How to create a fullstack application using Django and Python Part 15 | LetsBSocial1

Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 7:36 AM | 14 min read

Last modified on Monday, May 25, 2026 at 11:00 AM

#fullstack development, #macOS, #user authentication, #django, #python3, #tests, #code modularization, #series, #unittest

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Important Note: Before committing anything to Git or pushing anything to remote, please visit How to create a fullstack application using Django and Python Part 4 where I discuss how to add the python-dotenv package to the Django site and why it is crucial to do it. This article assumes you have a working knowledge of Git.

Updating the django_boards wireframes
Creating the accounts app
- Adding accounts to INSTALLED_APPS in django_boards/settings.py
Creating the signup view
- Creating a new route in django_boards/urls.py
- Creating the signup view inside accounts/views.py
Creating a new templates/signup.html file
Creating SignupTests in accounts/tests.py
Tweaking templates/base.html to account for authentication views
Using {%block body%} instead of {%block content%}
Creating the signup view in accounts/views.py
Creating an accounts/forms.py file
Adding email field to SuccessfulSignUpTests in accounts/tests.py
Creating a test to verify HTML inputs in templates/signup.html
Improving the accounts tests structure
Modularizing the tests in boards/tests.py
Modularizing the tests in accounts/tests.py
Conclusion
Related Resources
Related Posts
Footnotes

Updating the django_boards wireframes

index/homepage view for non-authenticated users

If the user IS authenticated/logged in:

index/homepage for logged in user view

The login page:

The login page

The signup page:

The signup page

The password reset page:

The password reset page

Change password page:

Change password page

Creating the accounts app

Next, we are going to create an accounts app where everything related to user accounts will reside. Inside the django_boards root directory, where the manage.py resides, we'll create a new app by running the following command in Terminal:

django-admin startapp accounts

Now the project structure should look like the following:

- django_boards/
    - accounts/ # added
    - boards/
    - django_boards/
    - static/
    - templates/
    - db.sqlite3
    - manage.py
    - venv/
    - .env
    - .gitignore

Adding accounts to INSTALLED_APPS in django_boards/settings.py

# in django_boards/settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'boards.apps.BoardsConfig',
    'dotenv',
    'pylint',
    'graphviz',
    'djlint',
    'coverage',
    'widget_tweaks',
    'accounts', # added
]

Creating a new route in django_boards/urls.py

# django_boards/urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path

from accounts import views as accounts_views # added
from boards import views

urlpatterns = [
    path("", views.index, name="index"),
    path("signup/", accounts_views.signup, name="signup"), # added
    path("boards/<str:id>/", views.board_topics, name="board_topics"),
    path("boards/<str:id>/new/", views.new_topic, name="new_topic"),
    path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
]

We are importing accounts differently from boards. We give an alias because otherwise it could conflict with the boards' views.

# in accounts/views.py
from django.shortcuts import render

# Create your views here.
def signup(request):
    return render(request, "signup.html")

Creating a new templates/signup.html file

<!-- templates/signup.html -->
{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block content %}
  <h2>Sign up</h2>
{% endblock content %}

When I visit the http://127.0.0.1:8000/signup/ url in browser, the signuppagelooks likethefollowing`:

Rendering the signup page in the browser

Creating SignupTests in accounts/tests.py

from django.urls import reverse
from django.test import TestCase
from django.urls import resolve
from .views import signup

# Create your tests here.
class SignUpTests(TestCase):

    def test_signup_status_code(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        response = self.client.get(url)
        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)

    def test_signup_url_resolves_signup_view(self):
        view = resolve('/signup/')
        self.assertEqual(view.func, signup)

When I run python3 manage.py test, the following should be returned:

Found 19 test(s).
Creating test database for alias 'default'...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
...................
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 19 tests in 1.930s

OK
Destroying test database for alias 'default'...

