CherryPy Testing

CherryPy is a minimalist, open-source web framework for building web applications using the Python programming language. It was first released in 2002 and is designed to be simple, lightweight, and easy to use, providing a clean and straightforward interface for developing web applications.

CherryPy allows developers to build web applications in a similar way they would build any other Python application, using object-oriented programming concepts and structures. It handles the underlying HTTP protocol, enabling developers to focus on writing the logic of their applications without worrying about low-level details.

• An HTTP server: CherryPy includes a built-in, high-performance HTTP server, making it easy to deploy and serve web applications without the need for an external web server.
• A clean architecture: CherryPy uses a simple and clean architecture that promotes a clear separation of concerns, making it easier to maintain and extend your applications.
• Easy configuration: CherryPy allows you to easily configure your application using Python code, environment variables, or configuration files.
• Extensibility: CherryPy can be easily extended with custom plugins and middleware to add additional functionality to your applications.
• Cross-platform compatibility: CherryPy works on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent development experience across different operating systems.

While CherryPy may not be as feature-rich as some other web frameworks like Django or Flask, its simplicity and minimalism make it a popular choice for developers who prefer a more lightweight approach to web development in Python.

• Unit testing
• Integration testing
• End-to-end testing

Unit Testing

Unit testing forms the base of the testing pyramid. It is a software testing technique that involves testing individual components or units of a software application to ensure that they function as expected. A unit is the smallest testable part of the software, usually a single function, method, or class, depending on the programming language used.

The primary goal of unit testing is to verify that each unit of the software performs its intended task correctly and to identify any potential issues, bugs, or defects early in the development process.

CherryPy offers a helper module while also integrating with other testing tools. Let's take a look at them.

Testing using CherryPy helper module (cherrypy.test)

The cherrypy.test package contains modules and classes used for testing and debugging CherryPy applications. The helper module, in particular, provides a set of helper classes that make it easier to write tests for CherryPy applications. By importing the helper module, the code can make use of the testing utilities provided by CherryPy, such as CPWebCase, which is a subclass of unittest.TestCase, that provides additional functionality for testing CherryPy applications. The helper module inherits from the Unittest.TestCase class.

Below is an example of a unit test using the helper class. The test case sets up a CherryPy server with a simple Root class that defines an echo method that returns the message parameter passed in the query string. The test case then sends a GET request to the /echo endpoint with the message parameter set to "Hello world" and verifies that the server returns a 200 OK response with the correct message in the body. The second test case sends a similar request, but with a non-UTF8 encoded message, which should result in a 404 Not Found response.

import cherrypy
from cherrypy.test import helper

class SimpleCPTest(helper.CPWebCase):
  def setup_server():
    class Root(object):
      @cherrypy.expose
      def echo(self, message):
        return message
    
    cherrypy.tree.mount(Root())
  setup_server = staticmethod(setup_server)
  
  def test_message_should_be_returned_as_is(self):
    self.getPage("/echo?message=Hello%20world")
    self.assertStatus('200 OK')
    self.assertHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html;charset=utf-8')
    self.assertBody('Hello world')
  
  def test_non_utf8_message_will_fail(self):
    siders it's a different URL.
      """
      self.getPage("/echo?message=A+bient%F4t",
        headers=[
          ('Accept-Charset', 'ISO-8859-1,utf-8'),
          ('Content-Type', 'text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1')
        ]
      )
      self.assertStatus('404 Not Found')

Using Unittest for testing

Unittest is the standard library offered by Python for testing Python code. CherryPy is compatible with this library. In fact, the above-mentioned helper module is based on Unittest. You simply need to import Unittest into your test case and then continue writing the test methods as you would write in any other Python framework that is compatible with Unittest.

Using Pytest for testing

You can use Pytest to test your CherryPy code. Pytest is a popular third-party testing framework in Python that supports writing unit test cases. Not just that, it also has a simple and easy-to-learn syntax and provides many features for testing, including fixtures, parameterization, and test discovery.

Integration Testing

When it comes to web applications, it is vital to verify if different modules or components are working harmoniously. To do so, you need to write tests that check such integrations. Integrations between different joints become the focus, such as methods interacting with other methods, APIs, services, helpers, UI components, databases, network systems, or middleware.

Like unit testing, integration tests use the same libraries and tools. They are as below.

Using CherryPy helper module (cherrypy.test)

You can use CherryPy's helper module to write integration tests. It provides a full-stack HTTP test client that can interact with CherryPy servers programmatically and can test not just CherryPy code but also other WSGI-compliant web frameworks.

