Class is in another directory - returns 0 tests

Question

I want to create different classes for my tests. But when I run my test unit, it does not run the test in my test class. The setUp function is never reached and zero tests are made.

python -m unittest discover -s src -p "tests.py"

Ran 0 tests in 0.000s

OK

This is the main script tests.py:

import unittest

def main():
    unittest.main()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

The test class is in another file:

import unittest

from Tools import Tools

class TestSomething(unittest.TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        self.logger = Tools.get_logger(__file__)
        self.logger.info("here")

    def test_something(self):
        ....

I tried different ways to launch the script but I always have the same problem.

Can't we separate the test units in classes?

I add a screenshot that shows the name of the files present in my src folder:

Answer 1

Your question, on my opinion, shows that the names of your test files don't match with the option -p (--pattern) of the discover sub-command (see test-discover documentation for details).

Filesystem structure of my example code

I have created the following structure on my system to write example code (3 files in the folder test_project_root/src):

test_project_root
  |
  src
   |- Tools.py
   |- classa.py
   |- classb.py

classa.py
The file classa.py is equal to the file showed in the third snippet of code of your question:

import unittest

from Tools import Tools

class TestSomething(unittest.TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        self.logger = Tools.get_logger(__file__)
        self.logger.info("here")

    def test_something(self):
        print(f"{__file__} test_something()")

classb.py
The content of the file classb.py is invented by me, but it is very similar to classa.py:

import unittest

from Tools import Tools

class TestSomething2(unittest.TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        self.logger = Tools.get_logger(__file__)
        self.logger.info("here")

    def test_something2(self):
        print(f"{__file__} test_something2()")

Tools.py
For completeness I have created also the file Tools.py as following:

import logging

class Tools:
    
    def get_logger(self):
        logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
        return logging
        
    def info(self, message):
        print(logging.info(message))

Execution of the test code

With the previous files must be executed 2 test methods:

• test_something() (from class TestSomething)
• test_something2() (from class TestSomething2)

To execute the test it is necessary changing directory to test_project_root and execute the discovery:

> cd /path/to/test_project_root

> python -m unittest discover -s src -p "class*"

Please note the pattern option: -p "class*" (in particular the presence of the char *).

The output

The output of the previous command is:

INFO:root:here
/path/to/test_project_root/src/classa.py test_something()
.INFO:root:here
/path/to/test_project_root/src/classb.py test_something2()
.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 2 tests in 0.000s

OK

The output shows that:

1. the 2 test methods are executed (see the message Ran 2 tests in 0.000s)
2. the presence of 2 messages INFO:root:here shows that also the setUp() methods of TestSomething and TestSomething2 have been executed.