Tweaking templates/base.html to account for authentication views

For the authentication views (signup, login, password reset, password change, etc.), we won't use the navigation menu or breadcrumb. We will use the base.html template. We will just have to tweak it a bit:

<!-- templates/base.html -->
{% load static %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
	<head>
		<meta charset="utf-8" />
		<meta
			name="description"
			content="A forum dedicated to all things Django"
		/>
		<meta name="keywords" content="django, python3" />
		<title>{% block title %} Django Boards {% endblock title %}</title>
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/bootstrap.min.css' %}" />
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/app.css' %}" />
		{% block stylesheet %}{% endblock stylesheet %}
		<!-- ADDED HERE -->
	</head>
	<body>
		{% block body %}
		<!-- ADDED HERE -->
		<nav class="navbar bg-primary" data-bs-theme="dark">
			<div class="container-fluid">
				<a class="navbar-brand mb-0 h1" href="{% url 'index' %}"
					>Django Boards</a
				>
			</div>
		</nav>
		<div class="container">
			<ol class="breadcrumb my-4">
				{% block breadcrumb %} {% endblock breadcrumb %}
			</ol>
			{% block content %} {% endblock content %}
		</div>
		{% endblock body %}
		<!-- AND ADDED HERE -->
	</body>
</html>

{% block stylesheet %}{% endblock stylesheet %} will be used to add extra CSS, specific to certain pages.

{% block body %} is wrapping around the whole HTML page. We can use it for an empty document, taking advantage of the head of base.html.

Using {%block body%} instead of {%block content%}

<!-- templates/signup.html -->
{% extends "base.html" %} {% block body %}
<h2>Sign up</h2>
{% endblock body %}

# in accounts/views.py
from django.shortcuts import render
from django.contrib.auth.forms import UserCreationForm

# Create your views here.
def signup(request):
    form = UserCreationForm
    return render(request, "signup.html")

# in accounts/views.py
def signup(request):
    form = UserCreationForm()
    return render(request, "signup.html", {'form': form})

<!-- in templates/signup.html -->
{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block body %}
  <div class="container">
    <h2>Sign up</h2>
    <form method="post" novalidate>
      {% csrf_token %}
      {{ form.as_p }}
      <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Create an account</button>
    </form>
  </div>
{% endblock body %}

Now our signup view looks like the following:

Result of adding UserCreationForm to signup view in accounts/views.py

Looks a bit all over the place, right? We can fix that by adding {% include "includes/form.html" %} to templates/signup.html.

Updating templates/signup.html to make it prettier

<!-- templates/signup.html -->
{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block body %}
  <div class="container">
    <h2>Sign up</h2>
    <form method="post" novalidate>
      {% csrf_token %}
      {% include "includes/form.html" %}
      {{ form.as_p }}
      <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Create an account</button>
    </form>
  </div>
{% endblock body %}

After adding {% include "includes/form.html" %}, the signup view looks much prettier:

Updating templates/signup.html to make it prettier

We're almost there. Right now, our form is displaying some raw HTML. It's a security feature. By default, Django treats all strings as unsafe, escaping all special characters that may cause trouble from a security standpoint. But in this case, we can purportedly trust it. So:

<!-- includes/form.html -->
{% load widget_tweaks %}

{% for field in form %}
  <div class="form-group">
    {{ field.label_tag }}

    {% if form.is_bound %}
      {% if field.errors %}
        {% render_field field class="form-control is-invalid" %}
        {% for error in field.errors %}
          <div class="invalid-feedback">
            {{ error }}
          </div>
        {% endfor %}
      {% else %}
        {% render_field field class="form-control is-valid" %}
      {% endif %}
    {% else %}
      {% render_field field class="form-control" %}
    {% endif %}

    {% if field.help_text %}
      <small class="form-text text-muted">
        {{ field.help_text|safe }}  <!-- new code here -->
      </small>
    {% endif %}
  </div>
{% endfor %}

Basically, we added the safe option to field.help_text: {{ field.help_text|safe }}.

