xmlunittest

library1.0.1pypypi✓ verified 24d ago

xmlunittest is a Python library that extends the built-in `unittest` framework to provide robust assertion methods for testing XML documents. Leveraging `lxml` and XPath, it allows users to validate XML structure, content, and schema conformance, avoiding the pitfalls of direct XML string comparisons. The current version is 1.0.1, with releases typically focusing on compatibility updates and feature enhancements for XML processing.

testing

pip install xmlunittest

github ↗package ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · XMLUNITTEST

xmlunittest

testingpythonv1.0.1

Install

2.8s avg

Import

279ms

Disk

28MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v1.0.1 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.288s · 29.8MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 2.8s · import 0.270s · 30MB

28MB installed

● package 28MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

XmlTestCase

✓ from xmlunittest import XmlTestCase

✗ import xmlunittest

The primary class to inherit from is XmlTestCase, not the module itself.

This quickstart demonstrates how to create an XML test case by inheriting from `xmlunittest.XmlTestCase`. It shows common assertions like `assertXmlDocument` for basic validity, `assertXpathsExist` to check for elements, `assertXpathValues` to check content, and `assertXpathAttributes` to check attributes. It also includes an example of handling XML with namespaces by passing a `namespaces` dictionary to the assertion methods.

import unittest from xmlunittest import XmlTestCase class MyXmlTests(XmlTestCase): def test_basic_xml_content(self): data = """<root><item id='1'>Value A</item><item id='2'>Value B</item></root>""" self.assertXmlDocument(data) self.assertXpathsExist(data, ['/root', '/root/item', '/root/item[@id="1"]']) self.assertXpathsOnlyOne(data, ['/root/item[@id="1"]']) self.assertXpathValues(data, '//item[@id="1"]', ['Value A']) self.assertXpathAttributes(data, '//item[@id="1"]', {'id': '1'}) def test_with_namespaces(self): data = """<root xmlns:ns='http://example.com/ns'><ns:element>Hello</ns:element></root>""" # Pass namespaces explicitly when using XPath with namespaces self.assertXpathValues(data, '//ns:element', ['Hello'], namespaces={'ns': 'http://example.com/ns'}) if __name__ == '__main__': unittest.main()

Debug

Known issues

breakingPrior to version 0.4.0, `xmlunittest` did not explicitly handle namespaces in XPath expressions. If your tests relied on XPath against namespaced XML, you might need to adjust your XPath expressions to properly declare and use namespaces (e.g., `{ns:uri}localname` or by passing a `namespaces` dictionary to assertion methods) after upgrading, or ensure your XML matches a non-namespaced structure if that was the prior implicit assumption.

fix

Ensure XPath expressions correctly reference namespaces (e.g., by providing a `namespaces` dictionary to assertion methods) or adjust XML if non-namespaced XPath was implicitly relied upon.

affects: <0.4.0

gotchaThe `xmlunittest` library depends on `lxml`, which can sometimes be challenging to install due to underlying system library requirements (e.g., `libxml2`, `libxslt`). Users might encounter compilation errors if these development headers are not present on their system.

fix

Before installing `lxml` (and thus `xmlunittest`), ensure that necessary system libraries and development headers for `libxml2` and `libxslt` are installed. For example, on Debian/Ubuntu: `sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev python3-dev`.

affects: All

breakingVersions of `xmlunittest` prior to 1.0.0 (specifically up to 0.3.2) supported Python 2.7. The current version (1.0.1) requires Python >= 3.8. Migrating from older versions on Python 2.x to the latest will require a Python 3 environment.

fix

Upgrade your Python environment to 3.8 or newer. For projects requiring Python 2.7, stick to `xmlunittest` versions <= 0.3.2, but be aware these are unmaintained.

affects: <1.0.0

gotchaA common mistake when testing XML is to perform direct string comparisons. `xmlunittest` explicitly aims to solve the issues arising from such comparisons (e.g., attribute order, whitespace, optional elements). Users should leverage `XmlTestCase`'s specialized assertion methods for robust XML validation, rather than `assertEqual(xml_string_1, xml_string_2)`.

fix

Always use the assertion methods provided by `xmlunittest.XmlTestCase` (e.g., `assertXmlDocument`, `assertXpathValues`, `assertXpathsExist`) instead of standard `unittest.TestCase` assertions for comparing XML strings.

affects: All

Errors

Common errors & fixes

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'xmlunittest'

The `xmlunittest` library is not installed in the current Python environment.

fix

pip install xmlunittest

AttributeError: 'MyTestClass' object has no attribute 'assertXmlEquivalent'

The test class does not inherit from `xmlunittest.XmlTestCase`, which provides the XML assertion methods.

fix

from xmlunittest import XmlTestCase

class MyTestClass(XmlTestCase):
    # ... tests using assertXmlEquivalent, etc.

lxml.etree.XPathSyntaxError: Invalid expression

An XPath expression provided to an `xmlunittest` method is syntactically incorrect.

fix

Correct the XPath expression to be valid according to XPath syntax (e.g., ensure proper prefixes, axes, and predicate formatting).
Example: `self.assertXmlHasXPath(xml_doc, "/root/item[@id='1']")`

TypeError: XML content must be a string, a file-like object, or an lxml.etree.Element

An `xmlunittest` assertion method received an argument for XML content that is not a string, a file-like object, or an `lxml.etree.Element`.

fix

Ensure that the XML content passed to `xmlunittest` methods is a valid string, a file-like object (e.g., `io.StringIO`), or an `lxml.etree.Element`.

Upgrade

Version history

1.0.1latest on PyPI · released Jul 13, 2024

Audit

Dependencies

lxmlrequiredProvides core XML parsing, XPath evaluation, and schema validation capabilities.

Agent activity

19 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/Exirel/python-xmlunittest ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/xmlunittest/ ↗