So I can use an iterable with side_effect in python mock to produce changing values returned by my calls to the mock:
some_mock.side_effect = [1, 2, 3]
return_value provides the same value every time
some_mock.return_value = 8
Is there a way I can use one or both of these methods so that a mock produces some scheduled values to begin and then an infinite response of one particular value when the first set is exhausted? i.e.:
[1, 2, 3, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, etc. etc etc.]
There is no specific build-in feature that does that, but you can achieve this by adding a side effect that does this.
In the cases I can think of, it would be sufficient to just add some highest needed number of values instead of an infinite number, and use the side_effect version that takes a list:
side_effect = [1, 2, 3] + [8] * 100
my_mock.side_effect = side_effect
If you really need that infinite number of responses, you can use the other version of side_effect instead that uses a function object instead of a list. You need some generator function that creates your infinite list, and iterate over that in your function, remembering the current position. Here is an example implementation for that (using a class to avoid global variables):
from itertools import repeat
class SideEffect:
def __init__(self):
self.it = self.generator() # holds the current iterator
@staticmethod
def generator():
yield from range(1, 4) # yields 1, 2, 3
yield from repeat(8) # yields 8 infinitely
def side_effect(self, *args, **kwargs):
return next(self.it)
...
my_mock.side_effect = SideEffect().side_effect
This should have the wanted effect.