Mocking LDAP calls with minimock in python

When using unittest in python you often need to mock objects and calls to those objects.

You don't need _an_entire_ LDAP server just to test a search nor you need a full blown SMTP server to test a function that accidentally sends a mail (that you don't want to send while testing anyway).

So minimock is one easy way (the easiest I found) to do the job.

What the docs don't really tell you (nor does a google search) is how to return real things when you need to call a method of an object.

Say you have some code like this:

import ldap
class MyClass:
...
    def ldapsearch(self, uid):
        self.conn = ldap.open(self.conf.ldapserver)
        self.conn.bind_s(binddn, bindpw, ldap.AUTH_SIMPLE)
        self.conn.search_s(basedn, ldap.SCOPE_SUBTREE, 'uid=%s' % uid, ['uid'])
        return True

and you want to test this and moreover you want that search to return a given set of data.

from minimock import Mock
import ldap
from my_program import MyClass

class MyClassTest(unittest.TestCase):
...
    def test_ldapsearch(self):
        # create your fake ldap connection
        ldap.open = Mock('ldap.open')
        ldap.open.mock_returns = Mock('ldap_connection')
        # instantiate your class
        myclass = MyClass()
        # now tell to minimock that in case we do a search_s on 
        # a conn method this should be intercepted and mocked
        # returning a testuser1 value the way LDAP would do
        myclass.conn.search_s.mock_returns = [[1,{'uid':['testuser1'], \
                                        'mail':['test.user1@mail.com']}]]
        # This will return testuser1 no matter what
        # and show you on screen the operations performed
        self.assertEqual(myclass.ldapsearch('onetwoonetwo'), True)

This should help you inject whatever values you want there and also clarify a bit how to minimock wants you to think (that is the only way I could make it work).