Pytest: Update a global variable in test

Question

I am new to Python and am using pytest for testing

I am executing the pytest from within the python script. I have a global variable in the script which I modify based on the result in the test. The updated global variable is again used after the tests are executed.

import pytest
global test_suite_passed
test_suite_passed = True

def test_toggle():
   global test_suite_passed
   a = True
   b = True
   c = True if a == b else False
   test_suite_passed = c
   assert c

def test_switch():
   global test_suite_passed
   one = True
   two = False
   three = True if one == two else False
   if test_suite_passed:
      test_suite_passed = three
   assert three


if __name__ == '__main__':
   pytest.main()
   if not test_suite_passed:
      raise Exception("Test suite failed")
   print "Test suite passed"

I have two questions:

1) The above code snippet prints "Test suite passed", whereas I am expecting an Exception to be raised as the second test case has failed.

2) Basically, I want a handle to the result of the pytest, through which I can get to know the number of test cases passed and failed. This shows up in the test summary. But I am looking for a object which I can use further in the script after the tests are executed

Answer 1

pytest is designed to be called from command line, not from inside your test script. Your global variable does not work, because pytest imports your script as module, which has it's own namespace.

To customize the report generation, use the post-process-hook: http://doc.pytest.org/en/latest/example/simple.html#post-process-test-reports-failures