Django: How to create a model dynamically just for testing

Question

I have a Django app that requires a settings attribute in the form of:

RELATED_MODELS = (\'appname1.modelname1.attribute1\',
                  \         


        

Answer 1

Combining your answers, specially @slacy's, I did this:

class TestCase(test.TestCase):
    initiated = False

    @classmethod
    def setUpClass(cls, *args, **kwargs):
        if not TestCase.initiated:
            TestCase.create_models_from_app('myapp.tests')
            TestCase.initiated = True

        super(TestCase, cls).setUpClass(*args, **kwargs)

    @classmethod
    def create_models_from_app(cls, app_name):
        """
        Manually create Models (used only for testing) from the specified string app name.
        Models are loaded from the module ".models"
        """
        from django.db import connection, DatabaseError
        from django.db.models.loading import load_app

        app = load_app(app_name)
        from django.core.management import sql
        from django.core.management.color import no_style
        sql = sql.sql_create(app, no_style(), connection)
        cursor = connection.cursor()
        for statement in sql:
            try:
                cursor.execute(statement)
            except DatabaseError, excn:
                logger.debug(excn.message)

With this, you don't try to create db tables more than once, and you don't need to change your INSTALLED_APPS.