Now the signup view looks like the following:

Implementing the "safe" option in templates/includes/form.html

from django.contrib.auth import login as auth_login
from django.contrib.auth.forms import UserCreationForm
from django.shortcuts import render, redirect

def signup(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
    form = UserCreationForm(request.POST)
        if form.is_valid():
            user = form.save()
            auth_login(request, user)
            return redirect('index')
    else:
        form = UserCreationForm()
    return render(request, 'signup.html', {'form': form})

Above, we have basic form processing implemented with a small twist: the login function (renamed to auth_login to avoid naming conflicts with the built-in login view). Renaming it to auth_login also clarifies what it is for.

If the form is valid, a User instance (user = form.save()) is created. The created user is then passed as an argument to auth_login(), manually authenticating the user. After that, the view redirects to the index/home view, completing the registration process.

Note: if we are using a ModelForm (which we are), then there is no need to play around with something like a cleaned_data dictionary¹. When we save a form with form.save(), it will already be automatically matched and cleaned_data is saved.

If I try to submit an empty form the following is returned:

Result of trying to submit an empty form

If I try to submit a form with the name of an existing user:

Trying to submit a form with the username of an existing user

Referencing the authenticated user in templates/base.html

<!-- templates/base.html -->
{% load static %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="description" content="A forum dedicated to all things Django" />
    <meta name="keywords" content="django, python3" />
    <title>
      {% block title %}
        Django Boards
      {% endblock title %}
    </title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/bootstrap.min.css' %}">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/app.css' %}">
    {% block stylesheet %}
    {% endblock stylesheet %}
  </head>
  <body>
    {% block body %}
      <nav class="navbar bg-primary" data-bs-theme="dark">
        <div class="container-fluid">
          <a class="navbar-brand mb-0 h1" href="{% url 'index' %}">Django Boards</a>
          <button class="navbar-toggler"
                  type="button"
                  data-toggle="collapse"
                  data-target="#mainMenu"
                  aria-controls="mainMenu"
                  aria-expanded="false"
                  aria-label="Toggle navigation">
            <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
          </button>
          <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="mainMenu">
            <ul class="navbar-nav ml-auto">
              {% comment %} <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link-user" href="#">{{ user.username }}</a>
              </li> {% endcomment %}
            </ul>
          </div>
        </div>
      </nav>
      <div class="container">
      <!-- added below -->
      <a class="nav-link-user" href="#">Welcome {{ user.username }}!</a>
        <ol class="breadcrumb my-4">
          {% block breadcrumb %}
          {% endblock breadcrumb %}
        </ol>
        {% block content %}
        {% endblock content %}
      </div>
    {% endblock body %}
  </body>
</html>

Now the index/home page looks like the following:

Index/home page includes logged in user

# accounts/tests.py
# before:
from django.urls import reverse
from django.test import TestCase
from django.urls import resolve
from .views import signup

# Create your tests here.
class SignUpTests(TestCase):

    def test_signup_status_code(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        response = self.client.get(url)
        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)

    def test_signup_url_resolves_signup_view(self):
        view = resolve('/signup/')
        self.assertEqual(view.func, signup)
# after:
from django.contrib.auth.forms import UserCreationForm
from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
from django.urls import resolve
from django.test import TestCase
from .views import signup

class SignUpTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        self.response = self.client.get(url)

    def test_signup_status_code(self):
        self.assertEqual(self.response.status_code, 200)

    def test_signup_url_resolves_signup_view(self):
        view = resolve('/signup/')
        self.assertEqual(view.func, signup)

    def test_csrf(self):
        self.assertContains(self.response, 'csrfmiddlewaretoken')

    def test_contains_form(self):
        form = self.response.context.get('form')
        self.assertIsInstNCE(form, UserCreationForm)

We changed the SignUpTests class a bit. We created a setUp() method, moved the response object there. We are now also testing if the response contains a form and CSRF token.

