Django Modular Testing - django

Question

I have an "ok" test suite now, but I'm wanting to improve it. What happens is that I'm having to repeat setting up (limiting models for an example) users, property, school, and city objects.
Here is an example of something I have now, which works (note: could be broken because of changes made to simplify the example, but the logic is what I'm after):
class MainTestSetup(TestCase):
def setUp(self):
self.manage_text = 'Manage'
User = get_user_model()
# set up all types of users to be used
self.staff_user = User.objects.create_user('staff_user', 'staff#gmail.com', 'testpassword')
self.staff_user.is_staff = True
self.staff_user.save()
self.user = User.objects.create_user('user', 'user#gmail.com', 'testpassword')
self.city = City.objects.create(name="Test Town", state="TX")
self.school = School.objects.create(city=self.city, name="RE Test University",
long=-97.1234123, lat=45.7801234)
self.company = Company.objects.create(name="Test Company", default_school=self.school)
def login(self):
self.client.login(username=self.user.username,
password='testpassword')
def login_admin(self):
self.client.login(username=self.staff_user, password="testpassword")
class MainViewTests(MainTestSetup):
def test_home(self):
url = reverse('home-list')
manage_url = reverse('manage-property')
anon_response = self.client.get(url)
self.assertEqual(anon_response.status_code, 200)
self.assertNotContains(anon_response, self.manage_text)
self.login_admin()
admin_response = self.client.get(url)
self.assertContains(admin_response, self.manage_text)
def test_search(self):
url = reverse('search')
response = self.client.get(url)
self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
...more tests
As you can see the MainViewTest inherits the setUp and login functions from the MainTestSetup class. This works ok, but I have many apps and not all need to set up all models. What I've tried to do is set up a set of mixins to include things like User, School, Company only in the TestSetups that I need.
This MainTestSetup would turn into something like:
class SchoolMixin(object):
def setUp(self):
self.city = City.objects.create(name="Test Town", state="TX")
self.school = School.objects.create(city=self.city, name="RE Test University",
long=-97.1234123, lat=45.7801234)
class CompanyMixin(SchoolMixin):
def setUp(self):
self.company = Company.objects.create(name="Test Company", default_school=self.school)
class UserMixin(object):
def setUp(self):
User = get_user_model()
# set up all types of users to be used
self.staff_user = User.objects.create_user('staff_user', 'staff#gmail.com', 'testpassword')
self.staff_user.is_staff = True
self.staff_user.save()
self.user = User.objects.create_user('user', 'user#gmail.com', 'testpassword')
def login(self):
self.client.login(username=self.user.username,
password='testpassword')
def login_admin(self):
self.client.login(username=self.staff_user, password="testpassword")
class MainTestSetup(UserMixin, CompanyMixin, TestCase):
def setUp(self):
self.manage_text = 'Manage'
This would allow a lot more flexibility for my test suite - this is only a small example. It would allow me in other apps to only include the Mixins that are necessary. For example if company was not needed, I would include just the SchoolMixin from the above example.
I believe my problem here is with inhertance of the setUp function. I'm not sure how to inherit correctly (through super, or though something else?). I've tried using super but haven't been able to get it to work. I have to admit, I'm not that great with classes/mixins yet, so any help/pointers would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

You can simplify and reduce the amount of code you have by using 2 libraries: WebTest and FactoryBoy. You won't need these Mixins.
https://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-webtest
https://github.com/rbarrois/factory_boy
Do the change step by step:
1. Starts with WebTest so you can get rid of your login_ method (and you won't need to prepare the passwords as well). With WebTest, you can specify the logged-in user when you load a page. For instance you will replace:
self.login_admin()
admin_response = self.client.get(url)
with:
admin_response = = self.app.get(url, user=self.admin)
2. Then use factory_boy to create all the objects you need. For instance you will replace:
self.staff_user = User.objects.create_user('staff_user', 'staff#gmail.com', 'testpassword')
self.staff_user.is_staff = True
self.staff_user.save()
with:
self.staff_user = StaffFactory.create()
3. Mix it up. Get rid of self.admin. Replace it with:
admin = AdminFactory.create()
response = = self.app.get(url, user=admin)
Once you've done all that, your code is going to be a lot shorter and easier to read. You won't need these mixins at all. For example your SchoolMixin can be replaced like this:
self.city = City.objects.create(name="Test Town", state="TX")
self.school = School.objects.create(city=self.city, name="RE Test University",
long=-97.1234123, lat=45.7801234)
replaced with:
school = SchoolFactory.create()
That's because factories can automatically create related entities with "SubFactories".
Here is a complete really simple example of a test using factories: http://codeku.co/testing-in-django-1