[TIP] [Mock] resetting side_effect

[Christo Buschek]

Hey,

I created for a project of mine that uses some django-orm models the
excellent Mock library to fake the actual django backend (I could
prevent any dependency on any django code so far :). I created
something like an example app that I want to reuse throughout my
tests. So I do something like that in my test application:

EditorModel = Mock(name='EditorModel')
EditorModel.DoesNotExist = Exception

and in my actual unittests i use code like that:

from tests.app import EditorModel

mock_editor = EditorModel.return_value
EditorModel.objects.get.return_value = mock_editor

And I repeat that in my different test files/classes. Now this works
good if I only use return_value, but as soon as I use side_effect I
created unexpected behaviour, cause I share the same Mock() instance.
I noticed that if side_effect is set, the mock class uses that,
otherwise it looks up return_value. So if I use in test A side_effect,
and in test B I set again a return_value, it will still use the values
from the previous defined side_effect.

Is there a way that I can reliable reset my mock instance when using
side_effect? The docs state clearly that: "Note that reset doesn’t
clear the return value, side_effect or any child attributes.". Or how
can I force my mock instance to again use return_value instead of
side_effect? I hope I could make myself clear,

greetinx
christo