# in accounts/tests/py
from django.contrib.auth.models import User # add to imports

class SuccessfulSignupTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        data = {
            'username': 'john',
            'password1': 'abcdef123456',
            'password2': 'abcdef123456'
        }
        self.response = self.client.post(url, data)
        self.index_url = reverse('index')

    def test_redirection(self):
        '''
        A valid form submission should redirect the user to the index/home page
        '''
        self.assertRedirects(self.response, self.index_url)

    def test_user_creation(self):
        self.assertTrue(User.objects.exists())

    def test_user_authentication(self):
        '''
        Create a new request to an arbitrary page.
        The resulting response should now have a 'user' to its context,
        after a successful sign up.
        '''
        response = self.client.get(self.index_url)
        user = response.context.get('user')
        self.assertTrue(user.is_authenticated)

Now when I run python3 manage.py test in Terminal, the following should be returned:

Found 15 test(s).
Creating test database for alias 'default'...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 15 tests in 1.525s

OK
Destroying test database for alias 'default'...

# in accounts/tests.py
class InvalidSignUpTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        self.response = self.client.post(url, {}) # submit an empty dictionary

    def test_signup_status_code(self):
        '''
        An invalid form submission should return to the same page
        '''
        self.assertEqual(self.response.status_code, 200)

    def test_form_errors(self):
        form = self.response.context.get('form')
        self.assertTrue(form.errors)

    def test_dont_create_user(self):
        self.assertFalse(User.objects.exists())

Now when I run python3 manage.py test in Terminal, the following should be returned:

Found 18 test(s).
Creating test database for alias 'default'...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
..................
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 18 tests in 1.539s

OK
Destroying test database for alias 'default'...

Everything IS working, but the email field is missing. That is because the UserCreationForm does not provide an email field. But we can extend it.

Creating an accounts/forms.py file

from django import forms
from django.contrib.auth.forms import UserCreationForm
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class SignUpForm(UserCreationForm):
    email = forms.CharField(max_length=254, required=True, widget=forms.EmailInput())
    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ('username', 'email', 'password1', 'password2')

Adding email field to SuccessfulSignUpTests in accounts/tests.py

class SuccessfulSignUpTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        data = {
            'username': 'john',
            'email': 'john@doe.com', # added
            'password1': 'abcdef123456',
            'password2': 'abcdef123456'
        }
        self.response = self.client.post(url, data)
        self.index_url = reverse('index')

Now, instead of using the UserCreationForm in our accounts/views.py, we'll import the new form called SignUpForm, and use it instead:

# in accounts/views.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from .forms import SignUpForm # SignUpFrom import added replacing UserCreationForm
from django.urls import reverse
from django.urls import resolve
from django.test import TestCase
from .views import signup

class SignUpTests(TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        self.response = self.client.get(url)

    def test_signup_status_code(self):
        self.assertEqual(self.response.status_code, 200)

    def test_signup_url_resolves_signup_view(self):
        view = resolve('/signup/')
        self.assertEqual(view.func, signup)

    def test_csrf(self):
        self.assertContains(self.response, 'csrfmiddlewaretoken')

    def test_contains_form(self):
        form = self.response.context.get('form')
        self.assertIsInstance(form, SignUpForm) # SignUpForm replaces UserCreationForm

The previous UserCreationForm test case would still pass, because SignUpForm extends UserCreationForm. it is an instance of UserCreationForm.

As for class SuccessfulSignUpTests(TestCase), we now have added an email field to the signup form both in accounts/forms.py and in accounts/tests.py.

# in accounts/forms.py
fields = ('username', 'email', 'password1', 'password2')

The above is automatically reflected in the HTML template. However, this is not necessarily a good thing. What if later on, developers wanted to re-use the SignUpForm for something else, and add some extra fields. The new fields would also show up in signup.html. This would not necessarily be what was wanted. This change could go unnoticed, and we never want any surprises.

