Unit Testing

Setup#

Unit tests run against your default database. Some of them rely on fixtures. To run unit tests, simply run:

python manage.py test

If you are using PyCharm, you’ll need to update your run configuration. Set Custom Settings to the base.py file in ourchive_app.settings.

Considerations#

1. Use mocks for external services
2. Wherever possible, move API data processing outside of the API-dependent views; test inputs and outputs independently of the actual Django Rest Framework functionality.
3. Wherever possible, use object instantiation and calls to dict or JSON over hardcoded JSON; this ensures tests adapt when data contracts change (or fail because, as intended, they caught a bug).

For PRs#

As described in our contributor documentation, we do prefer high unit test coverage for PRs. But, this is not a standard we ourselves currently meet. Please do your best, and if the architecture of the codebase is preventing effective testing, call this out in your PR. Refactoring is a fact of life - feedback from other developers helps us decide what to prioritize!