Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:13:44 +0100
Integrate suggestion from review to improve consistency with existing code.
1 =========
2 Helpers
3 =========
5 .. currentmodule:: mock
7 .. testsetup::
9 mock.FILTER_DIR = True
10 from pprint import pprint as pp
11 original_dir = dir
12 def dir(obj):
13 print pp(original_dir(obj))
15 import urllib2
16 __main__.urllib2 = urllib2
18 .. testcleanup::
20 dir = original_dir
21 mock.FILTER_DIR = True
25 call
26 ====
28 .. function:: call(*args, **kwargs)
30 `call` is a helper object for making simpler assertions, for comparing
31 with :attr:`~Mock.call_args`, :attr:`~Mock.call_args_list`,
32 :attr:`~Mock.mock_calls` and :attr: `~Mock.method_calls`. `call` can also be
33 used with :meth:`~Mock.assert_has_calls`.
35 .. doctest::
37 >>> m = MagicMock(return_value=None)
38 >>> m(1, 2, a='foo', b='bar')
39 >>> m()
40 >>> m.call_args_list == [call(1, 2, a='foo', b='bar'), call()]
41 True
43 .. method:: call.call_list()
45 For a call object that represents multiple calls, `call_list`
46 returns a list of all the intermediate calls as well as the
47 final call.
49 `call_list` is particularly useful for making assertions on "chained calls". A
50 chained call is multiple calls on a single line of code. This results in
51 multiple entries in :attr:`~Mock.mock_calls` on a mock. Manually constructing
52 the sequence of calls can be tedious.
54 :meth:`~call.call_list` can construct the sequence of calls from the same
55 chained call:
57 .. doctest::
59 >>> m = MagicMock()
60 >>> m(1).method(arg='foo').other('bar')(2.0)
61 <MagicMock name='mock().method().other()()' id='...'>
62 >>> kall = call(1).method(arg='foo').other('bar')(2.0)
63 >>> kall.call_list()
64 [call(1),
65 call().method(arg='foo'),
66 call().method().other('bar'),
67 call().method().other()(2.0)]
68 >>> m.mock_calls == kall.call_list()
69 True
71 .. _calls-as-tuples:
73 A `call` object is either a tuple of (positional args, keyword args) or
74 (name, positional args, keyword args) depending on how it was constructed. When
75 you construct them yourself this isn't particularly interesting, but the `call`
76 objects that are in the :attr:`Mock.call_args`, :attr:`Mock.call_args_list` and
77 :attr:`Mock.mock_calls` attributes can be introspected to get at the individual
78 arguments they contain.
80 The `call` objects in :attr:`Mock.call_args` and :attr:`Mock.call_args_list`
81 are two-tuples of (positional args, keyword args) whereas the `call` objects
82 in :attr:`Mock.mock_calls`, along with ones you construct yourself, are
83 three-tuples of (name, positional args, keyword args).
85 You can use their "tupleness" to pull out the individual arguments for more
86 complex introspection and assertions. The positional arguments are a tuple
87 (an empty tuple if there are no positional arguments) and the keyword
88 arguments are a dictionary:
90 .. doctest::
92 >>> m = MagicMock(return_value=None)
93 >>> m(1, 2, 3, arg='one', arg2='two')
94 >>> kall = m.call_args
95 >>> args, kwargs = kall
96 >>> args
97 (1, 2, 3)
98 >>> kwargs
99 {'arg2': 'two', 'arg': 'one'}
100 >>> args is kall[0]
101 True
102 >>> kwargs is kall[1]
103 True
105 >>> m = MagicMock()
106 >>> m.foo(4, 5, 6, arg='two', arg2='three')
107 <MagicMock name='mock.foo()' id='...'>
108 >>> kall = m.mock_calls[0]
109 >>> name, args, kwargs = kall
110 >>> name
111 'foo'
112 >>> args
113 (4, 5, 6)
114 >>> kwargs
115 {'arg2': 'three', 'arg': 'two'}
116 >>> name is m.mock_calls[0][0]
117 True
120 create_autospec
121 ===============
123 .. function:: create_autospec(spec, spec_set=False, instance=False, **kwargs)
125 Create a mock object using another object as a spec. Attributes on the
126 mock will use the corresponding attribute on the `spec` object as their
127 spec.
