[SOLVED] Python Unit Testing a mocked function calls the original function and fails

Python Unit Testing a mocked function calls the original function and fails

I have the following scripts:

notification.py:

def get_notification(some_data):
    
    data = details["type"]
    notification = {"config1":data, "config2":some_data}
    return notification

test_notification.py:

from notification import get_notification
import pytest

def test_get_notifications(mocker):
    mocker.patch('notification.get_notification',return_value="SUCCESS")
    result = get_notification(some_data)
    assert result == "SUCCESS"

Instead of returning "SUCCESS" by the mocked function, the original function is getting called.

I tried using @patch.object which also resulted in calling of the original function.

@patch.object(notification, 'get_notification')

def test_get_notifications(get_notification_mock):
    get_notification_mock.return_value="SUCCESS"
    result = get_notification(some_data)
    assert result == "SUCCESS"

Solution

This is because once you have imported get_notification, it does not "belong" to the notification module but to the test_notification module. You have to modify your patch to point to the test_notification:

mocker.patch("test_notification.get_notification", return_value="SUCCESS")
# or
mocker.patch(__name__ + ".get_notification", return_value="SUCCESS")