Flask-SQLAlchemy not creating tables using create_all()

Question

I have a Flask app that is using Flask-SQLAlchemy. In my unit tests, I initialise the app and the DB, then call db.create_all() and for some reason it looks like it's not picking up any of my models so isn't creating any tables.

I'm using both __tablename__ and __bind_key__ in my models as I have two databases.

My config:

SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite://'

SQLALCHEMY_BINDS = {
    'db1': SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI,
    'db2': SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI
}

Cut down version of my setUp() method in my unit tests:

from flask import Flask
from flask.ext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy

class APITestCase(unittest.TestCase):

    app = Flask(__name__)
    db = SQLAlchemy(app)
    db.create_all()

Here's an example of two of my models, one from each bind type:

class Contact(db.Model):

    __tablename__ = 'contact'
    __bind_key__ = 'db1'

    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
    first_name = db.Column(db.String(255))
    last_name = db.Column(db.String(255))
    ...

    def __init__(first_name, last_name):
        self.first_name = first_name
        self.last_name = last_name
        ...

class BaseUser(db.Model):

    __tablename__ = 'User__GeneralUser'
    __bind_key__ = 'db2'

    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
    username = db.Column('Username', db.String(100))
    first_name = db.Column('FirstName', db.String(100))
    last_name = db.Column('Surname', db.String(100))
    ...

    def __init__(username, first_name, last_name):
        self.username = username
        self.first_name = first_name
        self.last_name = last_name
        ...

Have I missed something glaringly obvious? How does Flask-SQLAlchemy know where to look for my models to create the associated tables?

Have you imported your model classes?

flyx
– flyx

2013-02-25 14:18:27 +00:00
Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 14:18 — flyx
– flyx, Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 14:18
Yes, I've tried both with and without importing my models.

Chris McKinnel
– Chris McKinnel

2013-02-25 15:08:36 +00:00
Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 15:08 — Chris McKinnel
– Chris McKinnel, Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 15:08

DazWorrall · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-25 14:26:16Z

13

In your unit tests you shouldn't create a new instance of the SQLAlchemy object ('db'), you should import the instance from which your models descend:

models.py:

from flask.ext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
db = SQLAlchemy()

class Contact(db.Model):
    ...

tests.py:

from models import db
from flask import Flask
import unittest

class TestExample(unittest.TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        self.app = Flask(__name__)
        db.init_app(self.app)
        with self.app.app_context():
            db.create_all()

answered Feb 25, 2013 at 14:26

DazWorrall

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satoru Over a year ago

What are some good ways to make sure all models declarations get executed if they are implemented in many modules?

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