pytest vs test runner

Using Django
1

Hi, lately I’m using pytest, pytest-xdist and pytest-django as my default way of running my tests.
Usually I use functions like:

@pytest.mark.django_db
def test_some_view(client):
    url = reverse("entity-list")
    response = client.get(url)
    assert response.status_code == 200

pytest -k test_some_view

But django docs shows /manage.py test and unittest classes (django.test.TestCase).
What are the advantages of using TestCase and the default test runner? Is it just a style decision or there is something more?

Sorry if this is not the right place for asking these kind of questions! Or if someone already asked it.
Thanks.
Eduardo.

2

TestCase has many features that haven’t been replicated in pytest-django. For example:

  • setUpTestData
  • installed_apps
  • databases

The more advanced your tests get, the more likely you’ll find one of these useful.

On the other hand, pytest has some neat features in fixtures, but there’s a workaround to use them with unittest TestCases.

My preference is pytest, with TestCase classes for their features, but using the plain assert style rather than the self.assert* functions, since it’s less to remember.

2 Likes
3

My preference is TestCase (from standard Python) as this implies one less dependency in my projects. I never found a killer feature in pytest over TestCase until now.