Python unit test with base and sub class

python, testing, unit-testing

Solution

Use multiple inheritance, so your class with common tests doesn't itself inherit from TestCase.

import unittest

class CommonTests(object):
    def testCommon(self):
        print 'Calling BaseTest:testCommon'
        value = 5
        self.assertEquals(value, 5)

class SubTest1(unittest.TestCase, CommonTests):

    def testSub1(self):
        print 'Calling SubTest1:testSub1'
        sub = 3
        self.assertEquals(sub, 3)


class SubTest2(unittest.TestCase, CommonTests):

    def testSub2(self):
        print 'Calling SubTest2:testSub2'
        sub = 4
        self.assertEquals(sub, 4)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

Problem

I currently have a few unit tests which share a common set of tests. Here's an example: ``` import unittest class BaseTest(unittest.TestCase): def testCommon(self): print 'Calling BaseTest:testCommon' value = 5 self.assertEquals(value, 5) class SubTest1(BaseTest): def testSub1(self): print 'Calling SubTest1:testSub1' sub = 3 self.assertEquals(sub, 3) class SubTest2(BaseTest): def testSub2(self): print 'Calling SubTest2:testSub2' sub = 4 self.assertEquals(sub, 4) if __name__ == '__main__': unittest.main() ``` The output of the above is: ``` Calling BaseTest:testCommon .Calling BaseTest:testCommon .Calling SubTest1:testSub1 .Calling BaseTest:testCommon .Calling SubTest2:testSub2 . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ran 5 tests in 0.000s OK ``` Is there a way to rewrite the above so that the very first `testCommon` is not called? EDIT: Instead of running 5 tests above, I want it to run only 4 tests, 2 from the SubTest1 and another 2 from SubTest2. It seems that Python unittest is running the original BaseTest on its own and I need a mechanism to prevent that from happening.

Original source

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