Tests#

Tests live under netbox_aci_plugin/tests/, organized by layer:

tests/
  models/      base.py + <domain>/test_<model>.py
  forms/       base.py + <domain>/test_<model>.py
  views/       base.py + <domain>/test_<model>.py
  filtersets/  <domain>/test_<model>.py
  tables/      base.py + <domain>/test_<model>.py
  api/         <domain>/test_<model>.py
  graphql/     base.py + test_<topic>.py
  search/      <domain>/test_<model>.py

Run the suite with NetBox's Django test runner (the plugin must be installed editable into NetBox's virtualenv first):

cd "$NETBOX_ROOT/netbox"
python manage.py test netbox_aci_plugin --keepdb

Drop --keepdb when model fields, migrations, or schema changed. See the contributing guide for the full setup. This doc covers conventions for writing tests, not running them.

setUpTestData, not setUp#

Shared fixtures use setUpTestData() (a classmethod) so they're created once per class rather than once per test method. Reserve setUp() for per-test state (e.g. logging in a client):

@classmethod
def setUpTestData(cls):
    cls.aci_fabric = ACIFabric.objects.create(
        name="TestFabric", fabric_id=101, infra_vlan_vid=3900,
    )

Per-layer base classes#

Four base classes hold the shared fixtures and helpers for their layer. Each test module subclasses the layer's base.

tests/models/base.py:ACIBaseTestCase#

Builds the full ACI hierarchy through ACIAppProfile (Fabric, Pod, Node, Tenant, VRF, BD, AppProfile), ACI VLAN pools and ranges, plus the universal NetBox objects (Tenant, Site, Manufacturer, DeviceType, DeviceRole, VRF, IPAddress, MACAddress, Prefix, among others). Use it for model and manager tests.

tests/forms/base.py:ACIBaseFormTestCase#

Same hierarchy as the model base, plus two class attributes carrying the exact validator error strings, so form tests can assert against them without duplicating literals:

class ACIBaseFormTestCase(TestCase):
    name_error_message: str = (
        "Only alphanumeric characters, periods, underscores, colons and "
        "hyphens are allowed."
    )
    description_error_message: str = (
        "Only alphanumeric characters and !#$%()*,-./:;@ _{|}~?&+ are allowed."
    )

tests/views/base.py:ACIModelViewTestCase#

Extends NetBox's ModelViewTestCase - authentication is inherited with no user creation, setUp, or force_login needed. It overrides _get_base_url() to prefix the plugins: namespace required by plugin views, then seeds a NetBox nb_tenant plus the shared ACI Fabric / Tenant / VRF / BD / AppProfile chain in setUpTestData:

class ACIModelViewTestCase(ModelViewTestCase):
    def _get_base_url(self):
        return "plugins:{}:{}_{{}}".format(
            self.model._meta.app_label,
            self.model._meta.model_name,
        )

    @classmethod
    def setUpTestData(cls) -> None:
        cls.nb_tenant = Tenant.objects.create(
            name="ACIBaseViewTestNBTenant", slug="acibaseviewtestnbtenant",
        )
        cls.aci_fabric = ACIFabric.objects.create(
            name="ACIBaseViewTestFabric", fabric_id=150, infra_vlan_vid=3900,
        )
        cls.aci_tenant = ACITenant.objects.create(
            name="ACIBaseViewTestTenant", aci_fabric=cls.aci_fabric,
        )
        cls.aci_vrf = ACIVRF.objects.create(
            name="ACIBaseViewTestVRF", aci_tenant=cls.aci_tenant,
        )
        cls.aci_bd = ACIBridgeDomain.objects.create(
            name="ACIBaseViewTestBD",
            aci_tenant=cls.aci_tenant, aci_vrf=cls.aci_vrf,
        )
        cls.aci_app_profile = ACIAppProfile.objects.create(
            name="ACIBaseViewTestAppProfile", aci_tenant=cls.aci_tenant,
        )

tests/graphql/base.py:ACIBaseGraphQLTestCase#

Extends APITestCase (with LOGIN_REQUIRED=True) and seeds shared Fabric / Tenant / VRF objects. Provides a query() helper that POSTs to the GraphQL endpoint and asserts HTTP 200:

def query(self, query_str: str) -> dict:
    """POST a GraphQL query and return the parsed JSON body."""
    response = self.client.post(
        reverse("graphql"),
        data={"query": query_str},
        format="json",
        **self.header,
    )
    self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200, response.content)
    return response.json()

tests/tables/base.py aliases TableTestCases.StandardTableTestCase for use as a smoke-test base.

Module docstrings#

API and table test modules carry a short top-level docstring naming the domain and layer, e.g. """API tests for access-policy VLAN pool models.""" or """Table tests for tenant L3Out models.""". Model and form test modules omit one.

Model-test method names#

Use this naming pattern so test output stays scannable across the plugin:

Use these method names:

• test_<model>_instance: object created with the expected type.
• test_<model>_str: __str__() returns the expected representation.
• test_<model>_<field>: field value is what was assigned.
• test_<model>_<related>_instance: FK / reverse-FK target is the right type.
• test_invalid_<model>_<field>: invalid value raises ValidationError.
• test_invalid_<model>_<field>_length: length-constraint violation raises ValidationError.

Example slice from test_app_profiles.py:

def test_aci_app_profile_instance(self) -> None: ...
def test_aci_app_profile_str(self) -> None: ...
def test_aci_app_profile_alias(self) -> None: ...
def test_aci_app_profile_description(self) -> None: ...
def test_aci_app_profile_aci_tenant_instance(self) -> None: ...
def test_invalid_aci_app_profile_name(self) -> None: ...
def test_invalid_aci_app_profile_name_length(self) -> None: ...

Form-test assertions#

Form tests instantiate the form, then assert on form.errors:

• Valid data: self.assertEqual(form.errors.get("<field>"), None).
• Invalid data: assert the error message matches the class-level name_error_message / description_error_message constants. Don't duplicate the error string literal in each test.

FilterSet tests#

Every FilterSet test class declares queryset and filterset class attributes, then exercises one method per filter plus two search-related methods that everyone must include:

• test_q(): search-term hits expected objects.
• test_search_with_whitespace_only_returns_all(): guards the whitespace-only no-op branch of search() (see FilterSets - search()).

Assertion pattern:

self.assertIn(obj, self.filterset(params, self.queryset).qs)

API tests#

API tests use NetBox's utilities.testing.APIViewTestCases mixin suite, which delivers get/list/create/update/delete coverage for free. Each <Model>APIViewTestCase declares:

Required attributes:

• model: concrete model class under test.
• view_namespace: f"plugins-api:{app_name}".
• brief_fields: fields expected in the ?brief=1 response. This must match the serializer's Meta.brief_fields.
• user_permissions: extra permissions beyond the auto-granted model permissions.

setUpTestData() uses bulk_create() for fixtures. Two class-level dicts drive the create/update assertions:

• cls.create_data: list of payloads for POST /<resource>/.
• cls.bulk_update_data: payload for PATCH /<resource>/ (the fields you're updating, not the IDs).

class ACIAppProfileAPIViewTestCase(APIViewTestCases.APIViewTestCase):
    model = ACIAppProfile
    view_namespace: str = f"plugins-api:{app_name}"
    brief_fields: list[str] = [
        "aci_tenant", "description", "display", "id", "name",
        "name_alias", "nb_tenant", "url",
    ]
    user_permissions = ("netbox_aci_plugin.view_acitenant",)