Test APIs

At the most basic level, there’s the Test APIs which you should use when writing tests in Python and planning to make use of any other utility library.

The Test APIs can be found in the avocado main module and its most important member is the avocado.Test class. By conforming to the avocado.Test API, that is, by inheriting from it, you can use the full set of utility libraries.

The Test APIs are guaranteed to be stable across a single major version of Avocado. That means that a test written for a given version of Avocado should not break on later minor versions because of Test API changes.

This is the bare minimum set of APIs that users should use, and can rely on, while writing tests.

Module contents

class avocado.Test(methodName='test', name=None, params=None, base_logdir=None, config=None, tags=None)

Bases: TestCase, TestData

Base implementation for the test class.

You’ll inherit from this to write your own tests. Typically you’ll want to implement setUp(), test*() and tearDown() methods on your own tests.

Initializes the test.

Parameters:

• methodName – Name of the main method to run. For the sake of compatibility with the original unittest class, you should not set this.

• name (avocado.core.test.TestID) – Pretty name of the test name. For normal tests, written with the avocado API, this should not be set. This is reserved for internal Avocado use, such as when running random executables as tests.

• base_logdir – Directory where test logs should go. If None provided a temporary directory will be created.

• config (dict) – the job configuration, usually set by command line options and argument parsing

actual_time_end = -1

(unix) time when the test finished, actual one to be shown to users

actual_time_start = -1

(unix) time when the test started, actual one to be shown to users

property basedir

The directory where this test (when backed by a file) is located at

property cache_dirs

Returns a list of cache directories as set in config file.

static cancel(msg=None)

Cancels the test.

This method is expected to be called from the test method, not anywhere else, since by definition, we can only cancel a test that is currently under execution. If you call this method outside the test method, avocado will mark your test status as ERROR, and instruct you to fix your test in the error message.

Parameters:

msg (str) – an optional message that will be recorded in the logs

static error(msg=None)

Errors the currently running test.

After calling this method a test will be terminated and have its status as ERROR.

Parameters:

msg (str) – an optional message that will be recorded in the logs

static fail(msg=None)

Fails the currently running test.

After calling this method a test will be terminated and have its status as FAIL.

Parameters:

msg (str) – an optional message that will be recorded in the logs

property fail_class

property fail_reason

fetch_asset(name, asset_hash=None, algorithm=None, locations=None, expire=None, find_only=False, cancel_on_missing=False)

Method o call the utils.asset in order to fetch and asset file supporting hash check, caching and multiple locations.

Parameters:

• name – the asset filename or URL

• asset_hash – asset hash (optional)

• algorithm – hash algorithm (optional, defaults to avocado.utils.asset.DEFAULT_HASH_ALGORITHM)

• locations – list of URLs from where the asset can be fetched (optional)

• expire – time for the asset to expire

• find_only – When True, fetch_asset only looks for the asset in the cache, avoiding the download/move action. Defaults to False.

• cancel_on_missing – whether the test should be canceled if the asset was not found in the cache or if fetch could not add the asset to the cache. Defaults to False.

Raises:

OSError – when it fails to fetch the asset or file is not in the cache and cancel_on_missing is False.

Returns:

asset file local path.

property filename

Returns the name of the file (path) that holds the current test

get_state()

Serialize selected attributes representing the test state

Returns:

a dictionary containing relevant test state data

Return type:

dict

property log

The enhanced test log

property logdir

Path to this test’s logging dir

property logfile

Path to this test’s main debug.log file

property name

Returns the Test ID, which includes the test name

Return type:

TestID

property outputdir

Directory available to test writers to attach files to the results

property params

Parameters of this test (AvocadoParam instance)

property phase

The current phase of the test execution

Possible (string) values are: INIT, SETUP, TEST, TEARDOWN and FINISHED

run_avocado()

Wraps the run method, for execution inside the avocado runner.

Result:

Unused param, compatibility with unittest.TestCase.

property running

Whether this test is currently being executed

property status

The result status of this test

property tags

The tags associated with this test

tearDown()

Hook method for deconstructing the test fixture after testing it.

property teststmpdir

Returns the path of the temporary directory that will stay the same for all tests in a given Job.

time_elapsed = -1

duration of the test execution (always recalculated from time_end - time_start

time_end = -1

(unix) time when the test finished, monotonic (could be forced from test)

time_start = -1

(unix) time when the test started, monotonic (could be forced from test)

timeout = None

Test timeout (the timeout from params takes precedence)

property traceback

whiteboard = ''

Arbitrary string which will be stored in $logdir/whiteboard location when the test finishes.

property workdir

This property returns a writable directory that exists during the entire test execution, but will be cleaned up once the test finishes.

It can be used on tasks such as decompressing source tarballs, building software, etc.

exception avocado.TestCancel

Bases: TestBaseException

Indicates that a test was canceled.

Should be thrown when the cancel() test method is used.

status = 'CANCEL'

exception avocado.TestError

Bases: TestBaseException

Indicates that the test was not fully executed and an error happened.

This is the sort of exception you raise if the test was partially executed and could not complete due to a setup, configuration, or another fatal condition.

status = 'ERROR'

exception avocado.TestFail

Bases: TestBaseException, AssertionError

Indicates that the test failed.

TestFail inherits from AssertionError in order to keep compatibility with vanilla python unittests (they only consider failures the ones deriving from AssertionError).

status = 'FAIL'

avocado.cancel_on(exceptions=None)

Cancel the test when decorated function produces exception of the specified type.

Parameters:

exceptions – Tuple or single exception to be assumed as test CANCEL [Exception].

Note:

self.error, self.cancel and self.fail remain intact.

Note:

to allow simple usage param ‘exceptions’ must not be callable.

avocado.fail_on(exceptions=None)

Fail the test when decorated function produces exception of the specified type.

Parameters:

exceptions – Tuple or single exception to be assumed as test FAIL [Exception].

Note:

self.error, self.cancel and self.fail remain intact.

Note:

to allow simple usage param ‘exceptions’ must not be callable.

avocado.skip(message=None)

Decorator to skip a test.

Parameters:

message (str) – the message given when the test is skipped

avocado.skipIf(condition, message=None)

Decorator to skip a test if a condition is True.

Parameters:

• condition (bool or callable) – a condition that will be evaluated as either True or False, if it’s a callable, it will be called with the class instance as a parameter

• message (str) – the message given when the test is skipped

avocado.skipUnless(condition, message=None)

Decorator to skip a test if a condition is False.

Parameters:

• condition (bool or callable) – a condition that will be evaluated as either True or False, if it’s a callable, it will be called with the class instance as a parameter

• message (str) – the message given when the test is skipped