129 Functions or methods being mocked will have their arguments checked to
130 ensure that they are called with the correct signature.
132 If `spec_set` is `True` then attempting to set attributes that don't exist
133 on the spec object will raise an `AttributeError`.
135 If a class is used as a spec then the return value of the mock (the
136 instance of the class) will have the same spec. You can use a class as the
137 spec for an instance object by passing `instance=True`. The returned mock
138 will only be callable if instances of the mock are callable.
140 `create_autospec` also takes arbitrary keyword arguments that are passed to
141 the constructor of the created mock.
143 See :ref:`auto-speccing` for examples of how to use auto-speccing with
144 `create_autospec` and the `autospec` argument to :func:`patch`.
147 ANY
148 ===
150 .. data:: ANY
152 Sometimes you may need to make assertions about *some* of the arguments in a
153 call to mock, but either not care about some of the arguments or want to pull
154 them individually out of :attr:`~Mock.call_args` and make more complex
155 assertions on them.
157 To ignore certain arguments you can pass in objects that compare equal to
158 *everything*. Calls to :meth:`~Mock.assert_called_with` and
159 :meth:`~Mock.assert_called_once_with` will then succeed no matter what was
160 passed in.
162 .. doctest::
164 >>> mock = Mock(return_value=None)
165 >>> mock('foo', bar=object())
166 >>> mock.assert_called_once_with('foo', bar=ANY)
168 `ANY` can also be used in comparisons with call lists like
169 :attr:`~Mock.mock_calls`:
171 .. doctest::
173 >>> m = MagicMock(return_value=None)
174 >>> m(1)
175 >>> m(1, 2)
176 >>> m(object())
177 >>> m.mock_calls == [call(1), call(1, 2), ANY]
178 True
182 FILTER_DIR
183 ==========
185 .. data:: FILTER_DIR
187 `FILTER_DIR` is a module level variable that controls the way mock objects
188 respond to `dir` (only for Python 2.6 or more recent). The default is `True`,
189 which uses the filtering described below, to only show useful members. If you
190 dislike this filtering, or need to switch it off for diagnostic purposes, then
191 set `mock.FILTER_DIR = False`.
193 With filtering on, `dir(some_mock)` shows only useful attributes and will
194 include any dynamically created attributes that wouldn't normally be shown.
195 If the mock was created with a `spec` (or `autospec` of course) then all the
196 attributes from the original are shown, even if they haven't been accessed
197 yet:
199 .. doctest::
201 >>> dir(Mock())
202 ['assert_any_call',
203 'assert_called_once_with',
204 'assert_called_with',
205 'assert_has_calls',
206 'attach_mock',
207 ...
208 >>> import urllib2
209 >>> dir(Mock(spec=urllib2))
210 ['AbstractBasicAuthHandler',
211 'AbstractDigestAuthHandler',
212 'AbstractHTTPHandler',
213 'BaseHandler',
214 ...
216 Many of the not-very-useful (private to `Mock` rather than the thing being
217 mocked) underscore and double underscore prefixed attributes have been
218 filtered from the result of calling `dir` on a `Mock`. If you dislike this
219 behaviour you can switch it off by setting the module level switch
220 `FILTER_DIR`:
222 .. doctest::
224 >>> import mock
225 >>> mock.FILTER_DIR = False
226 >>> dir(mock.Mock())
227 ['_NonCallableMock__get_return_value',
228 '_NonCallableMock__get_side_effect',
229 '_NonCallableMock__return_value_doc',
230 '_NonCallableMock__set_return_value',
231 '_NonCallableMock__set_side_effect',
232 '__call__',
233 '__class__',
234 ...
236 Alternatively you can just use `vars(my_mock)` (instance members) and
237 `dir(type(my_mock))` (type members) to bypass the filtering irrespective of
238 `mock.FILTER_DIR`.
