Covering Our To Do App with More Tests

Now that we have a fake file, we can use it to update our Task.ls test before adding the remaining tests.

def test_listing_tasks(capsys):
    fake_file = FakeFile()
    task = Task(fake_file)
    task.ls()
    captured = capsys.readouterr()
    assert "[1] Buy Milk" in captured.out

DRYing Up Tests

Here is what that test would look like after adding the file. But before we do, notice that we have some duplication in our tests. What are we duplicating? The objects that are being created to test. This is an opportunity for using fixtures. First, let's make our fake file a fixture. Here's what our entire test file looks like after that change:

tests/test_task.py

import pytest
from todo.task import Task

class FakeFile:
    def write(self, message: str):
        pass

@pytest.fixture
def task_file():
    return FakeFile()

def test_listing_tasks(task_file, capsys):
    task = Task(task_file)
    task.ls()
    captured = capsys.readouterr()
    assert "[1] Buy Milk" in captured.out


def test_adding_task(task_file, capsys):
    task = Task(task_file)
    task.add("Buy Bread")
    captured = capsys.readouterr()
    assert "Buy Bread" in captured.out

First, we import pytest. Then, we decorate a function with @pytest.fixture to let pytest know it's a fixture. Last, we add the function name to the tests that need it as a parameter. We have removed some of the duplication in our tests, which makes them more focused on testing and less focused on setup.

Notice something else we are duplicating here? The task creation is also something we can more into a fixture:

@pytest.fixture
def task_file():
    return FakeFile()

@pytest.fixture
def task(task_file):
    return Task(task_file)

def test_listing_tasks(task, capsys):
    task.ls()
    captured = capsys.readouterr()
    assert "[1] Buy Milk" in captured.out


def test_adding_task(task, capsys):
    task.add("Buy Bread")
    captured = capsys.readouterr()
    assert "Buy Bread" in captured.out

Awesome! So fixtures can call other fixtures. For example, our task fixture uses our task_file fixture. Also, our tasks can ignore task_file and just pay attention to the task fixture. Let's run our tests:

poetry run pytest
# tests/test_task.py F.
# FAILED tests/test_task.py::test_listing_tasks - TypeError: Task.ls() takes 0 positional arguments but 1 was given

We have one failing test. The reason why this test is failing is because we didn't update the Task.ls API. Let's do that next!

Ponder again on that test failure. Our test worked! It alerted us to a problem in our code. Catching the error now allows us to fix it now, rather than discover it in prodution.

def ls(self):

Here, we just add the self argument to ls. Now, self is an instance method. In this way, with add and ls, we are taking steps to transition the Task from a dummy wrapper class to a more idiomatic one. Okay, let's run those tests again.

poetry run pytest
# tests/test_task.py ..

And we are back to Green!

Testing Task.done

Let's take a quick look at the done method before testing:

def done(no):
    try:

        nec()
        no = int(no)
        f = open('done.txt', 'a')
        st = 'x '+str(datetime.datetime.today()).split()[0]+' '+d[no]
        f.write(st)
        f.write("\n")
        f.close()
        print(f"Marked todo #{no} as done.")

        with open("todo.txt", "r+") as f:
            lines = f.readlines()
            f.seek(0)
            for i in lines:
                if i.strip('\n') != d[no]:
                    f.write(i)
            f.truncate()
    except:
        print(f"Error: todo #{no} does not exist.")

The done method has two file dependencies. Well, we know what do here. We can pull those things up into the constructor. We can do this by extracting behavior like we did before. Another way is to write the test using programming by wishful thinking.

Programming by Wishful Thinking

This method is a bit more in-line with a strict adherence to TDD. First, we add the test as we would like to write it:

def test_marking_task_done(task, capsys):
    task.done(1)
    captured = capsys.readouterr()
    assert "Buy Bread" in captured.out

This test leaves a bit to be desired, but we will refactor out tests step-by-step as we go. Regardless, this is our initial implementation of the test. We are:

• Calling done on a task
• Verifying that text is in the output

This is similar in form to our other tests. But, we still have a problem. The other file dependency. From the code, we know that's done.txt. So we know where our target is; let's take the next step.

poetry run pytest
# FAILED tests/test_task.py::test_marking_task_done - AssertionError: assert 'Buy Bread' in 'Error: todo #1 does not exist.\n'

Still at Red. That's okay -- we're defining the API here. Let's mock that done.txt file.

@pytest.fixture
def todo_file():
    return FakeFile()

@pytest.fixture
def done_file():
    return FakeFile()

@pytest.fixture
def task(todo_file, done_file):
    return Task(todo_file, done_file)

Alright, so we are adding the done_file parameter to the constructor. This pulls out another dependency.

But now I need to pass all these things in!

Yes, but you have control over how you construct them. Also, we know that eventually these parameters will be gone, as they really are a concern of the TaskList. The point here is to take legacy Python code and convert it in predictable increments that continue to work.

poetry run pytest
# tests/test_task.py EEE

Now our tests error! Errors are different from failures. Failures happen when a test assertion fails. Errors happen for any reason they would normally happen in Python. Here's ours:

ERROR tests/test_task.py::test_listing_tasks - TypeError: Task.__init__() takes 2 positional arguments but 3 were given
ERROR tests/test_task.py::test_adding_task - TypeError: Task.__init__() takes 2 positional arguments but 3 were given
ERROR tests/test_task.py::test_marking_task_done - TypeError: Task.__init__() takes 2 positional arguments but 3 were given

So our tests are throwing errors because Task is getting the wrong number of arguments. Of course it is; we added that in our test. Let's go update our code to make it pass:

class Task:
    def __init__(self, todo_file, done_file):
        self.file = todo_file

Here, we add an argument and update the reference from before.

poetry run pytest
# tests/test_task.py ..F
# FAILED tests/test_task.py::test_marking_task_done - AssertionError: assert 'Buy Bread' in 'Error: todo #1 does not exist.\n'

We are back to Red, but with failures instead of errors. This is great! Now, let's add an implementation to get this to Green!

class Task:
    def __init__(self, todo_file, done_file):
        self.todo_file = todo_file
        self.done_file = done_file

    def add(self, s):
        self.todo_file.write(s)
        self.todo_file.write("\n")
        s = '"'+s+'"'
        print(f"Added todo: {s}")

    def done(self, no):
        try:

            nec()
            no = int(no)
            st = 'x '+str(datetime.datetime.today()).split()[0]+' '+d[no]
            self.done_file.write(st)
            self.done_file.write("\n")
            print(f"Marked todo #{no} as done.")

            ...

poetry run pytest
# FAILED tests/test_task.py::test_marking_task_done - AssertionError: assert 'Buy Bread' in 'Error: todo #1 does not exist.\n'

Still at Red. 🤔

Why? Because in this case we are reading from our fake todo.txt file in order to write to our fake done.txt file. But we never defined write on our FakeFile class. We could do this, but there are a few methods we will have to fake. It seems our custom stub is not enough to support our testing needs. So, we need to turn this into a mock. We'll do that next time!

Key Takeaways

• Use fixtures to set up objects for tests
• Keep tests focused on only the test
• Code design can be driven from the top using tests (this is TDD!)
• Take note of how much more confident we are in the state of our code at every step