23.3.3 Re-using old test code

23.3.3 Re-using old test code

Some users will find that they have existing test code that they would like to run from unittest, without converting every old test function to a TestCase subclass.

For this reason, unittest provides a FunctionTestCase class. This subclass of TestCase can be used to wrap an existing test function. Set-up and tear-down functions can also be provided.

Given the following test function:

def testSomething():
    something = makeSomething()
    assert something.name is not None
    # ...

one can create an equivalent test case instance as follows:

testcase = unittest.FunctionTestCase(testSomething)

If there are additional set-up and tear-down methods that should be called as part of the test case's operation, they can also be provided like so:

testcase = unittest.FunctionTestCase(testSomething,
                                     setUp=makeSomethingDB,
                                     tearDown=deleteSomethingDB)

To make migrating existing test suites easier, unittest supports tests raising AssertionError to indicate test failure. However, it is recommended that you use the explicit TestCase.fail*() and TestCase.assert*() methods instead, as future versions of unittest may treat AssertionError differently.

Note: Even though FunctionTestCase can be used to quickly convert an existing test base over to a unittest-based system, this approach is not recommended. Taking the time to set up proper TestCase subclasses will make future test refactorings infinitely easier.

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Python Library Reference

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Release 2.5, documentation updated on 19th September, 2006.