QA/Execution/Web Testing/Automation/Virtual Environments

Virtual environments are isolated Python environments. They allow freedom to install specific versions of dependencies without affecting the global site-packages. They also make it easy to throw away a 'broken' environment and start again. If you need further information regarding virtual environments, please see the virtualenvwrapper documentation.

Install virtualenvwrapper

1. Install virtualenvwrapper:
sudo pip install virtualenvwrapper
2. Add the following to your ~/.bash_profile:
export WORKON_HOME=$HOME/.virtualenvs source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
3. Refresh your profile:
source ~/.bash_profile

Create a virtual environment for WebQA

   mkvirtualenv webqa

Switch to the WebQA virtual environment

   workon webqa

You can leave the virtual environment by typing

   deactivate

Installation on Windows

Exception: use 32-bit version of the setuptools even if your operating system is 64-bit otherwise it fails to find the Python installation.

PIP Installation

1. Install the 32-bit version of SetupTools using the provided .exe installer:
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools#files
2. Add the Scripts directory to your System Variables path:
C:\Python26\Scripts
3. Download the last pip version and uncompress it:
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip#downloads
4. In your cmd prompt, go to the uncompressed pip directory and run:
python setup.py install
5. Now you can install packages using pip on Win.
: pip install <package name>

Virtualenvwrapper Installation and Usage

1. From the cmd prompt install pip:
pip install virtualenvwrapper-win
2. Set your environment variable:
WORKON_HOME = C:\Python27\Scripts:
3. You can now create virtualenvs:
mkvirtualenv <name of the environment>