How can I trigger a 500 error in Django?

Question

I'm trying to setup email error logging and I want to test it.

Whats an easy way to trigger a 500 error in Django? This surprisingly has not been discussed here yet.

Answer 1

A test view like this will work:

from django.http import HttpResponse  def my_test_500_view(request):     # Return an "Internal Server Error" 500 response code.     return HttpResponse(status=500) 

or use the baked in error class:

from django.http import HttpResponseServerError def my_test_500_view(request):         # Return an "Internal Server Error" 500 response code.         return HttpResponseServerError() 

Answer 2

Raising an appropriate Exception is the most robust way to test this. Returning an HttpResponse of any variety, as in @agconti 's answer, will not allow you to test the behavior of error handling. You'll just see a blank page. Raising an exception triggers both the correct response code and the internal Django behavior you expect with a "real" error.

Response code 500 represents the server not knowing what to do. The easiest way is to write into your test or test-view raise Exception('Make response code 500!').

Most other errors should be raised with exceptions designed to trigger specific response codes. Here's the complete list of Django exceptions that you might raise.