Reset global variables during python unit testing runtime

Question

I am currently writing tests for a bit of Python (using the 3.5 version) software for the company I'm working with, but am stumbling upon a problem which I currently believe is because of global variables if I could call it that.

The software architecture is extremely modular, hence to test individual modules a separate test file (perhaps called test_somemodule_py) is created containing one class that extends the unittest.TestCase one.

NOTE that what I call modules here is not really a Python module, but rather an application module

All of the tests are triggered through a single runner script which contains a custom loader:

def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
suite = unittest.TestSuite()
for all_tests in loader.discover('tests', pattern='test_*.py'):
    for test_suite in all_tests:
        suite.addTests(test_suite)

return suite

During actual runtime all of the individual modules are held (contained) in a master like wrapper, which is basically a Singleton.

Now my problem is that whenever I run the tests as individual files (changing the loader from test_*.py to test_somemodule.py), all tests succeed, however if they are run all together (leaving the test_*.py pattern), some of the tests start failing.

I am pretty sure it was never the case when I hadn't implemented the master wrapper as a singleton, but the application functionality and architecture really requires that kind of approach. Since I am suspecting that only one instance of it is created, can anyone advise me on how to best solve this issue?

My theory is that if there was a method to reset all 'globals' to an initial state, it would work like a charm. Or perhaps there is some sort of method to isolate memory which is then discarded when test goes out of scope.

Many thanks in advance.

I may be way off here, but are you using the setup and teardown methods in your tests? — Nullman
– Nullman, Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 14:46
I am. However I am not really utilising them for the case I described in my question. The big issue is that I'm not sure if what I'm trying to achieve is at all possible and if it is - I am not sure how. Documentation is plenty, but looking for the answer is a bit like searching for a needle in a Pystack. — VoltairePunk
– VoltairePunk, Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 14:50
maybe try using PyTest, put all of your tests in one module called test_them_all.py or somting like that, that way each test is it's own scope. — Moshe Slavin
– Moshe Slavin, Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 15:10
for more info : stackoverflow.com/questions/27954702/unittest-vs-pytest — Moshe Slavin
– Moshe Slavin, Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 15:12
depending on strcuture of ur code, choose setUp, setUpClass, setUpModule or fixture, detail [nose] (nose.readthedocs.io/en/latest/writing_tests.html#test-classes) — Gang
– Gang, Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 23:25

Qwerty · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-25 17:28:45Z

1

Why not do this?

for name in dir():
    if not name.startswith('_'):
        del globals()[name]

answered Jan 25, 2018 at 17:28

Qwerty

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