Python Mocking a function from an imported module

pythonpython-mockpython-unittestunit testing

I want to understand how to @patch a function from an imported module.

This is where I am so far.

app/mocking.py:

from app.my_module import get_user_name

def test_method():
  return get_user_name()

if __name__ == "__main__":
  print "Starting Program..."
  test_method()

app/my_module/__init__.py:

def get_user_name():
  return "Unmocked User"

test/mock-test.py:

import unittest
from app.mocking import test_method 

def mock_get_user():
  return "Mocked This Silly"

@patch('app.my_module.get_user_name')
class MockingTestTestCase(unittest.TestCase):

  def test_mock_stubs(self, mock_method):
    mock_method.return_value = 'Mocked This Silly')
    ret = test_method()
    self.assertEqual(ret, 'Mocked This Silly')

if __name__ == '__main__':
  unittest.main()

This does not work as I would expect. The "patched" module simply returns the unmocked value of get_user_name. How do I mock methods from other packages that I am importing into a namespace under test?

Best Answer

When you are using the patch decorator from the unittest.mock package you are not patching the namespace the module is imported from (in this case app.my_module.get_user_name) you are patching it in the namespace under test app.mocking.get_user_name.

To do the above with Mock try something like the below: 

from mock import patch
from app.mocking import test_method 

class MockingTestTestCase(unittest.TestCase):

    @patch('app.mocking.get_user_name')
    def test_mock_stubs(self, test_patch):
        test_patch.return_value = 'Mocked This Silly'
        ret = test_method()
        self.assertEqual(ret, 'Mocked This Silly')

The standard library documentation includes a useful section describing this.

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