API Testing

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What is API Testing?

API testing is the process of confirming that an API is working as expected. An issue at an application's API layer can lead to user-facing errors or latency, which can erode customer trust, and negatively impact the business. This makes testing the APIs very important

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How does INGenious perform API Tests?

API Testing is one of the strong suites of the framework. It uses Java HTTP Client to fire requests, receive responses, validate the response status, response body and response tags.

It also allows us to store response tags which can be used for subsequent API calls or GUI flows. This makes API Testing and GUI Testing possible in a single flow coherently.

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How to create an API Test Case?

• A request should contain a setEndPoint action. This action is always marked in Blue. This is where you put the endpoint to which the request is supposed to be fired. This action comes with an editor for convenience of data set up.

• You can have steps to add headers/authentication etc. (if required)

• A request should contain an HTTP Method/Verb (Post/Put/Get/Delete/Patch) . This action is always marked in Green. This also comes with an editor for convenience.

• You can have steps to validate/store response status codes, specific tags or even the entire response body.

• A request should contain a closeConnection action. This action is always marked in Brown.

The above is an example of a postRestRequest and then assertResponseCode followed by storeJSONelementInDataSheet

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Payload Data Parameterization

Data Parameterization can be done using the built-in editor. If you mouse-hover on the Input column, corresponding to the Post/Put request steps as well as the setEndPoint step, an option to open up the Editor comes up.

Inside this editor, we can paste the entire Payload and then parameterize the specific JSON/XML tags based on our needs.

If we press Ctrl+Space the list of all available DataSheets : ColumnNames along with all user-defined variables show up. We can then select the appropriate item from where we want to parameterize.

We need to press Esc to close the editor

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Assert/Store Response Tags

We can access the Response Tags using xpath for XMLs and jsonPath for JSONs.

The corresponding xpath or jsonPath for the tag, should be entered in the Condition column like as shown below :

Example for writing Xpath

<root xmlns:foo="http://www.foo.org/" xmlns:bar="http://www.bar.org">
    <actors>
        <actor id="1">Christian Bale</actor>
        <actor id="2">Liam Neeson</actor>
        <actor id="3">Michael Caine</actor>
    </actors>
</root>

XPath for retrieving Liam Neeson is /root/actors/actor[2]/text() or simply //actor[2]/text()

Example for writing JSONPath

Example 1 :

{ 
"name":"TestName",
"salary":"12300",
"age":"29"
}

JSON Path for retrieving TestName is $.name

Example 2 :

{
    "page": 2,
    "per_page": 6,
    "total": 12,
    "total_pages": 2,
    "data": [
        {
            "id": 7,
            "email": "michael.lawson@xyz.com",
            "first_name": "Michael",
            "last_name": "Lawson"
        },
        {
            "id": 8,
            "email": "lindsay.ferguson@xyz.com",
            "first_name": "Lindsay",
            "last_name": "Ferguson"
        },
        {
            "id": 9,
            "email": "tobias.funke@xyz.com",
            "first_name": "Tobias",
            "last_name": "Funke"
        },
        {
            "id": 10,
            "email": "byron.fields@xyz.com",
            "first_name": "Byron",
            "last_name": "Fields"
        },
        {
            "id": 11,
            "email": "george.edwards@xyz.com",
            "first_name": "George",
            "last_name": "Edwards"
        },
        {
            "id": 12,
            "email": "rachel.howell@xyz.com",
            "first_name": "Rachel",
            "last_name": "Howell"
        }
    ],
    "additional": {
        "url": "https://xyz.com",
        "text": "Happy Testing!"
    }
}

JSON Path for retrieving byron.fields@ing.com is $.data[3].email [Index starts with 0]

To learn more about JSONPath visit this GitHub page.

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