[TIP] Functional test framework library for python

[Ben Finney]

Thanks for stating your requirements. Some questions to clarify what you
want and dont want:

Matthew Harelick <mharelick at fastmail.fm> writes:

> I am looking for a functional test framework written in Python. I am
> not testing Python applications. However the internal language of the
> Application Under Test is not relevant.

If the tests are not of Python applications, what then is it that
constrains your choice to a Python test framework?

> I do not want to use Cucumber / BDD based tools.

You have not, to my eye, made clear why you reject the Cucumber-style
descriptive test case.

> It also greatly limits the flexibility of what you can do in a real
> language

How so? By using Aloe [0], Behave [1], etc. you have (indeed, you must
use) the *full* power of Python to implement the steps.

So that makes the test cases as powerful as Python code, because it is
Python code. What is the limitation you see?

> I realize the point of this is to make it easier for testers and
> project managers to understand tests but its too great a sacrifice in
> terms of expressibility.

I don't understand. Are your tests such that the conventional feature
format of::

    Given the environment is set up thus
    And thus
    And also thus
    When this happens
    And this also happens
    The observable behaviour is that.

is somehow incapable of expressing the tests you need to describe?

Can you give an example of a test case you need that *cannot* be
expressed effectively in that style?


[0] https://pypi.python.org/pypi/aloe/
[1] https://pypi.python.org/pypi/behave/