How to create a unit test to check the response of an API made in Flask?

Question

I'm trying to test a JSON API I implemented in Flask

Here's my view function

@app.route("/dummy")
def dummy(): 
    return {"dummy":"dummy-value"}

And in my Unittest I'm testing using

def setUp(self):
    self.app = my_app.app.test_client()

def test_dummy(self):
     response = self.app.get("/dummy")
     self.assertEqual(response['dummy'], "dummy-value")

However, when I ran it, I get the error TypeError: 'dict' object is not callable

bakkal · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-07T23:42:37.227

24

Using jsonify() fixes the error 'dict' object is not callable

from flask import jsonify
@app.route("/dummy")
def dummy(): 
    return jsonify({"dummy":"dummy-value"})

And for the test, you'll have to pull the JSON out of the HTTP response

import json

class MyAppCase(unittest.TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        my_app.app.config['TESTING'] = True
        self.app = my_app.app.test_client()

    def test_dummy(self):
        response = self.app.get("/dummy")
        data = json.loads(response.get_data(as_text=True))

        self.assertEqual(data['dummy'], "dummy-value")

This now runs for me.

edited Jul 07 '16 at 23:42

answered Jul 07 '16 at 23:33

bakkal

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in mine the `app` does not have a get attribute, how do I do a test response in unittest, this is my project structure ` ├───.idea │ └───inspectionProfiles ├───project │ └───__pycache__ └───tests ` – perymerdeka Mar 04 '21 at 05:44

score -2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 07 '16 at 23:33

-2

You should return a string, not a dictionary object!

@app.route("/dummy")
def dummy(): 
    return flask.jsonify(dummy="dummy-value")

And in your test, parse the JSON using json.loads(..) and then assert.

answered Jul 07 '16 at 23:33

UltraInstinct

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@Downvoter: Care to comment? – UltraInstinct Oct 15 '18 at 20:08
Not positive, but potentially got downvoted as returning a `dict` is very common – Greg Hilston Jan 16 '20 at 20:21
"You should return a string, not a dictionary object!" - Not a helpful response. No reasoning/explanation given. Returning a dict is common practice – nicja Apr 15 '20 at 11:32

How to create a unit test to check the response of an API made in Flask?

2 Answers2