REST API Automation Testing Tutorial

Here at SoapUI.org, we are committed to making API testing easy and reliable for everyone. We believe that API testing is a crucial part of the API development lifecycle, and that it should not be forgotten. The AppointmentRepository is to retrieve the stored entity, after calling the POST method, to perform the assertions against the data we have just sent. Remember, use the GET operation to do that might not be a good idea. The ObjectMapper will convert an appointment to JSON, in order to send it in the POST payload. To use an object will help to reduce the number of columns in the rows of the data driven table.

This enables them to identify any errors or weaknesses early on in the development process. API testing is performed by submitting requests to the software using the application’s programming interface of the application and then checking if it returns the expected data. When automated, API testing can be easily performed on a regular basis.

Have you searched for something in any corporate wiki lately? Alternatively, you can save the return value of the request method and use assertions later on in the test. Use the params option to specify URL query parameters. Make sure your parameters meet the requirements of the URLSearchParams API. Your requests can use any standard HTTP protocol method. If you don’t specify the HTTP method, the request method sends a GET request.

Creating Basic Endpoints

REST is a software design pattern typically used for web applications. We can think about REST as a software architecture style. The basic idea of REST is treating objects on the server-side (e.g rows in a database table) as resources that can be created or destroyed. When we say RESTful APIs we are referring to the web services implementation of REST architecture. Various types of API tests can be performed to ensure the application programming interface is working appropriately.

Its main advantage is speed – less lag time between development and QA, less time spent on debugging in production. Automated API testing tools will save you time and increase the functionality, api testing best practices reliability, and security of your application. Your team should always be able to run manual tests, to validate if the automated tests are still working, as they are supposed to.

Because it’s through testing that we infer the quality of products. A quality REST app is an indication of rigorous testing done right. In this post, I’ll show you three ways you should be testing your REST application. API is a computing interface which enables communication and data exchange between two separate software systems. Software system that executes an API includes several functions/subroutines that another software system can perform. API defines requests that can be made, how to make requests, data formats that can be used, etc. between two software systems.

Early testing of core functionality – It allows to kick-off testing at a very early stage. Testers can access the full application functionality even before the GUI is implemented. Thus issues in API implementation can be raised way before their functionalities become testable at a GUI level. Eliminating API level bugs early means saving the cost of a defect considerably. This also allows testing to proceed in parallel with development process, resulting in increased communication and collaboration between dev and QA teams.

REST API Testing

Proficiency testing — the API increases what developers are able to do. Functionality testing — the API works and does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Once you’ve set up your API testing environment, make an API call right away to make sure nothing is broken before you go forward to start your more thorough testing.

• For example, we can build a client in ReactJS, and an API server in .NET.
• The section below details how the Request Body Object is supposed to function, what its fixed fields are, what to expect when using this function, and request body examples.
• API tests are very different from GUI Tests and won’t concentrate on the look and feel of an application.
• Right now, my team is working towards API automation testing.
• For automated QAs with extensive knowledge of JavaScript, Postman has a JS testing library.

While the use cases of API testing are endless, here are two examples of tests that can be performed to guarantee that the API is producing the appropriate results. Fuzz testing forcibly inputs huge amounts of random data — also called noise or fuzz — into the system, attempting to create negative behavior, such as a forced crash or overflow. API testing is frequently automated and used by DevOps, quality assurance and development teams for continuous testing practices.

REST API Testing: How to Do it Right

It can also be used to send data to the server, for example, customer information, file upload, etc. using HTML forms. You’ll also need to know the desired output — which could be a 2XX HTTP status code or a JSON object, for example. API tests are also faster to run and more isolated than UI tests, which makes it quicker and easier to identify and resolve bugs. According to data from Andersen Lab, a UI test runs for approximately seven minutes while an API test runs for 12 seconds. Meaning, an API test is about 35 times faster than a UI test.