Here is an example of an integration test where the application is running in a simulated environment using the CPWebCase helper class from the cherrypy.test module. The test case sets up a simple CherryPy application that defines an /echo endpoint that accepts a msg parameter and returns it as the response body. It also has two test methods test_message and test_non_utf8_message_will_fail.

import cherrypy
from cherrypy.test import helper

class HelperSubclass(helper.CPWebCase):
  def setup_s():
    class Root(object):
      @cherrypy.expose	
      def echo(self, msg):
        return msg
    
    cherrypy.tree.mount(Root())
  setup_s = staticmethod(setup_s)
  
  def test_message(self):
    ''' This is a test method'''
    self.getPage("/echo?message=Hello%20Ninja")
    self.assertStatus('200 OK')
    self.assertHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html;charset=utf-8')
    self.assertBody('Hello Ninja')
  
  def test_non_utf8_message_will_fail(self):
    self.getPage("/echo?msg=A+bient%F4t",
      headers=[
        ('Accept-Charset',  'ISO-8859-1, utf-8'),
        ('Content-Type',  'text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1')
      ]
    )
  self.assertStatus('404 Not Found')

Using Nose and Webtest for testing

Nose and Webtest are Python libraries that are used for writing tests in Python-based frameworks. Nose is a third-party testing tool built on top of Unittest. It provides additional features like test discovery, test grouping, and plugin support. It also has a more user-friendly output than the built-in Unittest framework. Webtest is a third-party library that allows you to test web applications by making HTTP requests and examining the responses. It provides a simple and intuitive interface for creating requests and inspecting responses. You can also integrate with Unittest and Pytest to compose better test cases.

Here is an example of a test that tests the default authentication setup for a web application. The test ensures that anonymous users are forced to log in when trying to access a protected area of the application. It does this by sending a request to a protected application area and checking that the response status code is 302 (redirect). The test then follows the redirect to the login form and submits a valid form. Finally, it checks that the user is redirected to the initially requested page and that a session cookie is set.

from webtest import TestApp
from nose.tools import eq_

class TestAuthentication(object):
	
  application_under_test = 'main'
  
  def setUp(self):
    # Loading the application:
    conf_dir = config.here
    wsgiapp = loadapp('config:test.ini#%s' % self.application_under_test,
      relative_to=conf_dir)
    self.app = TestApp(wsgiapp)
    
    # Setting it up:
    test_file = path.join(conf_dir, 'test.ini')
    cmd = SetupCommand('setup-app')
    cmd.run([test_file])
  
  def tearDown(self):
    # Cleaning up the database:
    model.DBSession.remove()
    teardown_db()
  
  def test_forced_login(self):
    # Requesting a protected area
    resp = self.app.get('/secc/', status=302)
    assert resp.location.startswith('http://localhost/login')
    
    # Getting the login form:
    resp = resp.follow(status=200)
    print resp.forms
    form = resp.forms
    
    # Submitting the login form:
    form['login'] = u'manager'
    form['password'] = 'managepass'
    post_login = form.submit(status=302)
    
    # Being redirected to the initially requested page:
    assert post_login.location.startswith('http://localhost/post_login')
    initial_page = post_login.follow(status=302)
    assert 'authtkt' in initial_page.request.cookies, \
      "Session cookie wasn't defined: %s" % initial_page.request.cookies
    assert initial_page.location.startswith('http://localhost/secc/'), \
      initial_page.location

Using Pytest and Unittest

You can use Pytest and Unittest as well for writing integration tests. The test format, as well as the use of those tools remains the same. The only aspect you need to consider is how to compose your integration tests so that appropriate integrations are checked.

When it comes to choosing from these libraries/tools, you can decide which tool or tools to use based on your team's experience and preference, project requirements, and community support offered for that tool. All of the above-mentioned tools are compatible with Python, but if you are looking for a built-in solution provided by CherryPy, then cherrypy.test is the best choice.

End-to-End Testing

Up until now, our focus has been on whether the methods produced the desired outcomes and whether they effectively interacted with other components and modules within the application. In other words, we were concentrating on the code. Now, let's turn our attention to the end user. Such a user isn't concerned with the underlying mechanics, but rather, how the system assists them in achieving their goals. With end-to-end tests, the emphasis shifts to the user's interaction with the system and whether the system, in turn, is helping them accomplish their business objectives. These test cases can also be automated.

