<html lang="en">

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

<meta charset="utf-8">

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

<meta name="author" content="Matt Makai">

<meta name="description" content="Integration testing determines the correctness for several parts of a system under test at once. Learn more on Full Stack Python.">

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="//static.fullstackpython.com/fsp-fav.png">

<title>Integration Testing - Full Stack Python</title>

<!--[if lt IE 9]>

<link href="theme/css/f.min.css" rel="stylesheet">

<div style="padding: 0 0 20px 0; margin: 0 0 20px 0; background-color: #22B24C;">

<div class="container">

<h2 style="color: #fff; margin: 20px 40px 0 0;"><a href="https://www.gumroad.com/l/python-deployments" style="color: #fff">The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book</a> has been released!</h2>

</div>

</div> <a href="https://github.com/makaimc/fullstackpython.com"><img style="position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; border: 0;" src="/theme/img/fork.png" alt="Fork me on GitHub"></a>

<div class="container">

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-12">

<div class="logo-header-section">

<a href="/" style="text-decoration: none; border: none;"><img src="theme/img/logo.png" height="52" width="52" class="logo-image" style="padding-top: 1px;" alt="Full Stack Python logo"></a>

<span class="logo-title"><a href="/">Full Stack Python</a></span>

</div>

</div>

</div><div class="row">

<div class="col-md-8">

<h1>Integration Testing</h1>

<p>Integration testing exercises two or more parts of an application at once,

including the interactions between the parts, to determine if they function

as intended. This type of <a href="/testing.html">testing</a> identifies defects in

the interfaces between disparate parts of a codebase as they invoke

each other and pass data between themselves.</p>

<h2>How is integration testing different from unit testing?</h2>

<p>While <a href="/unit-testing.html">unit testing</a> is used to find bugs in individual

functions, integration testing tests the system as a whole. These two

approaches should be used together, instead of doing just one approach over

the other. When a system is comprehensively unit tested, it makes

integration testing far easier because many of the bugs in the individual

components will have already been found and fixed. </p>

<p>As a codebase scales up, both unit and integration testing allow

developers to quickly identify breaking changes in their code. Many times

these breaking changes are unintended and wouldn't be known about until

later in the development cycle, potentially when an end user discovers

the issue while using the software. Automated unit and integration tests

greatly increase the likelihood that bugs will be found as soon as possible

during development so they can be addressed immediately.</p>

<h3>Integration testing resources</h3>

<p><a href="http://eigenhombre.com/2013/04/13/integration-testing-in-python-with-context-managers/">Integration testing with Context Managers</a>

gives an example of a system that needs integration tests and shows how

context managers can be used to address the problem. There are a couple

other useful posts in this series on testing including

<a href="http://eigenhombre.com/2013/04/18/thoughts-on-integration-testing/">thoughts on integration testing</a>

and <a href="http://eigenhombre.com/2013/04/19/processes-vs-threads-for-testing/">processes vs. threads for integration testing</a>.</p>

<p>Pytest has a page on <a href="https://pytest.org/latest/goodpractises.html">integration good practices</a>

that you'll likely want to follow when testing your application.</p>

<p><a href="http://enterprisecraftsmanship.com/2015/07/13/integration-testing-or-how-to-sleep-well-at-nights/">Integration testing, or how to sleep well at night</a>

explains what integration tests are and gives an example. The example is

coded in Java but still relevant when you're learning about integration

testing.</p>

<p><a href="http://gojko.net/2011/01/12/the-false-dichotomy-of-tests/">The false dichotomy of tests</a>

brings up a good point that tests are code - each one should have a single

purpose, regardless of whether it's a unit or integration test, so

that it's useful for finding defects in the system under test.</p>

<h3>What else do you want to learn about testing?</h3>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-4">

<div class="well select-next">

<a href="/unit-testing.html" class="btn btn-success btn-full"><svg width="28" height="30" viewBox="0 0 1792 1792" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M512 1248v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm0-512v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm640 512v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm-640-1024v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm640 512v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm640 512v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm-640-1024v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm640 512v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68zm0-512v192q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-320q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-192q0-40 28-68t68-28h320q40 0 68 28t28 68z" fill="#fff"/></svg></a>

