The Complete Guide to Perform Manual REST API Testing Using Postman

You will have to verify thousands of combinations of inputs and scenarios. At the UI level, this simple test can fail at the browser and network connection level, having to load the browser each time we want to run an iteration of this test may fail. If we have 400 UI tests then they may take around 40 hours to run whereas 400 API tests could be run in 3 minutes. That implicates that you’ll find more bugs in less time, while also being about to fix them immediately. It will help to detect the ways the users can mess things up.

Started as a browser extension for Application Programming Interface validation, now with integrated automated test traits, this tool is much more than merely an HTTP client. Stress test —The idea is to slowly and steadily raise the count of virtual users to discover the point at which the Programming Interface starts throwing glitches, stops responding, or slows down. Soak test —Load testing that runs over an extended period can disclose system instabilities such as API memory leaks. On the third day, it can reveal to you whether any discarded behavior has emerged. To ensure the Application Programming Interface does what it is supposed to perform.

Meanwhile, sanity testing involves checking to see if the results that the smoke testing comes back with makes sense when put in the context of the API’s main purpose. For example, if the API is supposed to bring back specific foreign currency exchange rates, such as US dollars to Japanese Yen, then the results should display as intended. The results should not depict an exchange rate that is wildly divergent from the current exchange rate.

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It is widely used to test JSON and XML-based web applications. In addition, it fully supports all REST methods like the GET, PUT, POST, PATCH, and DELETE. Next, we will see a detailed walkthrough of testing one REST API using the Rest Assured library. GET – The GET method can be used to extract information from the given server using a given URI. It is worth noting that when you use the GET request, it should only extract the data and not have any other effect on the data. Visual Testing This form of testing is essential for businesses that are dependent on software to deliver the intended service and performance outcomes for their customers.

It’s a very simple and easy to use webservice that supports a vulnerable RESTful API we can test. There is no GUI availableto test the application that makesit difficult to give inputs. Second, any of these elements doesn’t function, as it should such as the buttons are not clickable and you cannot select the options.

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Katalon supports all types of REST, SOAP/1.1 and SOAP/1.2 requests. Optimize the processes of scripting, debugging, and maintaining tests with autocompletion, code inspection, snippets, quick references, debugger, dual interface, and so on. Validation testing occurs among the final steps and plays an essential role in the development process. It verifies the aspects of product, behavior, and efficiency.

Is a standard protocol defined by the W3C standards for sending and receiving web service requests and responses. Internally io.restassured.RestAssured class uses an HTTP builder library, which is a Groovy language-based api testing best practices HTTP client. Automation Testing becomes easier as several iterations of the tests can be performed by using the Collection Runner or Newman. So you can save a lot of time when performing repetitive tests.

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If they are not validated properly, issues such as wrong string/data types and parameter data outside the predefined value range can come up. Fuzz test —The final stage in the security audit testing the Application Programming Interface at its absolute limits. Forcedly inputting enormous amounts of random information tests whether the Application Programming Interface will stand it or finish up with depressing behavior like an overflow or forced crash.

Since APIs lack a GUI, API testing is performed at the message layer. Generally, API test is executed on Application Programming Interfaces generated by the in-house development team. We do not text 3rd party Application Programming Interfaces; however, we can test the mode our software accepts their requests. The approach to the Application Programming Interface test principally depends on the form of API.

• It is worth noting that when you use the GET request, it should only extract the data and not have any other effect on the data.
• Since REST APIs do not have a GUI, all REST API tests must be performed at the message level, making it even more difficult for developers to conduct manual tests.
• Stress test —The idea is to slowly and steadily raise the count of virtual users to discover the point at which the Programming Interface starts throwing glitches, stops responding, or slows down.
• An API is a set of defined rules that enables computers or applications to communicate with one another.
• If, for example, the API receives a request to return the profile information of a user before a user profile is even created, it will return an error.
• For example, a Google website can have API for various functions like search, translations, calendars, etc.

At some point in time, you would find yourself in the middle of choosing a good approach for test data and verification method. It is because the returned data have similar structures, but not the same in a testing project. It will be difficult to decide if you should verify the JSON/XML data key by key, or using object mapping to leverage the power of programming language.

