How to launch tests for django reusable app?

Question

Can I launch tests for my reusable Django app without incorporating this app into a project?

My app uses some models, so it is necessary to provide (TEST_)DATABASE_* settings. Where should I store them and how should I launch tests?

For a Django project, I can run tests with manage.py test; when I use django-admin.py test with my standalone app, I get:

Error: Settings cannot be imported, because environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE is undefined.

What are the best practises here?

Answer 1

The correct usage of Django (>= 1.4) test runner is as follows:

import django, sys from django.conf import settings  settings.configure(DEBUG=True,                DATABASES={                     'default': {                         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',                     }                 },                ROOT_URLCONF='myapp.urls',                INSTALLED_APPS=('django.contrib.auth',                               'django.contrib.contenttypes',                               'django.contrib.sessions',                               'django.contrib.admin',                               'myapp',))  try:     # Django < 1.8     from django.test.simple import DjangoTestSuiteRunner     test_runner = DjangoTestSuiteRunner(verbosity=1) except ImportError:     # Django >= 1.8     django.setup()     from django.test.runner import DiscoverRunner     test_runner = DiscoverRunner(verbosity=1)  failures = test_runner.run_tests(['myapp']) if failures:     sys.exit(failures) 

DjangoTestSuiteRunner and DiscoverRunner have mostly compatible interfaces.

For more information you should consult the "Defining a Test Runner" docs:

• DjangoTestSuiteRunner (Django >=1.4, <1.8)
• DiscoverRunner (Django >=1.8)

Answer 2

I've ended with such solution (it was inspired by solution found in django-voting):

Create file eg. 'runtests.py' in tests dir containing:

import os, sys from django.conf import settings  DIRNAME = os.path.dirname(__file__) settings.configure(DEBUG = True,                    DATABASE_ENGINE = 'sqlite3',                    DATABASE_NAME = os.path.join(DIRNAME, 'database.db'),                    INSTALLED_APPS = ('django.contrib.auth',                                      'django.contrib.contenttypes',                                      'django.contrib.sessions',                                      'django.contrib.admin',                                      'myapp',                                      'myapp.tests',))   from django.test.simple import run_tests  failures = run_tests(['myapp',], verbosity=1) if failures:     sys.exit(failures) 

It allows to run tests by python runtests.py command. It doesn't require installed dependencies (eg. buildout) and it doesn't harm tests run when app is incorporated into bigger project.