To ensure the API can handle the expected or higher load, QA engineers validate its functionality and performance by artificially creating or simulating API calls. The approach to API testing largely depends on the API type. So, if the REST API automation test results are between 2xx ranges that means the application’s functions https://globalcloudteam.com/ are working ideally. For the majority of normal, everyday Internet users, status codes will never be something that they will even encounter or go looking for. For 1xx, 2xx, and 3xx status codes, these really are not considered errors, rather informative message and will not necessarily affect the user experience.

Whether experienced or just starting out with API Testing, Katalon Studio is an optimal solution regardless of the level of expertise. Equipped with minimum maintenance requirements, integrations with CI/CD and DevOps practices and so much more. Katalon Studio has provided rich libraries to verify different data types using matching, regular expression, JsonPath, and XmlPath. Any change in the API needs an explicit requirement; so testers can always stay alert of any changes and adjust them on time.

EPM Cloud- Automate DM Rule Execution using EPM Automate, download data file and send mail.

As always, you need to find the mix that fits your use case best. Meanwhile, SOAP is an actual protocol, built to enable applications to communicate across languages and platforms. REST APIs are generally seen as more flexible and faster than SOAP protocols. Although SOAP protocols slightly decrease the speed of web services, they provide several features such as improved security, atomicity, consistency isolation, and durability .

Functional testing ensures the API performs exactly as it is supposed to. Are not either sending requests or receiving the response. It is common that testing a few first APIs such as login, query some resources, etc. is quite simple. Verify that the response status code is returned as specified in the requirement, whether it returns a 2xx or error code. An API response content varies from data types to sizes.

Two major types of software testing that can sometimes be confused are API testing and GUI testing. While they are both testing interfaces, the different processes relate to the two interface types we mentioned at the beginning. API testing is a testing method of verifying that the web API responds to requests from the client applications in the correct way. GUI testing is a method of verifying that the user interface behaves as expected.

Nowadays most APIs you come across will be of the Web Service variety , but you may come across other technologies such as Java EJBs or Microsoft DCOM/ActiveX DLLs. Change the existing API to reflect the updated version. However, this is called “breaking compatibility” and means that all clients of the API will need to be updated. Sometimes this option is necessary but it should be avoided if possible. This is especially true for applications that are widely used and have many applications dependent on them.

AI-Based Software Testing: The Future of Test Automation

All the reasons I just listed have given test automation a reputation for being unreliable and not worth the effort to create. Luckily, the type of automation Agile focuses on is Unit testing (and the more reliable API lower-level testing) and less on GUI automation. But if you’ve been doing automation for any length of time you know how time-consuming, fragile and hard-to-maintain these types of tests are.

Hence, this method is helpful when verifying dynamic content, or individual value rather than the whole content. This method is suitable for a simple response with static contents. Dynamic information such as date time, increasing ID, etc. will cause trouble in the assertion.

REST API Automation Testing Tutorial

It’s through refactoring that we continuously improve a code base and design. Tests are controls that ensure that the intended behavior is preserved while you implement your changes. They return any value such as True or false as an output. Launch the app Advanced REST client , once it is installed successfully. Enables runtime error detection, advanced REST and gRPC API scans, and OWASP vulnerability detection. And try out countless different parameter settings in hopes of identifying a request that breaks something.

API tests can be performed at the early stage of the software development lifecycle. An automation approach with mocking techniques can help verify API and its integration before the actual API is developed. Hence, the level of dependency within the team is reduced. In addition, this step also helps you define the verification approach.

Mocharc: The Essential Mocha Configuration Guide

API testing can analyze multiple endpoints, such as web services, databases or web user interfaces. Testers should watch for failures or unexpected inputs. Response time should be within an acceptable agreed-upon limit, and the API should be secured against potential attacks. This broader test coverage makes it easier to identify any bugs in the unit, database, and server levels. So API testing is designed to validate the business logic as well as the performance, security, and other aspects of the application. They are typically written to handle a specific business process.