Added support for deferred context cleanup. test_client users can now access the context locals after the actual request if the client is used with a with-block. This fixes #59.

CHANGES

@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Release date to be announced, codename to be selected.
 - :meth:`~flask.Flask.after_request` handlers are now also invoked
   if the request dies with an exception and an error handling page
   kicks in.
+- test client has not the ability to preserve the request context
+  for a little longer.  This can also be used to trigger custom
+  requests that do not pop the request stack for testing.
 
 Version 0.3.1
 -------------

docs/api.rst

@@ -300,3 +300,20 @@ Useful Internals
    all the context local objects used in Flask.  This is a documented
    instance and can be used by extensions and application code but the
    use is discouraged in general.
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 0.4
+
+   The request context is automatically popped at the end of the request
+   for you.  In debug mode the request context is kept around if
+   exceptions happen so that interactive debuggers have a chance to
+   introspect the data.  With 0.4 this can also be forced for requests
+   that did not fail and outside of `DEBUG` mode.  By setting
+   ``'flask._preserve_context'`` to `True` on the WSGI environment the
+   context will not pop itself at the end of the request.  This is used by
+   the :meth:`~flask.Flask.test_client` for example to implement the
+   deferred cleanup functionality.
+
+   You might find this helpful for unittests where you need the
+   information from the context local around for a little longer.  Make
+   sure to properly :meth:`~werkzeug.LocalStack.pop` the stack yourself in
+   that situation, otherwise your unittests will leak memory.

docs/testing.rst

@@ -218,3 +218,27 @@ All the other objects that are context bound can be used the same.
 If you want to test your application with different configurations and
 there does not seem to be a good way to do that, consider switching to
 application factories (see :ref:`app-factories`).
+
+
+Keeping the Context Around
+--------------------------
+
+.. versionadded:: 0.4
+
+Sometimes it can be helpful to trigger a regular request but keep the
+context around for a little longer so that additional introspection can
+happen.  With Flask 0.4 this is possible by using the
+:meth:`~flask.Flask.test_client` with a `with` block::
+
+    app = flask.Flask(__name__)
+
+    with app.test_client() as c:
+        rv = c.get('/?foo=42')
+        assert request.args['foo'] == '42'
+
+If you would just be using the :meth:`~flask.Flask.test_client` without
+the `with` block, the `assert` would fail with an error because `request`
+is no longer available (because used outside of an actual request).
+Keep in mind however that :meth:`~flask.Flask.after_request` functions
+are already called at that point so your database connection and
+everything involved is probably already closed down.

flask.py

@@ -163,8 +163,10 @@ class _RequestContext(object):
     def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, tb):
         # do not pop the request stack if we are in debug mode and an
         # exception happened.  This will allow the debugger to still
-        # access the request object in the interactive shell.
-        if tb is None or not self.app.debug:
+        # access the request object in the interactive shell.  Furthermore
+        # the context can be force kept alive for the test client.
+        if not self.request.environ.get('flask._preserve_context') and \
+           (tb is None or not self.app.debug):
             self.pop()
 
 
@@ -1021,9 +1023,40 @@ class Flask(_PackageBoundObject):
     def test_client(self):
         """Creates a test client for this application.  For information
         about unit testing head over to :ref:`testing`.
+
+        The test client can be used in a `with` block to defer the closing down
+        of the context until the end of the `with` block.  This is useful if
+        you want to access the context locals for testing::
+
+            with app.test_client() as c:
+                rv = c.get('/?foo=42')
+                assert request.args['foo'] == '42'
+
+        .. versionchanged:: 0.4
+           added support for `with` block usage for the client.
         """
         from werkzeug import Client
-        return Client(self, self.response_class, use_cookies=True)
+        class FlaskClient(Client):
+            preserve_context = context_preserved = False
+            def open(self, *args, **kwargs):
+                if self.context_preserved:
+                    _request_ctx_stack.pop()
+                    self.context_preserved = False
+                kwargs.setdefault('environ_overrides', {}) \
+                    ['flask._preserve_context'] = self.preserve_context
+                old = _request_ctx_stack.top
+                try:
+                    return Client.open(self, *args, **kwargs)
+                finally:
+                    self.context_preserved = _request_ctx_stack.top is not old
+            def __enter__(self):
+                self.preserve_context = True
+                return self
+            def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, tb):
+                self.preserve_context = False
+                if self.context_preserved:
+                    _request_ctx_stack.pop()
+        return FlaskClient(self, self.response_class, use_cookies=True)
 
     def open_session(self, request):
         """Creates or opens a new session.  Default implementation stores all

tests/flask_tests.py

@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ class ContextTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             assert index() == 'Hello World!'
         with app.test_request_context('/meh'):
             assert meh() == 'http://localhost/meh'
+        assert flask._request_ctx_stack.top is None
 
     def test_manual_context_binding(self):
         app = flask.Flask(__name__)
@@ -76,6 +77,36 @@ class ContextTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         else:
             assert 0, 'expected runtime error'
 
+    def test_test_client_context_binding(self):
+        app = flask.Flask(__name__)
+        @app.route('/')
+        def index():
+            flask.g.value = 42
+            return 'Hello World!'
+
+        @app.route('/other')
+        def other():
+            1/0
+
+        with app.test_client() as c:
+            resp = c.get('/')
+            assert flask.g.value == 42
+            assert resp.data == 'Hello World!'
+            assert resp.status_code == 200
+
+            resp = c.get('/other')
+            assert not hasattr(flask.g, 'value')
+            assert 'Internal Server Error' in resp.data
+            assert resp.status_code == 500
+            flask.g.value = 23
+
+        try:
+            flask.g.value
+        except (AttributeError, RuntimeError):
+            pass
+        else:
+            raise AssertionError('some kind of exception expected')
+
 
 class BasicFunctionalityTestCase(unittest.TestCase):