protestr 3.0.1

Pro test fixture configurator

protestr

---

Pro test fixture configurator in Python, for Python, tested with Protester itself.

Table of Contents

1. Rationale
2. Getting Started
   1. Installation
   2. Creating Specs
   3. Tearing Down
3. Documentation
4. Working Example
5. License

Rationale

A test fixture is any arrangement necessary for running tests, consisting of dummies, mocks, stubs, fakes, and even concrete implementations. A well-configured fixture leads to a consistent and reliable testing environment in contrast to an ill-configured one, which is a growing maintenance burden. Good fixtures can support multiple tests with modifications, such as a database seeded differently each time to test a different operation like insertion or deletion. They are also responsible for ensuring the proper disposal of resources without a miss, especially across multiple tests and files. Their configuration logic does not hijack focus from acts and assertions, and they are always reusable with all necessary adjustments. That's where Protestr comes in. It offers a declarative syntax for fixture customization to make tests concise, expressive, and reusable like never before.

Getting Started

Installation

Protestr is available as protestr on PyPI and can be installed with:

pip install protestr

Creating Specs

A fixture is technically a set of specifications (specs) "provided" to a function to resolve into actual data. The specs — usually functions — describe how different parts of the fixture form. Protestr offers a few built-in specs in protestr.specs, but you may need more. So, let's create an example geo-coordinate spec to start with. A valid geo-coordinate consists of a latitude between [-90, 90], a longitude between [-180, 180], and an altitude — something like:

from protestr import provide
from protestr.specs import between

@provide(
    lat=between(-90.0, 90.0),
    lon=between(-180.0, 180.0),
    alt=float
)
def geo_coord(lat, lon, alt):
    return lat, lon, alt

Thus, we have our first spec — geo_coord. Intuitive, isn't it? Now, we can "resolve" (generate) geo-coordinates whenever we need to in the following ways:

1. Call without args:

   >>> geo_coord()
   (-28.56218898364334, 74.83481448106508, 103.16808817617861)
   

   Why invent args when Protestr can provide them?

2. Call with overridden specs:

   >>> geo_coord(
   ...     lat=choice("equator", "north pole", "south pole"),
   ...     alt=int
   ... )
   ('north pole', -107.37336459941672, 581)
   

   Here, lat and alt have been overridden with choice (a built-in spec) and int. Generally, specs created with provide() can be passed any spec to override defaults as long as they are passed intact. Consider the following incorrect approach:

   >>> geo_coord(
   ...     lat=str(choice("equator", "north pole", "south pole")) # ❌
   ... )
   ('<function[TRIMMED]98AF80>', -126.77844430204937, 678.4366330272486)
   

   It didn't work as expected because choice was consumed by str, so it wasn't intact when passed to geo_coord. Consider another example:

   >>> geo_coord(
   ...     lat=choice(
   ...         sample("equator", "north pole", "south pole", k=2)
   ...     )
   ... )
   ('north pole', -140.1178603399875, 431.79874634752593)
   

   Although it's unnecessary to pass sample to choice, the example above demonstrates that passing intact specs to one another is perfectly okay.

3. Resolve with resolve:

   >>> from protestr import resolve
   >>> resolve(geo_coord)
   (-68.79360870922969, 8.200171266070214, 691.5305890425291)
   

   resolve also works with other types, as mentioned in Documentation.

4. Provide with provide():

   @provide(geo_coords=2*[geo_coord])
   def line(geo_coords):
       start, end = geo_coords
       return start, end
   

   provide() is the decorator version of resolve that accepts multiple specs as keyword args.

[!NOTE] The provide() decorator works seamlessly when used alongside other decorators, such as Python's handy patch() decorator. Please note, however, that the patch() decorators must be next to one another, and in the list of parameters, they must appear in the reverse order as in the list of decorators (bottom-up). That's how patch() works (more info in unittest.mock - Quick Guide).

>>> from unittest.mock import patch
>>> from protestr import provide

>>> @provide(intgr=int)
... @patch('module.ClassName2')
... @patch('module.ClassName1')
... def test(MockClass1, MockClass2, intgr):
...     module.ClassName1()
...     module.ClassName2()
...     assert MockClass1 is module.ClassName1
...     assert MockClass2 is module.ClassName2
...     assert MockClass1.called
...     assert MockClass2.called
...     assert isinstance(intgr, int)
...
>>> test()

Tearing Down

Good fixture design demands remembering to dispose of resources at the end of tests. Protestr takes care of it out of the box with the __teardown__ function. Whenever a provide()-applied function returns or terminates abnormally, it looks for __teardown__ on each (resolved) object it provided and invokes it on the object if found. Any exceptions raised during the process are accumulated and reraised together as Exception(ex1, ex2, ..., exn). So, all you need to do is define __teardown__ once in a class, and it will be called every time you provide one.

class UsersDB:
    def __init__(self, users):
        self.users = users

    def insert(self, user):
        self.users.append(user)

    def __teardown__(self):
        self.users = []

Documentation

$\large \color{gray}protestr.\color{black}\textbf{provide(**kwdspecs)}$

Provides specs to a function as keyword args. The names in the keywords may be in any order in the parameters. The function is thus modified to be callable with the provided args omitted or specified to override.

