API Testing Workshop

 

Join us for this workshop-style class where we will examine and practice the benefits of API testing using commercial and open-source software.  Students will leave with a better appreciation of the value of API testing, and how it can be applied to their work. 

 

An application programming interface (API) acts as the plumbing for a system. For web applications, developers use a web API to communicate between the client and server. This API is often nothing more than regular text that follows a known pattern that both the client and server understand. Accessing this layer allows us to test differently. In the UI, certain invalid inputs are prevented, but the API will allow any possible ordering of text, which opens up a lot of possibilities for finding defects.

 

Why is testing at the API level valuable? For one, it lets us follow data-driven testing, so we can be faster and more robust than testing the UI.  Also, it can be used to test the security; for example, does your server implicitly trust what the client is sending?  Finally, it is an excellent method to confirm that when sending invalid information, the API should respond in a helpful manner.  A large portion of the developer's work is debugging and maintenance, and API's that respond with helpful messages go a long way towards that goal.