<p class="under-btn">How do I create unit tests?</p> </div>

</div>

<div class="col-md-4">

<div class="well select-next">

<a href="/continuous-integration.html" class="btn btn-success btn-full"><svg width="28" height="30" viewBox="0 0 1792 1792" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M1639 1056q0 5-1 7-64 268-268 434.5t-478 166.5q-146 0-282.5-55t-243.5-157l-129 129q-19 19-45 19t-45-19-19-45v-448q0-26 19-45t45-19h448q26 0 45 19t19 45-19 45l-137 137q71 66 161 102t187 36q134 0 250-65t186-179q11-17 53-117 8-23 30-23h192q13 0 22.5 9.5t9.5 22.5zm25-800v448q0 26-19 45t-45 19h-448q-26 0-45-19t-19-45 19-45l138-138q-148-137-349-137-134 0-250 65t-186 179q-11 17-53 117-8 23-30 23h-199q-13 0-22.5-9.5t-9.5-22.5v-7q65-268 270-434.5t480-166.5q146 0 284 55.5t245 156.5l130-129q19-19 45-19t45 19 19 45z" fill="#fff"/></svg></a>

<p class="under-btn">Can I automate testing and deployments for my app?</p> </div>

</div>

<div class="col-md-4">

<div class="well select-next">

<a href="/code-metrics.html" class="btn btn-success btn-full"><svg width="28" height="30" viewBox="0 0 1792 1792" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M1596 380q28 28 48 76t20 88v1152q0 40-28 68t-68 28h-1344q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-1600q0-40 28-68t68-28h896q40 0 88 20t76 48zm-444-244v376h376q-10-29-22-41l-313-313q-12-12-41-22zm384 1528v-1024h-416q-40 0-68-28t-28-68v-416h-768v1536h1280zm-1024-864q0-14 9-23t23-9h704q14 0 23 9t9 23v64q0 14-9 23t-23 9h-704q-14 0-23-9t-9-23v-64zm736 224q14 0 23 9t9 23v64q0 14-9 23t-23 9h-704q-14 0-23-9t-9-23v-64q0-14 9-23t23-9h704zm0 256q14 0 23 9t9 23v64q0 14-9 23t-23 9h-704q-14 0-23-9t-9-23v-64q0-14 9-23t23-9h704z" fill="#fff"/></svg></a>

<p class="under-btn">What code metrics should I be aware of?</p> </div>

</div>

</div><div id="mc_embed_signup">

<form action="//mattmakai.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=b7e774f0c4f05dcebbfee183d&amp;id=b22335388d" method="post" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" class="validate" target="_blank" novalidate>

<div id="mc_embed_signup_scroll">

<h4>Sign up here to receive an email with major updates to this site and Python tutorials delivered to your inbox once a month.</h4>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-9">

<input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" class="email form-control" id="mce-EMAIL" placeholder="email address" required>

<div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;"><input type="text" name="b_b7e774f0c4f05dcebbfee183d_b22335388d" tabindex="-1" value=""></div>

</div>

<div class="col-md-3">

<div class="clear"><input type="submit" value="Subscribe" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="btn btn-success" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"></div>

</div>

</div>

</div>

</div>

<div class="col-md-offset-1 col-md-3" id="sidebar">

<div class="panel panel-success">

<div class="panel-body">

<a href="http://www.deploypython.com/"><img src="//static.fullstackpython.com/fsp-deployment-guide.png" alt="The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments" width="100%"></a>

<p style="font-size: .8em; margin-top: 10px;">Searching for a complete, step-by-step deployment walkthrough? Learn more about <a href="http://www.deploypython.com/">The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book</a>.

