phillc wrote: > first: > ==== > How does one develop tests for django web apps? > im having trouble writing tests. > i understand there are view tests, but those are so overly complex to > write. > i was just wondering how other people approach it, and if anyone can > point me to some open source application that uses tests properly. > i would love to give test driven development a try, but right now, i > feel that my code is too bound to code in my view, which im having > trouble making unit tests for. (id love to see a django project > somewhere that was test driven)
TDD is very hard. I rarely muster the discipline to do pure TDD. But, TDD isn't required to have unittests, which are awesome by themselves. If you haven't already read http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/testing/ View tests don't have to be complex, the minimal test for a non-form view checks quite alot: urls.py urlpatterns = patterns("specials.views", url(r"^$", "ads", name="ts_ads")) tests.py def test_specials(self): url = reverse("ts_ads") response = self.client.get(url) self.assertTemplateUsed(response, "specials/ads.html") Basically if I write it I test it. Don't test that Django works or your database works. They should have their own tests. For views I mostly don't check they return the expected html(it changes too often during development and I think that is better handled with a tool such as Selenium). Instead I check that they use correct template, redirect to login page, don't raise exceptions, etc. I also have written a custom UnitTest (extending Django's) that checks for empty template vars using TEMPLATE_STRING_IF_INVALID='test_oops_test'. I do POST to views that have forms and check they work as expected. Although, I usually check form validation in separate forms tests. I check forms with any custom validators or logic. I check every method I write for models and model managers including things like __unicode__ via str(modelinstance). Also, Every time I find a bug I first write a unittest that fails because of that bug. Then I fix the bug and check unittest then passes. > fourth: > ==== > i never understood this, why do people do > > somevar = "blah blah %s" % anothervar > > instead of "blah bla" + anothervar > ? Since python strings are immutable using + causes a lot of unnecessary copying. It's probably not such a big deal in rarely executed code but is a real performance killer in loops. For consistency and clarity, people tend to avoid using + with strings altogether. For example this is slow/unnecessary: s = "" for txt in somelist: s += txt print s The Pythonic way is to use a list: s = list() for txt in somelist: s.append(txt) print "".join(s) Joining a list of strings is neat because instead of "" you can use ", " or "\n", "\t" which are all fairly common and join takes care of not having a trailing ", ". For more see http://www.omahapython.org/IdiomaticPython.html > fifth: > ==== > in my models, a model object is only aware of the objects above it, > and not below it. > in C, i remember i just declared all functions, with no body to it, at > the top of the file > then all functions were aware of all functions. > how do i do this in python? AFAIK you can't. In some places with Django you can put names in quotes to have the same effect. See http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/model-api/#relationships -- Norman J. Harman Jr. 512 912-5939 Technology Solutions Group, Austin American-Statesman ___________________________________________________________________________ Get out and about this spring with the Statesman! In print and online, the Statesman has the area's Best Bets and recreation events. Pick up your copy today or go to statesman.com 24/7. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django users" group. To post to this group, send email to django-users@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/django-users?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