241 mock_open
242 =========
244 .. function:: mock_open(mock=None, read_data=None)
246 A helper function to create a mock to replace the use of `open`. It works
247 for `open` called directly or used as a context manager.
249 The `mock` argument is the mock object to configure. If `None` (the
250 default) then a `MagicMock` will be created for you, with the API limited
251 to methods or attributes available on standard file handles.
253 `read_data` is a string for the `read` method of the file handle to return.
254 This is an empty string by default.
256 Using `open` as a context manager is a great way to ensure your file handles
257 are closed properly and is becoming common::
259 with open('/some/path', 'w') as f:
260 f.write('something')
262 The issue is that even if you mock out the call to `open` it is the
263 *returned object* that is used as a context manager (and has `__enter__` and
264 `__exit__` called).
266 Mocking context managers with a :class:`MagicMock` is common enough and fiddly
267 enough that a helper function is useful.
269 .. doctest::
271 >>> from mock import mock_open
272 >>> m = mock_open()
273 >>> with patch('__main__.open', m, create=True):
274 ... with open('foo', 'w') as h:
275 ... h.write('some stuff')
276 ...
277 >>> m.mock_calls
278 [call('foo', 'w'),
279 call().__enter__(),
280 call().write('some stuff'),
281 call().__exit__(None, None, None)]
282 >>> m.assert_called_once_with('foo', 'w')
283 >>> handle = m()
284 >>> handle.write.assert_called_once_with('some stuff')
286 And for reading files:
288 .. doctest::
290 >>> with patch('__main__.open', mock_open(read_data='bibble'), create=True) as m:
291 ... with open('foo') as h:
292 ... result = h.read()
293 ...
294 >>> m.assert_called_once_with('foo')
295 >>> assert result == 'bibble'
298 .. _auto-speccing:
300 Autospeccing
301 ============
303 Autospeccing is based on the existing `spec` feature of mock. It limits the
304 api of mocks to the api of an original object (the spec), but it is recursive
305 (implemented lazily) so that attributes of mocks only have the same api as
306 the attributes of the spec. In addition mocked functions / methods have the
307 same call signature as the original so they raise a `TypeError` if they are
308 called incorrectly.
310 Before I explain how auto-speccing works, here's why it is needed.
312 `Mock` is a very powerful and flexible object, but it suffers from two flaws
313 when used to mock out objects from a system under test. One of these flaws is
314 specific to the `Mock` api and the other is a more general problem with using
315 mock objects.
317 First the problem specific to `Mock`. `Mock` has two assert methods that are
318 extremely handy: :meth:`~Mock.assert_called_with` and
319 :meth:`~Mock.assert_called_once_with`.
321 .. doctest::
323 >>> mock = Mock(name='Thing', return_value=None)
324 >>> mock(1, 2, 3)
325 >>> mock.assert_called_once_with(1, 2, 3)
326 >>> mock(1, 2, 3)
327 >>> mock.assert_called_once_with(1, 2, 3)
328 Traceback (most recent call last):
329 ...
330 AssertionError: Expected to be called once. Called 2 times.
332 Because mocks auto-create attributes on demand, and allow you to call them
333 with arbitrary arguments, if you misspell one of these assert methods then
334 your assertion is gone:
336 .. code-block:: pycon
338 >>> mock = Mock(name='Thing', return_value=None)
339 >>> mock(1, 2, 3)
340 >>> mock.assret_called_once_with(4, 5, 6)
342 Your tests can pass silently and incorrectly because of the typo.
344 The second issue is more general to mocking. If you refactor some of your
345 code, rename members and so on, any tests for code that is still using the
346 *old api* but uses mocks instead of the real objects will still pass. This
347 means your tests can all pass even though your code is broken.
349 Note that this is another reason why you need integration tests as well as
350 unit tests. Testing everything in isolation is all fine and dandy, but if you
351 don't test how your units are "wired together" there is still lots of room
352 for bugs that tests might have caught.
