How to fix: 'TypeError: expected string or bytes-like object' when doing unit test on a views.py function

Question

I'm writing a test for a function that returns a JSONResponse. The function works fine on the website but the test always raises a TypeError. It looks like the program fails to get an entry from the database and returns an error instead.

views.py:

def check_availability(request, id):
    if request.method == "GET":
        response_data = {}
        event_date = request.GET.get('event_date', False)
        check = None
        try:
            try:
                speaker = Pembicara.objects.get(id = id)
                filtered = Booking.objects.filter(speaker = speaker)
                check = filtered.get(event_date = event_date)
            except ObjectDoesNotExist as e:
                pass
            except Exception as e:
                raise e
            if not check:
                response_data['available'] = 'ok'
            else:
                response_data['available'] = 'no'
        except Exception as e:
            raise e

        return JsonResponse(response_data)

tests.py:

    def test_date_availability_is_checked(self):
        p = self.createPembicara()
        c = Client()
        date = datetime.date.today()
        # request = c.get('/profile/1/check_availability/', event_date=date)
        b = self.createBooking()
        request = c.get('/profile/1/check_availability/', event_date='1999-12-20')
        self.assertEqual(request.status_code, 200)
        self.assertJSONEqual(request.content, {'available': 'ok'})

terminal:

Creating test database for alias 'default'...
System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
./Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/whitenoise/base.py:116: UserWarning: No directory at: /Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/BookaSpeakers/static/
  warnings.warn(u"No directory at: {}".format(root))
E.......
======================================================================
ERROR: test_date_availability_is_checked (speaker_profile.tests.ProfileTest)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/speaker_profile/tests.py", line 69, in test_date_availability_is_checked
    request = c.get('/profile/1/check_availability/', event_date='2000-12-20')
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/test/client.py", line 535, in get
    response = super().get(path, data=data, secure=secure, **extra)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/test/client.py", line 347, in get
    **extra,
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/test/client.py", line 422, in generic
    return self.request(**r)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/test/client.py", line 503, in request
    raise exc_value
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/exception.py", line 34, in inner
    response = get_response(request)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py", line 115, in _get_response
    response = self.process_exception_by_middleware(e, request)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py", line 113, in _get_response
    response = wrapped_callback(request, *callback_args, **callback_kwargs)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/speaker_profile/views.py", line 53, in check_availability
    raise e
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/speaker_profile/views.py", line 47, in check_availability
    raise e
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/speaker_profile/views.py", line 43, in check_availability
    check = filtered.get(event_date = event_date)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 399, in get
    clone = self.filter(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 892, in filter
    return self._filter_or_exclude(False, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 910, in _filter_or_exclude
    clone.query.add_q(Q(*args, **kwargs))
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1290, in add_q
    clause, _ = self._add_q(q_object, self.used_aliases)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1318, in _add_q
    split_subq=split_subq, simple_col=simple_col,
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1251, in build_filter
    condition = self.build_lookup(lookups, col, value)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1116, in build_lookup
    lookup = lookup_class(lhs, rhs)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/lookups.py", line 20, in __init__
    self.rhs = self.get_prep_lookup()
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/lookups.py", line 70, in get_prep_lookup
    return self.lhs.output_field.get_prep_value(self.rhs)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py", line 1270, in get_prep_value
    return self.to_python(value)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py", line 1232, in to_python
    parsed = parse_date(value)
  File "/Users/nethaniasonya/Documents/KULIAH/SEMESTER 3/ppw/bookaspeakers/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/utils/dateparse.py", line 74, in parse_date
    match = date_re.match(value)
TypeError: expected string or bytes-like object

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 9 tests in 0.211s

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

Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

user_9225671 · Answer

The error likely happens because event_date ends up with the value False, which happens because there was no value for 'event_date' in request.GET.

According to the docs of Client.get(), you have to pass a dict with the GET/POST parameters of the request, not using kwargs.

Try by changing this line (which is using kwargs):

request = c.get('/profile/1/check_availability/', event_date='1999-12-20')

to this (now using a dict as the second parameter)

request = c.get('/profile/1/check_availability/', {'event_date': '1999-12-20'})

How to fix: 'TypeError: expected string or bytes-like object' when doing unit test on a views.py function

1 Answers