test.TransactionTestCase

class TransactionTestCase [source]

TransactionTestCase inherits from SimpleTestCase to add some database-specific features:

• Resetting the database to a known state at the beginning of each test to ease testing and using the ORM.
• Database fixtures.
• Test skipping based on database backend features.
• The remaining specialized assert* methods.

Django’s TestCase class is a more commonly used subclass of TransactionTestCase that makes use of database transaction facilities to speed up the process of resetting the database to a known state at the beginning of each test. A consequence of this, however, is that some database behaviors cannot be tested within a Django TestCase class. For instance, you cannot test that a block of code is executing within a transaction, as is required when using select_for_update(). In those cases, you should use TransactionTestCase.

TransactionTestCase and TestCase are identical except for the manner in which the database is reset to a known state and the ability for test code to test the effects of commit and rollback:

• A TransactionTestCase resets the database after the test runs by truncating all tables. A TransactionTestCase may call commit and rollback and observe the effects of these calls on the database.
• A TestCase, on the other hand, does not truncate tables after a test. Instead, it encloses the test code in a database transaction that is rolled back at the end of the test. This guarantees that the rollback at the end of the test restores the database to its initial state.