Monkeypatching the right way

Here is a version of the test function which uses pytest’s monkeypatch` plugin. The plugin does one thing: it provides a monkeypatch object for each test function that needs it. The resulting test function code then looks like this:

def test_envreading(self, monkeypatch):
    monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, 'ENV1', 'myval')
    val = myapp().readenv()
    assert val == "myval"

Here monkeypatch.setitem() will memorize old settings and modify the environment. When the test function finishes the monkeypatch object restores the original setting. This test function is free to get moved across files. No other test function or code place is affected or required to change when it moves.

Let’s take a quick look at the “providing” side, i.e. the pytest_monkeypatch.py plugin which provides “Monkeypatch” instances to test functions. It makes use of pytest’s new pyfuncarg protocol.

The plugin itself is free to get refined and changed as well, without affecting the existing test code. The following 71 lines of code make up the plugin, including tests:

class MonkeypatchPlugin:
    """ setattr-monkeypatching with automatical reversal after test. """
    def pytest_pyfuncarg_monkeypatch(self, pyfuncitem):
        monkeypatch = MonkeyPatch()
        pyfuncitem.addfinalizer(monkeypatch.finalize)
        return monkeypatch

notset = object()

class MonkeyPatch:
    def __init__(self):
        self._setattr = []
        self._setitem = []

    def setattr(self, obj, name, value):
        self._setattr.insert(0, (obj, name, getattr(obj, name, notset)))
        setattr(obj, name, value)

    def setitem(self, dictionary, name, value):
        self._setitem.insert(0, (dictionary, name, dictionary.get(name, notset)))
        dictionary[name] = value

    def finalize(self):
        for obj, name, value in self._setattr:
            if value is not notset:
                setattr(obj, name, value)
            else:
                delattr(obj, name)
        for dictionary, name, value in self._setitem:
            if value is notset:
                del dictionary[name]
            else:
                dictionary[name] = value


def test_setattr():
    class A:
        x = 1
    monkeypatch = MonkeyPatch()
    monkeypatch.setattr(A, 'x', 2)
    assert A.x == 2
    monkeypatch.setattr(A, 'x', 3)
    assert A.x == 3
    monkeypatch.finalize()
    assert A.x == 1

    monkeypatch.setattr(A, 'y', 3)
    assert A.y == 3
    monkeypatch.finalize()
    assert not hasattr(A, 'y')


def test_setitem():
    d = {'x': 1}
    monkeypatch = MonkeyPatch()
    monkeypatch.setitem(d, 'x', 2)
    monkeypatch.setitem(d, 'y', 1700)
    assert d['x'] == 2
    assert d['y'] == 1700
    monkeypatch.setitem(d, 'x', 3)
    assert d['x'] == 3
    monkeypatch.finalize()
    assert d['x'] == 1
    assert 'y' not in d

def test_monkeypatch_plugin(testdir):
    sorter = testdir.inline_runsource("""
        pytest_plugins = 'pytest_monkeypatch',
        def test_method(monkeypatch):
            assert monkeypatch.__class__.__name__ == "MonkeyPatch"
    """)
    res = sorter.countoutcomes()
    assert tuple(res) == (1, 0, 0), res

I can also imagine some nice plugin which supports mock objects – patching methods with some preset behaviour or tracing calls between components.

have fun, holger