[TIP] Unit testing functions which call super

[Marcin Tustin]

Hi All,

I've come across a method which I needed to add a unit test for, which calls super, e.g.

def foofunc(self):
    x= do_some_stuff()
    if x:
        return x
    return super(WhatevClass, self).foofunc()

Now, I don't want to integration test the whole stack of super foofunc methods, just unit test that one, down to the super call.

I've accomplished this with, in my test (excuse the 8 leading spaces):

def setUp(self):
        self.method_archive = {}
        for klass in WhatevClass.__mro__[1:]:
            # we use the class as its own sentinel
            meth_or_klass = klass.__dict__.get('foofunc', klass)
            if meth_or_klass != klass:
                self.method_archive[klass] = meth_or_klass
                del klass.foofunc
        # now patch an arbitrary member of the mro to supply a dummy foofunc
        self.sentinel_klass = next(iter(self.method_archive))
        self.mock_sentinel = mock.MagicMock()
        self.sentinel_klass.foofunc = self.mock_sentinel


And corresponding unpatching in tearDown.

Is there any other approach which is standard, or objectively better?

Thanks,
Marcin

Marcin Tustin
Senior Software Engineer
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