EDIT: The issue described below was caused not by bad workflow but by an apparent bug when loading fixtures. One of my apps had the fixture initial_data.json. The testing framework loads the fixture before performing the necessary migrations. (FWIW, I'm using Django 1.7 + python3.4) This issue is described here. (My workaround: rename the fixture to data.json.)
I'll leave the rest of the post intact in case this helps someone else in the future.
I'm trying to use Django's built-in tests to rapidly test my Django models during development. Unfortunately, when I try this, I get the error:
psycopg2.ProgrammingError: relation "app_relation" does not exist
The workflow I was imagining was
- Define a few model fields (possibly across apps)
- Test logic using Django tests
- Fix logic errors, modify fields, and iterate this process.
This way, I can build my models incrementally without creating a large number of migrations. Migrations create headaches for me because I frequently add, remove, and rename fields or models as I'm validating my logic.
For example, my model has demographic fields, and I'm not sure whether I should keep an male_under_18 field or split it up into male_under_5, male_5_to_9, male_10_to_15, and male_16_to_18 granularity.
It sure would be nice to verify the decision using tests.py before making my migrations.
My understanding was that Django's manage.py test myapp created a database independent of the development database, and so doesn't require that my development database match the current schema defined by my models.
If the workflow above is impossible (or downright silly), I'm open to other ways to solving my problem.
Related question: django unit tests without a db. (Doesn't work because I want to test the DB!)