Dimas Maulana
Dimas Maulana

REST API Testing Strategy What Exactly Should You Test

Dimas Maulana Development
 

API testing is a crucial part of software quality assurance, ensuring that APIs function correctly, securely, and efficiently. This guide details key test actions, test scenario categories, and test flows to ensure a thorough validation of API behavior.

API Test Actions

Each API test involves several key actions:

  1. Verify Correct HTTP Status Code:

    • Ensure the correct status code is returned (e.g., 201 CREATED for resource creation, 403 FORBIDDEN for unauthorized requests).

  2. Verify Response Payload:

    • Validate JSON structure, field names, types, and values, including error responses.

  3. Verify Response Headers:

    • Check headers for security and performance compliance.

  4. Verify Correct Application State (Optional):

    • Validate state changes, especially for manual tests with UI interaction.

  5. Verify Basic Performance Sanity:

    • Ensure response times meet performance expectations.

Test Scenario Categories

API tests fall into several broad categories:

  1. Basic Positive Tests (Happy Paths):

    • Verify basic functionality using valid required parameters.

  2. Positive Tests with Optional Parameters:

    • Test optional parameters like filtering, sorting, and pagination.

  3. Negative Testing – Valid Input:

    • Ensure the API handles operations correctly when using valid but incorrect data (e.g., attempting to delete a non-existent resource).

  4. Negative Testing – Invalid Input:

    • Test missing parameters, incorrect values, invalid authentication tokens, and unsupported methods.

  5. Destructive Testing:

    • Attempt to break the API with malformed content, overflows, boundary value testing, incorrect headers, and concurrency tests.

Test Flows

API testing consists of three main test flows:

  1. Testing Requests in Isolation:

    • Execute single API requests and validate responses.

  2. Multi-Step Workflow Testing:

    • Validate a sequence of API interactions (e.g., create, retrieve, update, delete a resource).

  3. Combined API and Web UI Testing:

    • Verify data consistency between API actions and UI state.

Example Test Cases

Basic Positive Tests (Happy Paths)

# Test Scenario Category Test Action Category Description
1 Basic Positive Tests Status Code Ensure 2XX responses for valid requests (200 for GET, 201 for POST, etc.)
2 Payload Validation Validate JSON structure, fields, and values against schema
3 State Validation Ensure expected state changes occur
4 Header Validation Verify expected headers are present and correct
5 Performance Check Validate response time within limits

Negative Testing – Invalid Input

# Test Scenario Category Test Action Category Description
1 Negative Testing Status Code Ensure error status codes for invalid input
2 Payload Validation Check error messages and response format
3 Header Validation Ensure expected security headers are in place
4 Performance Check Validate timely failure response

Conclusion

A well-structured API test plan ensures APIs are functional, secure, and performant. By covering various test scenarios and flows, teams can identify potential issues early and maintain robust API functionality.

Updated on 19-02-2022 
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