The TestLoader class is used to create test suites from
classes and modules. Normally, there is no need to create an instance
of this class; the unittest module provides an instance
that can be shared as unittest.defaultTestLoader
.
Using a subclass or instance, however, allows customization of some
configurable properties.
TestLoader objects have the following methods:
testCaseClass) |
module) |
Warning: While using a hierarchy of TestCase-derived classes can be convenient in sharing fixtures and helper functions, defining test methods on base classes that are not intended to be instantiated directly does not play well with this method. Doing so, however, can be useful when the fixtures are different and defined in subclasses.
name[, module]) |
The specifier name is a ``dotted name'' that may resolve either to a module, a test case class, a test method within a test case class, a TestSuite instance, or a callable object which returns a TestCase or TestSuite instance. These checks are applied in the order listed here; that is, a method on a possible test case class will be picked up as ``a test method within a test case class'', rather than ``a callable object''.
For example, if you have a module SampleTests containing a
TestCase-derived class SampleTestCase with three test
methods (test_one(), test_two(), and
test_three()), the specifier 'SampleTests.SampleTestCase'
would cause this method to return a suite which will run all three test
methods. Using the specifier 'SampleTests.SampleTestCase.test_two'
would cause it to return a test suite which will run only the
test_two() test method. The specifier can refer to modules
and packages which have not been imported; they will be imported as
a side-effect.
The method optionally resolves name relative to the given module.
names[, module]) |
testCaseClass) |
The following attributes of a TestLoader can be configured either by subclassing or assignment on an instance:
'test'
.
This affects getTestCaseNames() and all the loadTestsFrom*() methods.
This affects all the loadTestsFrom*() methods.