How to create table during Django tests with managed = False

Question

I have a model with managed = False.

class SampleModel(models.Model):
    apple = models.CharField(max_length=30)
    orange = models.CharField(max_length=3         


        

Answer 1

You can use SchemaEditor in TestCase.setUp method to explicitly create models with managed = False.

# models.py

from django.db import models


class Unmanaged(models.Model):
    foo = models.TextField()

    class Meta:
        # This model is not managed by Django
        managed = False
        db_table = 'unmanaged_table'

And in your tests:

# tests.py

from django.db import connection
from django.test import TestCase

from myapp.models import Unmanaged


class ModelsTestCase(TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        super().setUp()

        with connection.schema_editor() as schema_editor:
            schema_editor.create_model(Unmanaged)

            if Unmanaged._meta.db_table not in connection.introspection.table_names():
                raise ValueError("Table `{table_name}` is missing in test database.".format(table_name=Unmanaged._meta.db_table))

    def tearDown(self):
        super().tearDown()

        with connection.schema_editor() as schema_editor:
            schema_editor.delete_model(Unmanaged)

    def test_unmanaged_model(self):
        with self.assertNumQueries(num=3):
            self.assertEqual(0, Unmanaged.objects.all().count())
            Unmanaged.objects.create()
            self.assertEqual(1, Unmanaged.objects.all().count())