Forge - Object forging for unit tests

Forge will create objects based on factory data. It should be used when you don't want a database, ie. unit tests, but want fully fleshed objects that act like database objects.

Getting Started

Project Setup

To keep things organized, I recommend creating a test/factories directory where all of your factory files will go. For example

project
'- test
   '- factories
      |- __init__.py
      |- user.py
      |- post.py
      `- comment.py

Defining Factories

We'll use the user.py factory from above for example. There are two ways to define a factory. The first is just a normal method call to Forge.define:

# project/test/factories/user.py

from forge import Forge
Forge.define('user', name='Guy')

The other is using the with syntax:

# project/test/factories/user.py

from forge import Forge
with Forge.define('user') as f:
    f.name     = 'Guy'
    f.age      = 25
    f.login    = "personguy"
    f.email    = "person@example.com"
    f.password = "testing"

My suggestion is to use the normal syntax when defining a small factory. Essentially, when the definition can fit on one line. Use the with syntax when setting a large number of default attributes. Putting each attribute on it's own line mirrors how models are declared and makes it easy to quickly grock a Model and it's matching Factory.

Building Forged Objects

Building factory objects is easy; just call Forge.build with the factory name.

user = Forge.build('user')

You can also use the shorthand version:

user = Forge('user')

Getting a Dictionary of Factory Attributes

If all you want is the raw dict of attributes for a particular factory, use Forge.attributes_for.

Forge.attributes_for('user')
#=> {'name': 'Guy', 'age': 25, 'login': 'personguy', ... }

Associations

No magic here, just set an attribute to another Forged object:

Forge.define('car', owner=Forge('user'))

Bringing It All Together

In project/test/factories/__init__.py, import all your other factories, so you won't have to later in your tests:

# project/test/factories/__init__.py

import user, post, comment

Now, in your unit tests:

# project/test/user_test.py

import project.test.factories
from forge import Forge

class UserTest(TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        self.user = Forge('user')

    def test_users_name_is_guy(self):
        assert self.user.name == 'Guy'