• CherryPy's cherrypy.test helper module along with Selenium
• testRigor

CherryPy's cherrypy.test helper module along with Selenium

You can write end-to-end test cases using cherrypy.test. However, when it comes to end-to-end tests, you need ways to test the client-side behavior of the application. This is where Selenium comes into the picture. Selenium WebDriver provides a set of APIs for automating browser interactions, such as clicking buttons, filling in forms, and verifying page content.

In the below example, we use Selenium WebDriver to automate the process of entering a search query and submitting the search form. We can verify that the web application behaves correctly from the user's perspective, that is, it responds to user input in the expected way and displays the expected content.

import cherrypy
from cherrypy.test import helper
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys

class SearchTest(helper.CPWebCase):
		
  @classmethod
  def setup_server(cls):
    class Root(object):
      @cherrypy.expose
      def index(self):
        return '''
        <html>
          <body>
            <form method="get" action="/search">
              <input type="text" name="q">
              <input type="submit" value="Search">
            </form>
          </body>
        </html>
        '''
      
      @cherrypy.expose
      def search(self, q=None):
      		return f"Search results for '{q}'"
    
    cherrypy.tree.mount(Root())
  
  def test_search(self):
    self.getPage("/")
    self.assertStatus('200 OK')
    self.assertHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html;charset=utf-8')
    
    # Simulate user typing a query into search box
    self.browser.get(self.getUrl("/"))
    input_box = self.browser.find_element_by_name("q")
    input_box.send_keys("cherry pie")
    input_box.send_keys(Keys.ENTER)
    
    # Verify that search results page is returned with the correct query
    self.assertStatus('200 OK')
    self.assertHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html;charset=utf-8')
    self.assertBody("Search results for 'cherry pie'")

if __name__ == '__main__':
  helper.testmain()

It is essential to mention that while Selenium is still a widely used option for automation testing, it is complex, slow to execute, and requires a vast amount of test maintenance. Which is why testRigor might be a more viable option for your company.

testRigor

When it comes to end-to-end testing, incorporating input from various team members, such as manual testers and business analysts who understand user scenarios, can significantly enhance the process. While it is possible to integrate collaboration-supporting tools like BDD tools, these can introduce overhead and still require coding test cases, which may be challenging for non-technical individuals to comprehend. As a more comprehensive solution, testRigor will streamline the process.

testRigor is a no-code, AI-driven, cloud-based platform for web, mobile, and desktop testing. Its scripts are written in plain English, eliminating the need for coding and making it more accessible for team members with varying levels of technical expertise. testRigor is renowned for its ease of test maintenance and is an ideal tool for end-to-end automation testing. It boasts features such as visual testing, API testing, referencing UI elements using relative locations (instead of Xpaths or other locators), generating test data, accessing databases, audio testing, and more. Additionally, testRigor supports integrations with most CI/CD frameworks, test case management systems, infrastructure, and databases.

login 
check that page contains "Welcome Janet" at the top 
check if page contains "Search" 
enter "cherry pie" in "Search" 
enter enter
check that page contains "cherry pie" below "Here are your results"
click on "clear" to the right of "cherry pie"
enter enter
check that page does not contain "cherry pie" below "Here are your results"
check that page contains "Welcome Janet"

The main benefits of testRigor for end-to-end testing include a straightforward initial setup, ease and speed of test creation, robustness of tests, and virtually eliminated test maintenance.

How to do End-to-end Testing with testRigor

Let us take the example of an e-commerce website that sells plants and other gardening needs. We will create end-to-end test cases in testRigor using plain English test steps.

Step 1: Log in to your testRigor app with your credentials.

Step 2: Set up the test suite for the website testing by providing the information below:

• Test Suite Name: Provide a relevant and self-explanatory name.
• Type of testing: Select from the following options: Desktop Web Testing, Mobile Web Testing, Native and Hybrid Mobile, based on your test requirements.
• URL to run test on: Provide the application URL that you want to test.
• Testing credentials for your web/mobile app to test functionality which requires user to login: You can provide the app’s user login credentials here and need not write them separately in the test steps then. The login functionality will be taken care of automatically using the keyword login.
• OS and Browser: Choose the OS Browser combination on which you want to run the test cases.
• Number of test cases to generate using AI: If you wish, you can choose to generate test cases based on the App Description text, which works on generative AI.

Step 3: Click Create Test Suite.

On the next screen, you can let AI generate the test case based on the App Description you provided during the Test Suite creation. However, for now, select do not generate any test, since we will write the test steps ourselves.

