ModuleNotFoundError when trying to use mock.patch on a method

Question

My pytest unit test keeps returning the error ModuleNotFoundError: No module name billing.

Oddly enough the send_invoices method in the billing module is able to be called when I remove the patch statement. Why is mock.patch unable to find the billing module and patch the method if this is the case?

billing.py

import pdfkit
from django.template.loader import render_to_string
from django.core.mail import EmailMessage
from projectxapp.models import User

Class Billing:

  #creates a pdf of invoice. Takes an invoice dictionary
  def create_invoice_pdf(self, invoice, user_id):
    #get the html of the invoice
    file_path ='/{}-{}.pdf'.format(user_id, invoice['billing_period'])
    invoice_html = render_to_string('templates/invoice.html', invoice)
    pdf = pdfkit.from_file(invoice_html, file_path)
    return file_path, pdf

  #sends invoice to customer
  def send_invoices(self, invoices):
    for user_id, invoice in invoices.items():
            #get customers email
            email = User.objects.get(id=user_id).email
            billing_period = invoice['billing_period']
            invoice_pdf = self.create_invoice_pdf(invoice, user_id)
            email = EmailMessage(
                'Statement of credit: {}-{}'.format(user_id, billing_period),
                'Attached is your statement of credit.\
                This may also be viewed on your dashboard when you login.',
                '[email protected]',
                [email],
            ).attach(invoice_pdf)

            email.send(fail_silently=False)

        return True

test.py

from mock import patch
from projectxapp import billing

@pytest.mark.django_db
def test_send_invoice():
  invoices = {
    1: {
        'transaction_processing_fee': 2.00,
        'service_fee': 10.00,
        'billing_period': '2020-01-02'
    },
    2: {
        'transaction_processing_fee': 4.00,
        'service_fee': 20.00,
        'billing_period': '2020-01-02'
    }
 }

  with patch('services.billing.Billing().create_invoice_pdf') as p1:
    p1.return_value = '/invoice.pdf'
    test = billing.Billing().send_invoices(invoices)

  assert test == True

Answer 1

You should specify the full path to the module, including the package names, when you use patch. Also, do not use parentheses in the path. Modify the return_value attribute of the Mock object to customize the returning value of a call to the object:

with patch('projectxapp.billing.Billing.create_invoice_pdf') as p1:
    p1.return_value = '/invoice.pdf'
    test = billing.Billing().send_invoices(invoices)