354 `mock` already provides a feature to help with this, called speccing. If you
355 use a class or instance as the `spec` for a mock then you can only access
356 attributes on the mock that exist on the real class:
358 .. doctest::
360 >>> import urllib2
361 >>> mock = Mock(spec=urllib2.Request)
362 >>> mock.assret_called_with
363 Traceback (most recent call last):
364 ...
365 AttributeError: Mock object has no attribute 'assret_called_with'
367 The spec only applies to the mock itself, so we still have the same issue
368 with any methods on the mock:
370 .. code-block:: pycon
372 >>> mock.has_data()
373 <mock.Mock object at 0x...>
374 >>> mock.has_data.assret_called_with()
376 Auto-speccing solves this problem. You can either pass `autospec=True` to
377 `patch` / `patch.object` or use the `create_autospec` function to create a
378 mock with a spec. If you use the `autospec=True` argument to `patch` then the
379 object that is being replaced will be used as the spec object. Because the
380 speccing is done "lazily" (the spec is created as attributes on the mock are
381 accessed) you can use it with very complex or deeply nested objects (like
382 modules that import modules that import modules) without a big performance
383 hit.
385 Here's an example of it in use:
387 .. doctest::
389 >>> import urllib2
390 >>> patcher = patch('__main__.urllib2', autospec=True)
391 >>> mock_urllib2 = patcher.start()
392 >>> urllib2 is mock_urllib2
393 True
394 >>> urllib2.Request
395 <MagicMock name='urllib2.Request' spec='Request' id='...'>
397 You can see that `urllib2.Request` has a spec. `urllib2.Request` takes two
398 arguments in the constructor (one of which is `self`). Here's what happens if
399 we try to call it incorrectly:
401 .. doctest::
403 >>> req = urllib2.Request()
404 Traceback (most recent call last):
405 ...
406 TypeError: <lambda>() takes at least 2 arguments (1 given)
408 The spec also applies to instantiated classes (i.e. the return value of
409 specced mocks):
411 .. doctest::
413 >>> req = urllib2.Request('foo')
414 >>> req
415 <NonCallableMagicMock name='urllib2.Request()' spec='Request' id='...'>
417 `Request` objects are not callable, so the return value of instantiating our
418 mocked out `urllib2.Request` is a non-callable mock. With the spec in place
419 any typos in our asserts will raise the correct error:
421 .. doctest::
423 >>> req.add_header('spam', 'eggs')
424 <MagicMock name='urllib2.Request().add_header()' id='...'>
425 >>> req.add_header.assret_called_with
426 Traceback (most recent call last):
427 ...
428 AttributeError: Mock object has no attribute 'assret_called_with'
429 >>> req.add_header.assert_called_with('spam', 'eggs')
431 In many cases you will just be able to add `autospec=True` to your existing
432 `patch` calls and then be protected against bugs due to typos and api
433 changes.
435 As well as using `autospec` through `patch` there is a
436 :func:`create_autospec` for creating autospecced mocks directly:
438 .. doctest::
440 >>> import urllib2
441 >>> mock_urllib2 = create_autospec(urllib2)
442 >>> mock_urllib2.Request('foo', 'bar')
443 <NonCallableMagicMock name='mock.Request()' spec='Request' id='...'>
445 This isn't without caveats and limitations however, which is why it is not
446 the default behaviour. In order to know what attributes are available on the
447 spec object, autospec has to introspect (access attributes) the spec. As you
448 traverse attributes on the mock a corresponding traversal of the original
449 object is happening under the hood. If any of your specced objects have
450 properties or descriptors that can trigger code execution then you may not be
451 able to use autospec. On the other hand it is much better to design your
452 objects so that introspection is safe [#]_.
454 A more serious problem is that it is common for instance attributes to be
455 created in the `__init__` method and not to exist on the class at all.
456 `autospec` can't know about any dynamically created attributes and restricts
457 the api to visible attributes.
459 .. doctest::
461 >>> class Something(object):
462 ... def __init__(self):
463 ... self.a = 33
464 ...
465 >>> with patch('__main__.Something', autospec=True):
466 ... thing = Something()
467 ... thing.a
468 ...
469 Traceback (most recent call last):
470 ...
