, one of which is scoped on a per-module basis, and all the functions perform ``print`` calls to show the setup/teardown flow:: # content of test_module.py import pytest @pytest.fixture(scope="module", params=["mod1", "mod2"]) def modarg(request): param = request.param print "create", param yield param print ("fin %s" % param) @pytest.fixture(scope="function", params=[1,2]) def otherarg(request): return request.param def test_0(otherarg): print " test0", otherarg def test_1(modarg): print " test1", modarg def test_2(otherarg, modarg): print " test2", otherarg, modarg Let's run the tests in verbose mode and with looking at the print-output:: $ py.test -v -s test_module.py =========================== test session starts ============================ platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.3 -- pytest-2.3.5 -- /home/hpk/p/pytest/.tox/regen/bin/python collecting ... collected 8 items test_module.py:16: test_0[1] PASSED test_module.py:16: test_0[2] PASSED test_module.py:18: test_1[mod1] PASSED test_module.py:20: test_2[1-mod1] PASSED test_module.py:20: test_2[2-mod1] PASSED test_module.py:18: test_1[mod2] PASSED test_module.py:20: test_2[1-mod2] PASSED test_module.py:20: test_2[2-mod2] PASSED ========================= 8 passed in 0.01 seconds ========================= test0 1 test0 2 create mod1 test1 mod1 test2 1 mod1 test2 2 mod1 fin mod1 create mod2 test1 mod2 test2 1 mod2 test2 2 mod2 fin mod2 You can see that the parametrized module-scoped ``modarg`` resource caused an ordering of test execution that lead to the fewest possible "active" resources. The finalizer for the ``mod1`` parametrized resource was executed before the ``mod2`` resource was setup. .. _`usefixtures`: using fixtures from classes, modules or projects ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Sometimes test functions do not directly need access to a fixture object. For example, tests may require to operate with an empty directory as the current working directory but otherwise do not care for the concrete directory. Here is how you can can use the standard `tempfile `_ and pytest fixtures to achieve it. We separate the creation of the fixture into a conftest.py file:: # content of conftest.py import pytest import tempfile import os @pytest.fixture() def cleandir(): newpath = tempfile.mkdtemp() os.chdir(newpath) and declare its use in a test module via a ``usefixtures`` marker:: # content of test_setenv.py import os import pytest @pytest.mark.usefixtures("cleandir") class TestDirectoryInit: def test_cwd_starts_empty(self): assert os.listdir(os.getcwd()) == [] with open("myfile", "w") as f: f.write("hello") def test_cwd_again_starts_empty(self): assert os.listdir(os.getcwd()) == [] Due to the ``usefixtures`` marker, the ``cleandir`` fixture will be required for the execution of each test method, just as if you specified a "cleandir" function argument to each of them. Let's run it to verify our fixture is activated and the tests pass:: $ py.test -q .. You can specify multiple fixtures like this:: @pytest.mark.usefixtures("cleandir", "anotherfixture") and you may specify fixture usage at the test module level, using a generic feature of the mark mechanism:: pytestmark = pytest.mark.usefixtures("cleandir") Lastly you can put fixtures required by all tests in your project into an ini-file:: # content of pytest.ini [pytest] usefixtures = cleandir .. _`autouse fixtures`: autouse fixtures (xUnit setup on steroids) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .. regendoc:wipe Occasionally, you may want to have fixtures get invoked automatically without a `usefixtures`_ or `funcargs`_ reference. As a practical example, suppose we have a database fixture which has a begin/rollback/commit architecture and we want to automatically surround each test method by a transaction and a rollback. Here is a dummy self-contained implementation of this idea:: # content of test_db_transact.py import pytest class DB: def __init__(self): self.intransaction = [] def begin(self, name): self.intransaction.append(name) def rollback(self): self.intransaction.pop() @pytest.fixture(scope="module") def db(): return DB() class TestClass: @pytest.fixture(autouse=True) def transact(self, request, db): db.begin(request.function.__name__) request.addfinalizer(db.rollback) def test_method1(self, db): assert db.intransaction == ["test_method1"] def test_method2(self, db): assert db.intransaction == ["test_method2"] The class-level ``transact`` fixture is marked with *autouse=true* which implies that all test methods in the class will use this fixture without a need to state it in the test function signature or with a class-level ``usefixtures`` decorator. If we run it, we get two passing tests:: $ py.test -q .. Here is how autouse fixtures work in other scopes: - if an autouse fixture is defined in a test module, all its test functions automatically use it. - if an autouse fixture is defined in a conftest.py file then all tests in all test modules belows its directory will invoke the fixture. - lastly, and **please use that with care**: if you define an autouse fixture in a plugin, it will be invoked for all tests in all projects where the plugin is installed. This can be useful if a fixture only anyway works in the presence of certain settings e. g. in the ini-file. Such a global fixture should always quickly determine if it should do any work and avoid expensive imports or computation otherwise. Note that the above ``transact`` fixture may very well be a fixture that you want to make available in your project without having it generally active. The canonical way to do that is to put the transact definition into a conftest.py file **without** using ``autouse``:: # content of conftest.py @pytest.fixture() def transact(self, request, db): db.begin() request.addfinalizer(db.rollback) and then e.g. have a TestClass using it by declaring the need:: @pytest.mark.usefixtures("transact") class TestClass: def test_method1(self): ... All test methods in this TestClass will use the transaction fixture while other test classes or functions in the module will not use it unless they also add a ``transact`` reference. Shifting (visibility of) fixture functions ---------------------------------------------------- If during implementing your tests you realize that you want to use a fixture function from multiple test files you can move it to a :ref:`conftest.py ` file or even separately installable :ref:`plugins ` without changing test code. The discovery of fixtures functions starts at test classes, then test modules, then ``conftest.py`` files and finally builtin and third party plugins.