4 Testing API designs

This chapter covers

Using question techniques to test designs and ideas
How to get teams collaborating around API designs to help facilitate testing
Documenting APIs to increase shared understanding and assist in testing
How testing API designs sits in a testing strategy

Imagine that someone is assessing our restful-booker-platform API sandbox to determine whether it’s an application that they would like to use for a B&B. As they begin to explore it, they discover that the room API needs to be called to create a room that can be booked. As they look through the API documentation, they come across details similar to the ones shown in figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 An example of API documentation that might be found on a vendor’s website

Based on this information, we build and send the following HTTP request to see how the API responds:

POST /room/ HTTP/1.1
Host: automationintesting.online
Accept: application/json
Cookie: token=r76BXGVy8rlASuZB

{
       "roomNumber":100,
       "type":"Single",
       "accessible":false,
       "description":"Please enter a description for this room",
       "image":"https://www.mwtestconsultancy.co.uk/img/room1.jpg",
       "roomPrice":"100",
       "features":["WiFi"]
}

4.1 How do we test API designs?

4.1.1 Tools for questioning

4 Testing API designs

This chapter covers

Figure 4.1 An example of API documentation that might be found on a vendor’s website

4.1 How do we test API designs?

4.1.1 Tools for questioning

4.1.2 Expanding your API design-testing techniques and tools

4.2 Using API documentation tools to test designs

4.2.1 Documenting APIs with Swagger/OpenAPI 3

4.2.2 Beyond documentation

4.3 Encouraging teams to test API designs

4.3.1 Getting buy-in and initiating opportunities to test API designs

4.3.2 Taking advantage of existing sessions

4.3.3 Establishing your own sessions

4.4 Testing API designs as part of a testing strategy