>>> @provide(
...     uppercase=choice(ascii_uppercase),
...     lowercase=choice(ascii_lowercase),
...     digit=choice(digits),
...     chars=choices(str, k=between(5, 100))
... )
... def password(uppercase, lowercase, digit, chars):
...     return "".join((uppercase, lowercase, digit, chars))

>>> @provide(
...     password=password,
...     username=choices(ascii_lowercase, k=between(4, 12))
... )
... def credentials(username, password):
...     return username, password

>>> credentials()
('cgbqkmsehf', 'Pr8LOipCBKCBkAxbbKykppKkALxykKLOiKpiy')

>>> credentials(username="johndoe")
('johndoe', 'En2HivppppimmFaFHpEeEEEExEamp')

$\large \color{gray}protestr.\color{black}\textbf{resolve(spec)}$

Resolves a spec, which can be an int, float, complex, float, str, tuple, list, set, dictionary, or anything callable without args.

>>> resolve(str)
'jKKbbyNgzj'

>>> resolve({"number": int})
{'number': 925}

>>> resolve({str: str})
{'RRAIvpJLKAqpLQNNVNXmExe': 'raaqSzSdfCIYxbIhuTGdxi'}

>>> from random import random
>>> resolve(random)
0.8177445321472337

>>> class Foo:
...     def __init__(self):
...         self.message = "Foo instantiated"
...
>>> resolve(Foo).message
'Foo instantiated'

$\large \color{gray}protestr.specs.\color{black}\textbf{between(x, y)}$

Returns a spec to resolve a number between x and y, where x and y are specs that evaluate to numbers. If both x and y evaluate to integers, the resulting number is also an integer.

>>> between(10, -10)()
>>> int_spec()
3

>>> between(-10, 10.0)()
-4.475185425413375

>>> between(int, int)()
452

$\large \color{gray}protestr.specs.\color{black}\textbf{choice(*elems)}$

Returns a spec to choose a member from elems, where elems is a spec that evaluates to some iterable.

>>> colors = ["red", "green", "blue"]
>>> choice(colors)()
'green'

>>> choice(str)() # chosen char from a generated str
'T'

>>> choice(str, str, str)() # chosen str from three str objects
'NOBuybxrf'

$\large \color{gray}protestr.specs.\color{black}\textbf{sample(*elems, k)}$

Returns a spec to choose k members from elems without replacement, where k and elems are specs that evaluate to some natural number and collection, respectively.

>>> colors = ["red", "green", "blue"]
>>> sample(colors, k=2)()
['blue', 'green']

>>> sample("red", "green", "blue", k=3)()
('red', 'blue', 'green')

>>> sample(ascii_letters, k=10)()
'tkExshCbTi'

>>> sample([int] * 3, k=between(2, 3))() # 2–3 out of 3 integers
[497, 246]

$\large \color{gray}protestr.specs.\color{black}\textbf{choices(*elems, k)}$

Returns a spec to choose k members from elems with replacement, where k and elems are specs that evaluate to some natural number and collection, respectively. It's usage is similar to sample.

>>> choices("abc", k=5)()
'baaca'

Working Example

The complete working example available in tests/example/ should be self-explanatory. If not, please refer to Getting Started and Documentation to become familiar with a few concepts. Here's an excerpt:

# tests/examples/test_example.py

import tests.example.specs as specs
...
...

class TestExample(unittest.TestCase):
    ...
    ...

    @provide(
        db=specs.testdb,
        user=specs.user,
        shortpass=choices(str, k=7),
        longpass=choices(str, k=16)
    )
    @patch("tests.example.fakes.getenv")
    def test_insert_user_with_invalid_password_lengths_fails(
        self, getenv, db, user, shortpass, longpass
    ):
        getenv.side_effect = lambda env: \
            8 if env == "MIN_PASSWORD_LEN" else 15

        for pw in (shortpass, longpass):
            user.password = pw

            try:
                db.insert(user)
            except Exception as e:
                message, = e.args

            self.assertEqual(
                message, "Password size must be between 8 and 15"
            )

        self.assertEqual(getenv.mock_calls, [
            call("MIN_PASSWORD_LEN"),
            call("MAX_PASSWORD_LEN"),
            call("MIN_PASSWORD_LEN"),
            call("MAX_PASSWORD_LEN")
        ])

    ...
    ...

if __name__ == "__main__":
    unittest.main()

If you're curious, here are the specs we created for the example:

# tests/examples/specs.py

from tests.example.fakes import User, UsersDB
...
...

@provide(
    digit=choice(digits),                 # password to contain a
    uppercase=choice(ascii_uppercase),    # number, an uppercase and a
    lowercase=choice(ascii_lowercase),    # lowercase letter, and be
    chars=choices(str, k=between(5, 100)) # 8–15 characters long
)
def password(uppercase, lowercase, digit, chars):
    return "".join((uppercase, lowercase, digit, chars))


@provide(
    id=str,
    firstname=choice("John", "Jane", "Orange"),
    lastname=choice("Smith", "Doe", "Carrot"),
    username=choices(ascii_lowercase, k=between(5, 10)),
    password=password
)
def user(id, firstname, lastname, username, password):
    return User(id, firstname, lastname, username, password)


@provide(users=3*[user])
def testdb(users):
    return UsersDB(users)

License

protestr is distributed under the terms of the MIT license.