</p>

</div>

</div> <div class="panel panel-success">

<div class="panel-heading">

<h3 class="panel-head"><a href="/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fff;">Table of Contents</a></h3>

</div>

<div class="list-group">

<a href="/introduction.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Introduction</a>

<a href="/learning-programming.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Learning Programming</a>

<a href="/why-use-python.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Why Use Python?</a>

<a href="/python-2-or-3.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Python 2 or 3?</a>

<a href="/enterprise-python.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Enterprise Python</a>

<a href="/best-python-resources.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Best Python Resources</a>

<a href="/best-python-videos.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Best Python Videos</a>

<a href="/development-environments.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Development Environments</a>

<a href="/vim.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Vim</a>

<a href="/emacs.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Emacs</a>

<a href="/generators.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Generators</a>

<a href="/comprehensions.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Comprehensions</a>

<a href="/web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Web Frameworks</a>

<a href="/django.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Django</a>

<a href="/flask.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Flask</a>

<a href="/bottle.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Bottle</a>

<a href="/pyramid.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Pyramid</a>

<a href="/morepath.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Morepath</a>

<a href="/other-web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Other Web Frameworks</a>

<a href="/web-design.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Web Design</a>

<a href="/cascading-style-sheets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Cascading Style Sheets</a>

<a href="/javascript.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>JavaScript</a>

<a href="/websockets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>WebSockets</a>

<a href="/web-application-security.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Web Application Security</a>

<a href="/static-site-generator.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Static Site Generators</a>

<a href="/data.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Data</a>

<a href="/databases.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Databases</a>

<a href="/no-sql-datastore.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>NoSQL Data Stores</a>

<a href="/object-relational-mappers-orms.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Object-relational Mappers (ORMs)</a>

<a href="/application-programming-interfaces.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Application Programming Interfaces</a>

<a href="/api-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>API Integration</a>

<a href="/api-creation.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>API Creation</a>

<a href="/deployment.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Deployment</a>

<a href="/servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Servers</a>

<a href="/platform-as-a-service.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Platform-as-a-service</a>

<a href="/operating-systems.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Operating Systems</a>

<a href="/web-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Web Servers</a>

<a href="/wsgi-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>WSGI Servers</a>

<a href="/source-control.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Source Control</a>

<a href="/application-dependencies.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Application Dependencies</a>

<a href="/static-content.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Static Content</a>

<a href="/task-queues.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Task Queues</a>

<a href="/configuration-management.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Configuration Management</a>

<a href="/continuous-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Continuous Integration</a>

<a href="/logging.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Logging</a>

<a href="/monitoring.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Monitoring</a>

<a href="/web-analytics.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Web Analytics</a>

<a href="/docker.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Docker</a>

<a href="/caching.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Caching</a>

<a href="/microservices.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Microservices</a>

<a href="/testing.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Testing</a>

<a href="/unit-testing.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Unit Testing</a>

<a href="/integration-testing.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item active" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Integration Testing</a>

<a href="/code-metrics.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Code Metrics</a>

<a href="/debugging.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Debugging</a>

<a href="/what-full-stack-means.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>What "Full Stack" Means</a>

<a href="/change-log.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Change Log</a>

<a href="/future-directions.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>Future Directions</a>

<a href="/about-author.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>About the Author</a>

</div>

</div>

<div class="panel panel-success">

<div class="panel-body">

<a href="http://www.deploypython.com/"><img src="//static.fullstackpython.com/fsp-deployment-guide.png" alt="The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments" width="100%"></a>

<p style="font-size: .8em; margin-top: 10px;">Searching for a complete, step-by-step deployment walkthrough? Learn more about <a href="http://www.deploypython.com/">The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book</a>.

</p>

</div>

</div> <div class="panel panel-success">

<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-head">Integration Testing</h3></div>

<div class="panel-body">

Major updates are tweeted via

<a href="https://twitter.com/fullstackpython">@fullstackpython</a>.

<hr/>

Need more detailed tutorials than you see here?

<a href="http://www.deploypython.com/">Learn more about The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book.</a>

</div>

</div>

<hr/>

</div>

<div class="container">

<div class="footer pull-right">

<a href="http://www.mattmakai.com/" class="underline">Matt Makai</a>

2015

</div>

</div>

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){

(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),

m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)

})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

ga('create', 'UA-19910497-7', 'auto');

ga('send', 'pageview');

<script type='text/javascript'>

var trackOutboundLink = function(url) { ga('send', 'event', 'outbound', 'click', url, {'hitCallback': function () { document.location = url; } }); }