I am using mock with Python and was wondering which of those two approaches is better (read: more pythonic).
Method one: Just create a mock object and use that. The code looks like:
def test_one (self):
mock = Mock()
mock.method.return_value = True
# This should call mock.method and check the result.
self.sut.something(mock)
self.assertTrue(mock.method.called)
Method two: Use patch to create a mock. The code looks like:
@patch("MyClass")
def test_two (self, mock):
instance = mock.return_value
instance.method.return_value = True
# This should call mock.method and check the result.
self.sut.something(instance)
self.assertTrue(instance.method.called)
Both methods do the same thing. I am unsure of the differences.
Could anyone enlighten me?
mock.patch is a very very different critter than mock.Mock. patch replaces the class with a mock object and lets you work with the mock instance. Take a look at this snippet:
>>> class MyClass(object):
... def __init__(self):
... print 'Created MyClass@{0}'.format(id(self))
...
>>> def create_instance():
... return MyClass()
...
>>> x = create_instance()
Created MyClass@4299548304
>>>
>>> @mock.patch('__main__.MyClass')
... def create_instance2(MyClass):
... MyClass.return_value = 'foo'
... return create_instance()
...
>>> i = create_instance2()
>>> i
'foo'
>>> def create_instance():
... print MyClass
... return MyClass()
...
>>> create_instance2()
<mock.Mock object at 0x100505d90>
'foo'
>>> create_instance()
<class '__main__.MyClass'>
Created MyClass@4300234128
<__main__.MyClass object at 0x100505d90>
patch replaces MyClass in a way that allows you to control the usage of the class in functions that you call. Once you patch a class, references to the class are completely replaced by the mock instance.
mock.patch is usually used when you are testing something that creates a new instance of a class inside of the test. mock.Mock instances are clearer and are preferred. If your self.sut.something method created an instance of MyClass instead of receiving an instance as a parameter, then mock.patch would be appropriate here.