Question

Hopefully a simple question, but it doesn’t seem to be covered in the documentation or web2py book…

I’ve got a web2py controller method that looks something like:

def mymethod():
    '''
    doctests go here
    '''
    param1 = request.vars['param1']
    param2 = request.vars['param2']
    param3 = request.vars['param3']
    # Stuff happens...
    return dict(result=result)

with the parameters being passed in as request variables as per the documentation

Is there any way to build a doctest (inline with the method definition) to evaluate the return value of a call such as mymethod(param1=9, param2='a', param3=3.7)?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Just put the desired values in request.vars within the doctest:

def mymethod():
    '''
    >>> request.vars.update(param1=9, param2='a', param3=3.7)
    >>> mymethod()
    [expected output of mymethod goes here]
    '''

To get the doctest right, you can play around in a web2py shell, which you can start as follows:

python web2py.py -S myapp/mycontroller -M -N

That will give you a Python shell in an environment with your application’s model files executed (that’s what the -M option does). Because mycontroller is specified, you’ll also be able to call any function in mycontroller. Run some commands in the shell and then paste the session into your docstring.