Developer's Guide to Automated Testing in Empress Framework

Developers
1

Introduction

Welcome to this comprehensive guide for developers, focusing on automated testing in Empress. Empress is a powerful open-source framework that allows you to create business applications. This guide will guide you through the process of creating automated tests for your applications to ensure they function as expected, mirroring the clarity and sophistication of Apple’s guides.

Introduction

Automated testing in Empress is a crucial feature that aids in consistently maintaining the high quality of your applications. It ensures that every component of your software functions correctly and that the entire application works in harmony. As a developer, understanding and implementing this feature is fundamental to the design, development, and maintenance of applications.

How Automated Testing Works in Empress

To put it simply, automated testing in Empress is a set of rules that help you quickly create tests for your applications.

  1. The test can be anywhere in your repository, but it must begin with test_ and should be a .py file.
  2. Tests must run on a site that starts with test_ to prevent accidental data loss.
  3. Test stubs are automatically generated for new DocTypes.
  4. The Empress test runner will automatically build test records for dependent DocTypes identified by the Link type field (Foreign Key)
  5. Tests can be executed using bench run-tests
  6. For non-DocType tests, you can write simple unittests and prefix your file names with test_.

Writing Tests for DocTypes

When writing tests for DocTypes, follow these rules:

  1. Test cases should be in a file named test_[doctype].py.
  2. You must create all dependencies in the test file.
  3. Create a Python module structure to create fixtures/dependencies.

Here is an example of a test for the DocType Event:

# Copyright (c) 2015, Empress Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Contributors
# MIT License. See license.txt

import frappe
import frappe.defaults
from frappe.tests.utils import EmpressTestCase

def create_events():
    if frappe.flags.test_events_created:
        return

    frappe.set_user("Administrator")
    doc = frappe.get_doc({
        "doctype": "Event",
        "subject":"_Test Event 1",
        "starts_on": "2014-01-01",
        "event_type": "Public"
    }).insert()

    # ... more code ...

class TestEvent(EmpressTestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        create_events()

    # ... more code ...

In the example above, we first define a function create_events that creates some test events. Then, we define a class TestEvent that extends EmpressTestCase and uses the create_events function to set up some events for testing. This class also defines several tests for the Event DocType.

Running Tests

To run your tests, navigate to your “frappe_bench” folder and execute bench run-tests. Without options, all tests will be run. If you need more information about the test execution, use verbose log level for the bench with bench --verbose run-tests.

You can specify options to run tests for a specific app, DocType, test, or module. The --profile option runs a Python profiler on the test, and the --junit-xml-output option provides test results in the standard XUnit XML format.

Here are some examples of running tests:

# Run tests for the 'erpnext' app
bench run-tests --app erpnext

# Run tests for the 'Activity Cost' DocType
bench run-tests --doctype "Activity Cost"

# Run a specific test case in 'User'
bench run-tests --doctype User --test test_get_value

# Run tests in a specific module
bench run-tests --module "erpnext.stock.doctype.stock_entry.test_stock_entry"

Conclusion

Automated testing in Empress is an indispensable feature that helps maintain the quality and reliability of your applications. By learning how to write and run tests, you will ensure that your applications function correctly and meet the needs of your users.