testing admin.ModelAdmin in django

Question

I am trying to find out the best way for testing admin.ModelAdmin in admin.py. Specifically I am overriding the save_model() function which I want to test. From the research I have done, the only solution I have found was writing a request/response test and then query the database.

Answer 1

As suggested in Udi's answer, we can study Django's own ModelAdmin tests, to determine the basic ingredients for a ModelAdmin test. Here's a summary:

Basic ingredients

In addition to the Django TestCase stuff, the basic ingredients are:

1. An instance of AdminSite:

    from django.contrib.admin.sites import AdminSite 

2. Your model class and corresponding ModelAdmin (sub)class:

    from my_app.models import MyModel  from my_app.admin import MyModelAdmin 

3. Optionally, depending on your needs, a (mock) request and/or form.

Recipe

The first two ingredients are required to create an instance of your (custom) ModelAdmin:

my_model_admin = MyModelAdmin(model=MyModel, admin_site=AdminSite()) 

Based on the ModelAdmin source, the default save_model implementation only requires an instance of your model, so it can be called, for example, as follows:

my_model_admin.save_model(obj=MyModel(), request=None, form=None, change=None) # some test assertions here 

It all depends on what your save_model does, and what you want to test. Suppose your save_model checks user permissions, then you would need to pass a request (i.e. the third ingredient) with a valid user, in addition to the model instance:

super_user = User.objects.create_superuser(username='super', email='[email protected]',                                            password='pass') my_model_admin.save_model(obj=MyModel(), request=MockRequest(user=super_user),                           form=None, change=None) # some test assertions here 

An example of the MockRequest is defined below. Based on the Django test source, a minimal request consists of a Python object with a user attribute. The user attribute may refer to a mock user, or an actual instance of your AUTH_USER_MODEL, depending on your needs. An alternative would be to use django.test.RequestFactory.

class MockRequest(object):     def __init__(self, user=None):         self.user = user 

This basic approach applies to the other ModelAdmin methods as well.

Answer 2

Check out Django's ModelAdminTests for examples.