Invoking Test Methods with a Method for a unittest.TestCase Subclass Python

Question

I've been reading the documentation for the unittest module, but I haven't been able to decipher if it's even possible to do what I'm looking to do. Specifically, I'd like to be able to do something like the following class:

class TestMyCode(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_code(self):
        self.assertTrue(True)

    # Not sure how to do implement this method below
    def run_tests(self):
        # This would run all of the tests in my class
        self.run()

The reason I would like to do this is because I would like to run my tests from within another Python file. E.g., say I'm writing code in another file:

from test_my_code import TestMyCode
tests = TestMyCode()
# Runs all of the tests from the TestMyCode subclass
tests.run_tests()

Is this possible?

Thanks

Noctis Skytower · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-10 21:10:24Z

1

An alternative to what you are trying to do would be to run the main module shown below. Make sure that the test module is available for import if you wish to run the tests in it. Hope this helps you!

Module: test

import unittest


class TestMyCode(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_code(self):
        self.assertTrue(True)

Module: main

import test


def run_tests(module):
    module.unittest.main(module.__name__)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    run_tests(test)

Addendum: To do what you are requesting, add a method that replicates some of the internal work done by unittest.main to run the tests. The following two modules help to demonstrate how you might go about modifying your TestMyCode class so that it can run tests on itself without outside help.

Module: test_module

import unittest


class TestMyCode(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_code(self):
        self.assertTrue(True)

    @classmethod
    def run_tests(cls):
        test = unittest.defaultTestLoader.loadTestsFromTestCase(cls)
        unittest.TextTestRunner().run(test)

Module: main

import test_module


def main():
    test_module.TestMyCode.run_tests()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

edited Feb 10, 2016 at 21:10

answered Feb 10, 2016 at 17:48

Noctis Skytower

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3 Comments

gr1zzly be4r Over a year ago

I think that I follow what you're saying, but with that solution wouldn't I have to run main.py from the command line? I'd like to be able to run all of the tests from a unittest.TestCase subclass with a single method call within a script. My thinking behind this is that I could then have a script take a set of commands and then only run certain tests if a command line arg, say --test is called.

Noctis Skytower Over a year ago

@gr1zzlybe4r Two more modules have been added demonstrating what appears to be a solution to your question. The TestMyCode class has been modified so that tests can be run directly via a method of the class.

gr1zzly be4r Over a year ago

Thank you! This is what I was looking for. Marked the answer as correct.

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