471 AttributeError: Mock object has no attribute 'a'
473 There are a few different ways of resolving this problem. The easiest, but
474 not necessarily the least annoying, way is to simply set the required
475 attributes on the mock after creation. Just because `autospec` doesn't allow
476 you to fetch attributes that don't exist on the spec it doesn't prevent you
477 setting them:
479 .. doctest::
481 >>> with patch('__main__.Something', autospec=True):
482 ... thing = Something()
483 ... thing.a = 33
484 ...
486 There is a more aggressive version of both `spec` and `autospec` that *does*
487 prevent you setting non-existent attributes. This is useful if you want to
488 ensure your code only *sets* valid attributes too, but obviously it prevents
489 this particular scenario:
491 .. doctest::
493 >>> with patch('__main__.Something', autospec=True, spec_set=True):
494 ... thing = Something()
495 ... thing.a = 33
496 ...
497 Traceback (most recent call last):
498 ...
499 AttributeError: Mock object has no attribute 'a'
501 Probably the best way of solving the problem is to add class attributes as
502 default values for instance members initialised in `__init__`. Note that if
503 you are only setting default attributes in `__init__` then providing them via
504 class attributes (shared between instances of course) is faster too. e.g.
506 .. code-block:: python
508 class Something(object):
509 a = 33
511 This brings up another issue. It is relatively common to provide a default
512 value of `None` for members that will later be an object of a different type.
513 `None` would be useless as a spec because it wouldn't let you access *any*
514 attributes or methods on it. As `None` is *never* going to be useful as a
515 spec, and probably indicates a member that will normally of some other type,
516 `autospec` doesn't use a spec for members that are set to `None`. These will
517 just be ordinary mocks (well - `MagicMocks`):
519 .. doctest::
521 >>> class Something(object):
522 ... member = None
523 ...
524 >>> mock = create_autospec(Something)
525 >>> mock.member.foo.bar.baz()
526 <MagicMock name='mock.member.foo.bar.baz()' id='...'>
528 If modifying your production classes to add defaults isn't to your liking
529 then there are more options. One of these is simply to use an instance as the
530 spec rather than the class. The other is to create a subclass of the
531 production class and add the defaults to the subclass without affecting the
532 production class. Both of these require you to use an alternative object as
533 the spec. Thankfully `patch` supports this - you can simply pass the
534 alternative object as the `autospec` argument:
536 .. doctest::
538 >>> class Something(object):
539 ... def __init__(self):
540 ... self.a = 33
541 ...
542 >>> class SomethingForTest(Something):
543 ... a = 33
544 ...
545 >>> p = patch('__main__.Something', autospec=SomethingForTest)
546 >>> mock = p.start()
547 >>> mock.a
548 <NonCallableMagicMock name='Something.a' spec='int' id='...'>
550 .. note::
552 An additional limitation (currently) with `autospec` is that unbound
553 methods on mocked classes *don't* take an "explicit self" as the first
554 argument - so this usage will fail with `autospec`.
556 .. doctest::
558 >>> class Foo(object):
559 ... def foo(self):
560 ... pass
561 ...
562 >>> Foo.foo(Foo())
563 >>> MockFoo = create_autospec(Foo)
564 >>> MockFoo.foo(MockFoo())
565 Traceback (most recent call last):
566 ...
567 TypeError: <lambda>() takes exactly 1 argument (2 given)
569 The reason is that its very hard to tell the difference between functions,
570 unbound methods and staticmethods across Python 2 & 3 and the alternative
571 implementations. This restriction may be fixed in future versions.
574 ------
576 .. [#] This only applies to classes or already instantiated objects. Calling
577 a mocked class to create a mock instance *does not* create a real instance.
578 It is only attribute lookups - along with calls to `dir` - that are done. A
579 way round this problem would have been to use `getattr_static
580 <http://docs.python.org/dev/library/inspect.html#inspect.getattr_static>`_,
581 which can fetch attributes without triggering code execution. Descriptors
582 like `classmethod` and `staticmethod` *need* to be fetched correctly though,
583 so that their signatures can be mocked correctly.