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The purpose of rest api testing is to record the response of rest api by sending various HTTP/S requests to check if rest api is working fine or not. Rest api testing is done by GET, POST, PUT and DELETE methods. The scope determines how the penetration test is performed and how much we may or may not know about the RESTful API service in question. For whitebox and greybox tests, we could have full documentation, use-case scenarios, and even stock JavaScript Object Notation request tokens outlining the structure of the HTTP packets the API accepts. Due to time constraints of most tests, it’s usually more cost effective to aim for whitebox tests. Whitebox tests provide the assessor with all the information they need so they can correctly identify and focus on attacking the weakest links as quickly and effectively as possible.

Results of non-functional tests such as performance, security, etc. Quality Assurance team performs API testing which is a form of Black Box Testing. This testing is usually performed for software systems that have multiple APIs.

The most touch parts of API testing are not either sending request nor receiving the response. It is common that testing a few first https://globalcloudteam.com/ APIs such as login, query some resources, etc. is quite simple. The testing task becomes more and more difficult to further APIs.

The Payload Processing in Burp Suite gives us additional options to do things such as character replacement for things like “” and “” to substitute with a string that is applicable for the attack. Flip through the different lists to get a feel for what characters you want to substitute and with what. It’s also possible to encode/decode our attack strings to bypass things such as input filtering. If no attacks are working, keep cycling through these options to see if anything is even possible with these options. There are many benefits to automated API testing, reducing overall software testing time, increasing test coverage, and repeatability of tests means as the API changes, testing can be accommodated quickly.

Are there other ways to test API apart from using tools?

Both helpers send requests via HTTP protocol from CodeceptJS process. It can be passed via headers, which can be added to helper’s configuration in codecept.conf.js. During the testing phase, developers should always try to simulate the exact conditions the API will encounter in an official production or public release capacity.

Thankfully, many testing tools offer security tests and scanning as part of their list of extra features. However, these tools may not detect serious or unforeseen security vulnerabilities that could ultimately lead to a data breach, such as zero-day exploits. Testing and monitoring for positive responses, i.e. inputting valid data and checking to see if the request is completed, is a staple in API testing. With this in mind, performing tests for negative results should also be performed with equal diligence. This contributes to the completeness and elegance of an application, as well as being accommodating to user error. When it comes to testing APIs, using a comprehensive API testing tool is essential.

Doing so will ensure that the test results accurately reflect not just the API’s ability to correctly function, but also to perform adequately when subjected to its intended working environment. This can also clue testers in for any performance issues that need resolving. Runtime error detection – Monitoring an application the execution of automated or manual tests to expose problems such as race conditions, exceptions, and resource leaks. REST APIs generally underlie highly standardized protocols that mainly process HTTP, JSON, and XML files. Therefore, they provide a fairly stable and uniform interface to the tested program. Since the structure of the inputs and outputs are partly predefined, automating REST API tests is usually a viable option.

Challenges for API Testing

It communicates with the server using HTTP and sends the Request created in the tests to the server. Postman Collections are Executable API Descriptions Postman’s collection folders make it easy to keep your API requests and elements organized. Mobile Test Automation Add new automated tests to the regression suite and schedule it to run often enough to provide adequate feedback. Security, authorization and permission tests—check security and access controls to see if the API includes any vulnerabilities.

What is REST testing?

This ensures that the API will perform as intended in the actual production environment. Testers can more accurately assess and resolve performance issues when tests simulate production conditions. Testing a request in isolation—involves executing an API request and assessing the response. There are basic tests that serve as the building blocks of the flow. If these tests fail, there is no need to run additional tests.

We will further explore the response obtained from the server in our upcoming articles. Rest stands for Representational State Transfer and is an architectural style for communication with web services. An API or Application Programming Interface is a set of programming instructions used to access a web-based software application. The APIs built using REST is called REST APIs which we have discussed in an earlier article. ELearning Testing Codoid’s Elearning application testing services ensure the quality of your interactive e-learning applications, learning & content management system. Validating parameters—API tests involve validating parameters that are sent via API requests.

The challenge in maintaining data formatting is that whenever new parameters are added, they have to be included in the schema. Overall, the Application Programming Interface test is an essential part of the software quality assurance procedure. You need the right tool as well as an approach for improving your test results. The more your test procedure is structured; the better will be the outputs of the testing. Load test — The point of the load test is to calculate where the boundary of system performance under heavy load lies. That is why the QA tester computes server conditions, response times, throughput, etc., whilst boosting the number of calls.