Creating a test to verify HTML inputs in templates/signup.html

# in accounts/tests.py
class SignUpTests(TestCase):
...
    def test_form_inputs(self):
        '''
        The view must contain five inputs: csrf, username, email, password1, password2
        '''
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input', 7)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="text" name="username" maxlength="150" autofocus class="form-control" required aria-describedby="id_username_helptext" id="id_username">', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="email" name="email" maxlength="254" class="form-control" required id="id_email">', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="password" name="password1" autocomplete="new-password" class="form-control" aria-describedby="id_password1_helptext" id="id_password1">', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="password" name="password2" autocomplete="new-password" class="form-control" aria-describedby="id_password2_helptext" id="id_password2">', 1)

We have to be specific about what is inside the inputs. Generically doing the following:

# in accounts/tests.py
class SignUpTests(TestCase):
    # ...

    def test_form_inputs(self):
        '''
        The view must contain five inputs: csrf, username, email,
        password1, password2
        '''
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input', 5)
        self.assertContains(self.response, 'type="text"', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, 'type="email"', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, 'type="password"', 2)

results in a failed test. With assertContains() these days, we have to add the complete input field with all its attributes in order for the tests to pass. So what I did, was first run the above failing test, which then returned all the information I needed to add to my refactored test_form_inputs test:

# what was returned from failed test_form_inputs test in Terminal:
Found 23 test(s).
Creating test database for alias 'default'...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
.....F.................
======================================================================
FAIL: test_form_inputs (accounts.tests.SignUpTests.test_form_inputs)
The view must contain five inputs: csrf, username, email, password1, password2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/mariacam/Python-Development/django-boards/django_boards/accounts/tests.py", line 32, in test_form_inputs
    self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="text" class="form-control" required  id="id_username"', 1)
  File "/Users/mariacam/.pyenv/versions/3.12.5/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/test/testcases.py", line 614, in assertContains
    self.assertEqual(
AssertionError: 0 != 1 : Found 0 instances of '<input type="text" class="form-control" required  id="id_username"' (expected 1) in the following response
b'\n<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html lang="en">\n  <head>\n    <meta charset="utf-8">\n    <meta name="description" content="A forum dedicated to all things Django" />\n    <meta name="keywords" content="django, python3" />\n    <title>\n      \n        Django Boards\n      \n    </title>\n    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/css/bootstrap.min.css">\n    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/css/app.css">\n    \n    \n  </head>\n  <body>\n    \n  <div class="container">\n    <h2>Sign up</h2>\n    <form method="post" novalidate>\n      <input type="hidden" name="csrfmiddlewaretoken" value="PTngaYH2sjQHU31KOhs8V94bB5jam0Ju1JZUOhd5bHINwTXUAgjGm01K96wb24rL">\n      \n\n\n  <div class="form-group">\n    <label for="id_username">Username:</label>\n\n    \n      <input type="text" name="username" maxlength="150" autofocus class="form-control" required aria-describedby="id_username_helptext" id="id_username">\n    \n\n    \n      <small class="form-text text-muted">\n        Required. 150 characters or fewer. Letters, digits and @/./+/-/_ only.\n      </small>\n    \n  </div>\n\n  <div class="form-group">\n    <label for="id_email">Email:</label>\n\n    \n      <input type="email" name="email" maxlength="254" class="form-control" required id="id_email">\n    \n\n    \n  </div>\n\n  <div class="form-group">\n    <label for="id_password1">Password:</label>\n\n    \n      <input type="password" name="password1" autocomplete="new-password" class="form-control" aria-describedby="id_password1_helptext" id="id_password1">\n    \n\n    \n      <small class="form-text text-muted">\n        <ul><li>Your password can\xe2\x80\x99t be too similar to your other personal information.</li><li>Your password must contain at least 8 characters.</li><li>Your password can\xe2\x80\x99t be a commonly used password.</li><li>Your password can\xe2\x80\x99t be entirely numeric.</li></ul>\n      </small>\n    \n  </div>\n\n  <div class="form-group">\n    <label for="id_password2">Password confirmation:</label>\n\n    \n      <input type="password" name="password2" autocomplete="new-password" class="form-control" aria-describedby="id_password2_helptext" id="id_password2">\n    \n\n    \n      <small class="form-text text-muted">\n        Enter the same password as before, for verification.\n      </small>\n    \n  </div>\n\n  <div class="form-group">\n    <label>Password-based authentication:</label>\n\n    \n      <div id="id_usable_password" class="form-control"><div>\n    <label for="id_usable_password_0"><input type="radio" name="usable_password" value="true" class="form-control" id="id_usable_password_0" checked>\n Enabled</label>\n\n</div><div>\n    <label for="id_usable_password_1"><input type="radio" name="usable_password" value="false" class="form-control" id="id_usable_password_1">\n Disabled</label>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n    \n\n    \n      <small class="form-text text-muted">\n        Whether the user will be able to authenticate using a password or not. If disabled, they may still be able to authenticate using other backends, such as Single Sign-On or LDAP.\n      </small>\n    \n  </div>\n\n      <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Create an account</button>\n    </form>\n  </div>\n\n  </body>\n</html>\n'