Step 4: To create a new custom test case yourself, click Add Custom Test Case.

Step 5: Provide the test case Description and start adding the test steps.

For the application under test, i.e., e-commerce website, we will perform below test steps:

• Search for a product
• Add it to the cart
• Verify that the product is present in the cart

Test Case: Search and Add to Cart

Step 1: We will add test steps on the test case editor screen one by one.

testRigor automatically navigates to the website URL you provided during the Test Suite creation. There is no need to use any separate function for it. Here is the website homepage, which we intend to test.

First, we want to search for a product in the search box. Unlike traditional testing tools, you can identify the UI element using the text you see on the screen. You need not use any CSS/XPath identifiers.

click "What are you looking for?"

Step 2: Once the cursor is in the search box, we will type the product name (lily), and press enter to start the search.

type "lily"
enter enter

Search lists all products with the “lily” keyword on the webpage.

Step 3: The lily plant we are searching for needs the screen to be scrolled; for that testRigor provides a command. Scroll down until the product is present on the screen:

scroll down until page contains "Zephyranthes Lily, Rain Lily (Red)"

When the product is found on the screen, testRigor stops scrolling.

Step 4: Click on the product name to view the details:

click "Zephyranthes Lily, Rain Lily (Red)"

After the click, the product details are displayed on the screen as below, with the default Quantity as 1.

Step 5: Lets say, we want to change the Quantity to 3, so here we use the testRigor command to select from a list.

select "3" from "Quantity"

click "Add to cart"

The product is successfully added to the cart, and the “Added to your cart:” message is displayed on webpage.

Step 6: To assert that the message is successfully displayed, use a simple assertion command as below:

check that page contains "Added to your cart:"

Step 7: After this check, we will view the contents of the cart by clicking View cart as below:

click "View cart"

Step 8: Now we will again check that the product is present in the cart, under heading “Your cart” using the below assertion. With testRigor, it is really easy to specify the location of an element on the screen.

check that page contains "Zephyranthes Lily, Rain Lily (Red)" under "Your cart"

Complete Test Case

Here is how the complete test case will look in the testRigor app. The test steps are simple in plain English, enabling everyone in your team to write and execute them.

Click Add and Run.

Execution Results

Once the test is executed, you can view the execution details, such as execution status, time spent in execution, screenshots, error messages, logs, video recordings of the test execution, etc. In case of any failure, there are logs and error text that are available easily in a few clicks.

You can also download the complete execution with steps and screenshots in PDF or Word format through the View Execution option.

testRigor’s Capabilities

Apart from the simplistic test case design and execution, there are some advanced features that help you test your application using simple English commands.

• Reusable Rules (Subroutines): You can easily create functions for the test steps that you use repeatedly. You can use the Reusable Rules to create such functions and call them in test cases by simply writing their names. See the example of Reusable Rules.
• Global Variables and Data Sets: You can import data from external files or create your own global variables and data sets in testRigor to use them in data-driven testing.
• 2FA, QR Code, and Captcha Resolution: testRigor easily manages the 2FA, QR Code, and Captcha resolution through its simple English commands.
• Email, Phone Call, and SMS Testing: Use simple English commands to test the email, phone calls, and SMS. These commands are useful for validating 2FA scenarios, with OTPs and authentication codes being sent to email, phone calls, or via phone text.
• File Upload/ Download Testing: Execute the test steps involving file download or file upload without the requirement of any third-party software. You can also validate the contents of the files using testRigor’s simple English commands.
• Database Testing: Execute database queries and validate the results fetched.

testRigor enables you to test web, mobile (hybrid, native), API, and desktop apps with minimum effort and maintenance.

Additional Resources

• Access testRigor documentation to know about more useful capabilities
• Top testRigor’s features
• How to perform end-to-end testing

Conclusion

In conclusion, CherryPy is a lightweight and minimalist web framework for Python that allows developers to build web applications with ease. It offers a range of testing options, from unit testing to integration and end-to-end testing, ensuring the functionality and reliability of applications. CherryPy provides its own helper module for testing and supports third-party libraries such as Unittest, Pytest, Nose, and Webtest, making it compatible with various testing tools.

For end-to-end testing, you can use CherryPy's helper module in conjunction with Selenium or opt for testRigor, a no-code, AI-driven testing platform that simplifies the process and allows for greater collaboration among team members. With a variety of testing tools and techniques available, CherryPy enables developers to create and maintain high-quality web applications that meet both technical and user requirements.