Django Test Integration

There are now at least 2 projects that integrate Django and behave. Both use a LiveServerTestCase to spin up a runserver for the tests automatically, and shut it down when done with the test run. The approach used for integrating Django, though, varies slightly.

behave-django

Provides a dedicated management command. Easy, automatic integration (thanks to monkey patching). Behave tests are run with python manage.py behave. Allows running tests against an existing database as a special feature. See setup behave-django and usage instructions.

django-behave

Provides a Django-specific TestRunner for Behave, which is set with the TEST_RUNNER property in your settings. Behave tests are run with the usual python manage.py test <app_name> by default. See setup django-behave instructions.

Manual Integration

Alternatively, you can integrate Django using the following boilerplate code in your environment.py file:

# -- FILE: my_django/behave_fixtures.py
from behave import fixture
import django
from django.test.runner import DiscoverRunner
from django.test.testcases import LiveServerTestCase

@fixture
def django_test_runner(context):
    django.setup()
    context.test_runner = DiscoverRunner()
    context.test_runner.setup_test_environment()
    context.old_db_config = context.test_runner.setup_databases()
    yield
    context.test_runner.teardown_databases(context.old_db_config)
    context.test_runner.teardown_test_environment()

@fixture
def django_test_case(context):
    context.test_case = LiveServerTestCase
    context.test_case.setUpClass()
    yield
    context.test_case.tearDownClass()
    del context.test_case

# -- FILE: features/environment.py
from behave import use_fixture
from my_django.behave_fixtures import django_test_runner, django_test_case
import os

os.environ["DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE"] = "test_project.settings"

def before_all(context):
    use_fixture(django_test_runner, context)

def before_scenario(context, scenario):
    use_fixture(django_test_case, context)

Taken from Andrey Zarubin’s blog post “BDD. PyCharm + Python & Django”.

Strategies and Tooling

See Practical Tips on Testing for automation libraries and implementation tips on your BDD tests.