Assert that a method was called in a Python unit test

Question

Suppose I have the following code in a Python unit test:

aw = aps.Request("nv1")
aw2 = aps.Request("nv2", aw)

Is there an easy way to assert that a particular method (in my case aw.Clear()) was called during the second line of the test? e.g. is there something like this:

#pseudocode:
assertMethodIsCalled(aw.Clear, lambda: aps.Request("nv2", aw))

Answer 1

You can mock out aw.Clear, either manually or using a testing framework like pymox. Manually, you'd do it using something like this:

class MyTest(TestCase):
  def testClear():
    old_clear = aw.Clear
    clear_calls = 0
    aw.Clear = lambda: clear_calls += 1
    aps.Request('nv2', aw)
    assert clear_calls == 1
    aw.Clear = old_clear

Using pymox, you'd do it like this:

class MyTest(mox.MoxTestBase):
  def testClear():
    aw = self.m.CreateMock(aps.Request)
    aw.Clear()
    self.mox.ReplayAll()
    aps.Request('nv2', aw)

Answer 2

Yes, I can give you the outline but my Python is a bit rusty and I'm too busy to explain in detail.

Basically, you need to put a proxy in the method that will call the original, eg:

 class fred(object):
   def blog(self):
     print "We Blog"


 class methCallLogger(object):
   def __init__(self, meth):
     self.meth = meth

   def __call__(self, code=None):
     self.meth()
     # would also log the fact that it invoked the method

 #example
 f = fred()
 f.blog = methCallLogger(f.blog)

This StackOverflow answer about callable may help you understand the above.

In more detail:

Although the answer was accepted, due to the interesting discussion with Glenn and having a few minutes free, I wanted to enlarge on my answer:

# helper class defined elsewhere
class methCallLogger(object):
   def __init__(self, meth):
     self.meth = meth
     self.was_called = False

   def __call__(self, code=None):
     self.meth()
     self.was_called = True

#example
class fred(object):
   def blog(self):
     print "We Blog"

f = fred()
g = fred()
f.blog = methCallLogger(f.blog)
g.blog = methCallLogger(g.blog)
f.blog()
assert(f.blog.was_called)
assert(not g.blog.was_called)

Answer 3

I'm not aware of anything built-in. It's pretty simple to implement:

class assertMethodIsCalled(object):
    def __init__(self, obj, method):
        self.obj = obj
        self.method = method

    def called(self, *args, **kwargs):
        self.method_called = True
        self.orig_method(*args, **kwargs)

    def __enter__(self):
        self.orig_method = getattr(self.obj, self.method)
        setattr(self.obj, self.method, self.called)
        self.method_called = False

    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback):
        assert getattr(self.obj, self.method) == self.called,
            "method %s was modified during assertMethodIsCalled" % self.method

        setattr(self.obj, self.method, self.orig_method)

        # If an exception was thrown within the block, we've already failed.
        if traceback is None:
            assert self.method_called,
                "method %s of %s was not called" % (self.method, self.obj)

class test(object):
    def a(self):
        print "test"
    def b(self):
        self.a()

obj = test()
with assertMethodIsCalled(obj, "a"):
    obj.b()

This requires that the object itself won't modify self.b, which is almost always true.