Import module to test directory

Question

I want to import business code from my test folder.

I installed my code using python setup.py install, which copy the code into the anaconda site-package folder. But I want to test my code in my dev. directory, as I don't want to constantly install my code to test it after any small change.

I am using Anaconda and Spyder IDE.

Here is my dir structure:

dev
└── myproject
    ├── setup.py
    ├── myproject
    │   ├── __init__.py
    │   └── myproject.py
    └── test
        ├── __init__.py
        └── test_importprojecthere.py

I took it from here: Running unittest with typical test directory structure

For now, I'm simply trying to import a function.

# dev: projectfile.py
def hello():
    print('Hello world!')

Here is where I call it from.

# dev: test_importprojecthere.py
from myproject.projectfile import hello # Use installed package.
hello()

more information:

Florian Fasmeyer · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-04T13:23:46.273

When you are creating packages, you do not want to install them in your site-packages.

Do not use

python setup.py install

Instead, use

python setup.py develop or...
pip install -e .

Those commands install your setup using symlinks. Instead of creating a copy, it links to your actual project. So when you modify it, it's being modified instantly everywhere.

Thanks to that, you will not have to update/install or do anything to run your unit tests.

-- "But now, every time I modify my package, everything using it might break. I don't want to break my production code!"

Do not worry! This is the reason why we use virtual environments. When you create a package, make sure you create a virtual environment, that you might name, by example "myproject_dev".

In the dev. env. use python setup.py develop so that you can develop on it.

In the prod. env. use python setup.py install, so that you use a copy, that will not suddenly change. You won't modify it, because in prod, you consume your package, you don't develop on it! Keeps things simple an safe.

Import module to test directory

1 Answers1