Create a separate clean database for tests in django

Question

Hi I would like to create a separate empty database for tests. I read on django docs (https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.1/topics/testing/overview/) that :

The default test database names are created by prepending test_ to the value of each NAME in DATABASES. When using SQLite, the tests will use an in-memory database by default (i.e., the database will be created in memory, bypassing the filesystem entirely!). The TEST dictionary in DATABASES offers a number of settings to configure your test database. For example, if you want to use a different database name, specify NAME in the TEST dictionary for any given database in DATABASES.

So I tried:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    },
    'test_db': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'test_db.sqlite3'),
    }
}

but tests still use the default database when running them with

./manage.py test

How can I create and specify a new, empty database for tests purposes?

No, the database is, like the specifications say, not default, but test_default, so it already creates a test database without specifying one. — willeM_ Van Onsem
– willeM_ Van Onsem, Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 17:18

willeM_ Van Onsem · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-10 14:45:33Z

3

I think you misread the documentation. Django automatically uses a separate database.

Say your config file looks like:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}

Then Django will not use the 'default' database, if the name of the database is 'FOO', it will create a database with the name test_FOO. Such that testing and running the Django project should - without of course "patching" this behaviour - not interfere (at least not the databases).

If you however want to specify a different NAME (or other attributes), you can add a 'TEST' key [Django-doc] in the databases, like:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
        'TEST': {
            'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'other_db.sqlite3'),
        }
    }
}

edited Dec 10, 2021 at 14:45

answered Sep 2, 2018 at 17:22

willeM_ Van Onsem

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3 Comments

madasionka Over a year ago

Thanks so much! But when I run my selenium tests I can see that the database is populated with data from the default database. And when I create objects for instance a new user int the test and try to log in the new account, the action fails. Do you maybe have any ideas why this might be?

willeM_ Van Onsem Over a year ago

@madasionka: no that is very strange. Perhaps it is worth sharing all (relevant) settings. Normally by using sqlite3, as said in the documentation, there is no file stored in the filesystem: the database is stored in memory. So all queries should make no changes to the file system at all.

madasionka Over a year ago

I looked carefully at my settings and I don't see anything suspicious. The weird thing is that it would seem that indeed the tests are somehow using a different database (since if i create a user it doesn't get created int the default database), but the chromium window with my application is using the default database.

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