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 23 tests in 1.559s

FAILED (failures=1)
Destroying test database for alias 'default'...

Then I passed those complete input fields to assertContains() as shown in the passing test_form_inputs test I created.

We are testing for specific inputs, so this does make sense. If future developers wanted to change the inputs in some way in the Signup form, they would be alerted to need for changes to the test when running it. If, however, we wanted to create a test that would make the test "more" or "all-inclusive" (if that's what we wanted), we could use something like BeatifulSoup4 along with Soup Sieve. I will test this out in Part 16.

Improving the accounts tests structure

So first let's deal with accounts/tests.py. Inside accounts/, we'll first create a new directory called "tests".

Next, inside that directory we'll add a new file called test_view_signup.py. We also have to make sure to create an empty __init__.py file inside the new "tests" directory.

Inside test_view_signup.py, we'll first add the following at the top of the file:

# inside test_view_signup.py at top of file
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
from django.urls import resolve
from django.test import TestCase

from ..views import signup
from ..forms import SignUpForm

Next, we'll add the following:

# inside test_view_signup.py below imports
class SignUpFormTest(TestCase):
    def test_form_has_fields(self):
        form = SignUpForm()
        expected = ['username', 'email', 'password1', 'password2',]
        actual = list(form.fields)
        self.assertSequenceEqual(expected, actual)

The above test is also pretty exact. But there is purpose behind it. If, in the future, the SignUpForm has to be changed, to include the user's first and last name, for example, we would probably have to fix a few test cases, even if we didn't break anything. The alerts are useful, because they create awareness of what is in the code, especially for developers touching the code for the first time.

Modularizing the tests in boards/tests.py

Next, let's modularize the tests inside boards/tests.py. Right now, both the boards/tests.py and accounts/tests.py files are pretty huge. We should definitely modularize them!

First, let's create a new "tests" directory inside boards, and add an empty __init__.py file.

Next, let's create a file called test_index_tests.py and place the following inside:

# inside boards/tests/test_index_tests.py
from django.urls import reverse
from django.test import TestCase
from django.urls import resolve
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from ..views import index, board_topics, new_topic
from ..models import Board, Topic, Post
from ..forms import NewTopicForm

class IndexTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        self.board = Board.objects.create(
            name="Python", description="Everything related to Python"
        )
        url = reverse("index")
        self.response = self.client.get(url)

    def test_index_view_status_code(self):
        self.assertEqual(self.response.status_code, 200)

    def test_index_url_resolves_index_view(self):
        view = resolve("/")
        self.assertEqual(view.func, index)

    def test_index_view_contains_link_to_topics_page(self):
        board_topics_url = reverse("board_topics", kwargs={"id": self.board.id})
        self.assertContains(self.response, 'href="{0}"'.format(board_topics_url))

    def test_board_topics_view_contains_link_back_to_index_page(self):
        board_topics_url = reverse("board_topics", kwargs={"id": 1})
        response = self.client.get(board_topics_url)
        index_page_url = reverse("index")
        self.assertContains(response, 'href="{0}"'.format(index_page_url))

Next, let's create another file called test_board_topics_tests.py inside boards/tests/, and place the following inside:

