pytest: no-boilerplate testing (part 3)
In my previous blog
post I
covered writing exception-based assertions and fixtures. Today I'm
going to close things out by demonstrating how to change the behavior of
pytest and how to integrate it with Django and
setup.py
.
Changing the Behavior of pytest
When pytest is called, either via the command-line or by
pytest.main()
, it looks for a configuration
file
called either pytest.ini
, tox.ini
, and setup.cfg
. If it finds a
configuration file, it follows standard practices for those things. In
the following example, I demonstrating searching for tests inside of all
Python files while ignoring the **_build**
directories:
# pytest.ini (or tox.ini or setup.cfg)
[pytest] # You must put pytest-related controls in a 'pytest' block
python_files=*.py # Run tests against all python modules
norecursedirs = _build # Don't look inside of _build directories
Changing pytest Behavior Dynamically
This is pretty nice, but if I need to ignore certain Python modules like
setup.py
? I can do this by creating a conftest.py
module and
defining a collect_ignore
variable.
# conftest.py
collect_ignore = ["setup.py", "conftest.py"]
The conftest.py
module can actually be defined per directory. So if
test behavior needs to change in different packages, just create
additional conftest.py
modules. It's simple to do, but really
powerful.
The conftest
module is capable of a lot of other things. Right now
there doesn't seem to be a page that documents it in full, so I'm
considering submitting a documentation pull request. In the meantime, I
live off the conftest.py
search
results.
pytest is Plug-In Driven
One feature I really like about pytest is that much of it's default
capabilities are driven by about 20 plug-ins. It's a sign of maturity
that not only does it have plug-ins, but that most of the time this
feature is transparent. You can add new plug-ins to your project in a
number of
ways,
including pip
installation from PyPI.
For locally defined plug-ins I prefer to rely on explicit conftest.py
declarations:
# conftest.py
collect_ignore = ["setup.py", "conftest.py"]
pytest_plugins = ["dream_plugin", "dream.utils.testplugin"]
There are a lot of third-party pytest plug-ins, which brings me to the next major section: Integration with other tools and frameworks.
Django Integration is Just a Plug-In Away
If you want to use pytest instead of Django's test runner and
also get the power of function-based tests, fixture functions, improved
test discover, and all the stuff I haven't covered, then check out
and/or pip
install
pytest-django. My
admittedly brief usage on some of my existing projects has
demonstrating that my existing unittest-style tests work.
That previous tests still function means that as with a pure Python project, I can rely on existing unittests and write all my new tests as functions. I guess I could say that my existing Django projects just got much easier to maintain.
A good example of using pytest with Django can be found in django-braces' tox.ini file.
Twisted (and more) Integration is Just a Plug-In Away
The same goes for Twisted thanks to pytest-twisted. There is also a Pyramid plug-in that was just released. I'm not sure if Flask needs it, but I guess there will be Flask plug-in soon.
Integration With setup.py
Fortunately, the documentation for pytest covers both adding a new setup.py command-classes for pytest and actual integration. That's handy, but what I've found even more useful is the setup.py that Jeff Knupp wrote for his Sandman project.
Note: If you aren't experienced with writing Python packages and
readying them for PyPI, I recommend you read Jeff Knupp's blog
post on open sourcing
projects.
Amongst other things, it has an in-depth discussion about integration of
pytest with setup.py
. Anything I would write on the subject of
setup.py
integration would be just a cheap knock-off of Jeff's
excellent work.
Summary
Tests are an important part of any project. While they increase the stability of a project, that unfortunately can come at the cost of the boredom of writing tests. Fortunately, pytest goes a long way to alleviating that boredom while also empowering Python code authors with lots of additional useful tools. I'm delighted to have finally discovered pytest. In the short time I've used pytest, it's saved me days, if not weeks, of tedious work.
Tags: python django testing