Django Unittest runs into Error

Question

Environment: Intellij PyCharm, Python Django, Sqlite3

I use a standard Django setup project. I try to write some Unittests, but I run into the following error. After some research, I ended up here.

DB Config

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}

Code of tests.py

from django.test import TestCase as djangoTestCase
import os
import unittest

# Create your tests here.
class TestExample(djangoTestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        print('setup')
        print(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))

    def test_abc(self):
        self.assertEqual(1,1)

    def tearDown(self):
        print('tearDown')

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

This is the output

django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: settings.DATABASES is improperly configured. Please supply the ENGINE value. Check settings documentation for more details.

I tried to find the mistake by reading documentation, but without success. What could be the problem?

How are you running the tests? Does `python manage.py test` from the shell work? — Alasdair, Dec 29 '17 at 09:16
Yes, it works very well. Do you have some experiance with PyCharm? If I start the test there, I run into the descriped error. — michael-mammut, Dec 29 '17 at 09:25

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 29 '17 at 09:17

1

With django test you don't need this part:

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

you just running tests with python manage.py test command.

answered Dec 29 '17 at 09:17

neverwalkaloner

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ok, thank you. It work by the cmd- command, but not with --> Test at PyCharm – michael-mammut Dec 29 '17 at 09:25
In Pycharm you need to add Run/Debug cunfiguration. Select as script `manage.py` file. And specify as script paramethers `test`. – neverwalkaloner Dec 29 '17 at 09:31
Check this docs: https://www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/creating-and-editing-run-debug-configurations.html – neverwalkaloner Dec 29 '17 at 09:32

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 22 '18 at 06:28

I ran into the same problem in PyCharm. My DB config is in file config.settings_dev. By default, PyCharm is not aware of it.

To solve it,

Open PyCharm's Run/Debug Configurations in menu Run -> Edit Configurations
Expand Templates, then Djano tests.
Add environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE with value config.settings_dev (replace it with your own settings file)

Delete any existing configurations under Django tests

5. Run the tests in PyCharm

Django Unittest runs into Error

2 Answers2