# inside boards/tests/test_board_topics_tests.py
from django.urls import reverse
from django.test import TestCase
from django.urls import resolve
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from ..views import index, board_topics, new_topic
from ..models import Board, Topic, Post
from ..forms import NewTopicForm

class BoardTopicsTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        Board.objects.create(name="Python", description="Everything related to Python")

    def test_board_topics_view_success_status_code(self):
        url = reverse("board_topics", kwargs={"id": 1})
        response = self.client.get(url)
        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)

    def test_board_topics_view_not_found_status_code(self):
        url = reverse("board_topics", kwargs={"id": 99})
        response = self.client.get(url)
        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 404)

    def test_board_topics_url_resolves_board_topics_view(self):
        view = resolve("/boards/1/")
        self.assertEqual(view.func, board_topics)

    def test_board_topics_view_contains_navigation_links(self):
        board_topics_url = reverse('board_topics', kwargs={'id': 1})
        homepage_url = reverse('index')
        new_topic_url = reverse('new_topic', kwargs={'id': 1})

        response = self.client.get(board_topics_url)

        self.assertContains(response, 'href="{0}"'.format(homepage_url))
        self.assertContains(response, 'href="{0}"'.format(new_topic_url))

Lastly, let's create a file called test_new_topic_tests.py inside boards/tests/, and place the following inside:

from django.urls import reverse
from django.test import TestCase
from django.urls import resolve
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from ..views import index, board_topics, new_topic
from ..models import Board, Topic, Post
from ..forms import NewTopicForm

class NewTopicTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        Board.objects.create(name="Python", description="Everything related to Python")
        User.objects.create_user(username='jane', email='jane@doe.com', password='123')

    def test_csrf(self):
        url = reverse('new_topic', kwargs={'id': 1})
        response = self.client.get(url)
        self.assertContains(response, 'csrfmiddlewaretoken')

    def test_new_topic_valid_post_data(self):
        url = reverse('new_topic', kwargs={'id': 1})
        data = {
            'subject': 'Test title',
            'message': 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet'
        }
        response = self.client.post(url, data)
        self.assertTrue(Topic.objects.exists())
        self.assertTrue(Post.objects.exists())

    def test_new_topic_invalid_post_data(self):
        '''
        Invalid post data should not redirect
        The expected behavior is to show the form again with validation errors
        '''
        url = reverse('new_topic', kwargs={'id': 1})
        response = self.client.post(url, {})
        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)

    def test_new_topic_invalid_post_data_empty_fields(self):
        '''
        Invalid post data should not redirect
        The expected behavior is to show the form again with validation errors
        '''
        url = reverse('new_topic', kwargs={'id': 1})
        data = {
            'subject': '',
            'message': ''
        }

Now we have modularized our boards/tests.py file! And the structure of boards should look like the following:

- boards/
  - tests/
    __pycache__
    - migrations/
    __init__.py
    - test_board_topics_tests.py
    - test_index_tests.py
    - test_new_topic_tests.py
  - __init__.py
  - admin.py
  - apps.py
  - forms.py
  - models.py
  - views.py

Make sure to delete the original boards/tests.py file. Otherwise, the new structure will not work!

Modularizing the tests in accounts/tests.py

We have already added one test file to the new tests directory in accounts (accounts/tests/). Now let's modularize the tests in accounts/tests.py just like we did for boards.

First, let's create a new file called test_signup_tests.py, and place the following inside:

# in accounts/tests/test_signup_tests.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from ..forms import SignUpForm
from django.urls import reverse
from django.urls import resolve
from django.test import TestCase
from ..views import signup

class SignUpTests(TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        self.response = self.client.get(url)

    def test_signup_status_code(self):
        self.assertEqual(self.response.status_code, 200)

    def test_signup_url_resolves_signup_view(self):
        view = resolve('/signup/')
        self.assertEqual(view.func, signup)

    def test_csrf(self):
        self.assertContains(self.response, 'csrfmiddlewaretoken')

    def test_contains_form(self):
        form = self.response.context.get('form')
        self.assertIsInstance(form, SignUpForm)

    def test_form_inputs(self):
        '''
        The view must contain five inputs: csrf, username, email, password1, password2
        '''
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input', 7)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="text" name="username" maxlength="150" autofocus class="form-control" required aria-describedby="id_username_helptext" id="id_username">', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="email" name="email" maxlength="254" class="form-control" required id="id_email">', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="password" name="password1" autocomplete="new-password" class="form-control" aria-describedby="id_password1_helptext" id="id_password1">', 1)
        self.assertContains(self.response, '<input type="password" name="password2" autocomplete="new-password" class="form-control" aria-describedby="id_password2_helptext" id="id_password2">', 1)

Next, let's create a file called test_successful_signup_tests.py, and place the following inside:

# in accounts/tests/test_successful_signup_tests.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from ..forms import SignUpForm
from django.urls import reverse
from django.urls import resolve
from django.test import TestCase
from ..views import signup

class SuccessfulSignUpTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        data = {
            'username': 'john',
            'email': 'john@doe.com',
            'password1': 'abcdef123456',
            'password2': 'abcdef123456'
        }
        self.response = self.client.post(url, data)
        self.index_url = reverse('index')

    def test_redirection(self):
        '''
        A valid form submission should redirect the user to the home page
        '''
        self.assertRedirects(self.response, self.index_url)

    def test_user_creation(self):
        self.assertTrue(User.objects.exists())

    def test_user_authentication(self):
        '''
        Create a new request to an arbitrary page.
        The resulting response should now have a `user` to its context,
        after a successful sign up.
        '''
        response = self.client.get(self.index_url)
        user = response.context.get('user')
        self.assertTrue(user.is_authenticated)

Lastly, let's create a new file called test_invalid_signup_tests.py, and place the following inside:

# in accounts/tests/test_invalid_signup_tests.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from .forms import SignUpForm
from django.urls import reverse
from django.urls import resolve
from django.test import TestCase
from .views import signup

class InvalidSignUpTests(TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        url = reverse('signup')
        self.response = self.client.post(url, {})  # submit an empty dictionary

    def test_signup_status_code(self):
        '''
        An invalid form submission should return to the same page
        '''
        self.assertEqual(self.response.status_code, 200)

    def test_form_errors(self):
        form = self.response.context.get('form')
        self.assertTrue(form.errors)

    def test_dont_create_user(self):
        self.assertFalse(User.objects.exists())

Now we have modularized our accounts/tests.py file! And the structure of accounts should look like the following:

- accounts/
  - __pycache__
  - migrations/
  - tests/
    - __pycache__
    - __init__.py
    - test_invalid_signup_tests.py
    - test_signup_tests.py
    - test_successful_signup_tests.py
    - test_view_signup.py # from before
  - __init__.py
  - admin.py
  - apps.py
  - forms.py
  - models.py
  - views.py

We are ready to test out both our new board and accounts setup.

To run our boards tests, we run the following command in Terminal:

python3 manage.py test boards

Those tests should all pass.

To run our accounts tests, we run the following command in Terminal:

python3 manage.py test accounts

When we run the accounts tests, one test should fail. The SignUpFormTest in accounts/tests/test_view_signup.py. If you want to ignore that test (but also keep it), you can just comment out the code in the file. That's what I did.

Conclusion

In this section, we created an accounts app here everything related to user accounts would reside, created a signup view in accounts/views.py, a signup.html template, created a SignUpTests class in accounts/tests.py, tweaked templates/base.html to account for authentication, implemented auth_login in the signup view, referenced the authenticated user in templates/base.html, tested for a successful signup with a SuccessfulSignUpTests class, tested for signup invalid data with an InvalidSignUpTests class, created an accounts/forms.py file, created a test to verify HTML inputs in templates/signup.html, and modularized our boards and accounts tests so that we didn't have to deal with such large files.

How to create a fullstack application using Django and Python Table of Contents

Footnotes

form.cleaned_data returns a dictionary of validated form input fields and their values, where string primary keys are returned as objects. to view an example, please visit the thread entitled "What is the use of cleaned_data in Django?") on stackoverflow. ↩

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