API Testing and Development with Postman: A practical guide to creating, testing, and managing APIs for automated software testing

Dave Westerveld, 2021

Inhaltsverzeichnis des Buches

Contributors
About the author
About the reviewer
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
Download the color images
Conventions used
Get in touch
Reviews
Section 1: API Testing Theory and Terminology
Chapter 1: API Terminology and Types
What is an API?
Types of API calls
Installing Postman
Starting Postman
Setting up a request in Postman
The structure of an API request
API endpoints
API actions
API parameters
API headers
API body
API response
Learning by doing – making API calls
Considerations for API testing
Beginning with exploration
Looking for business problems
Trying weird things
Different types of APIs
REST APIs
SOAP APIs
GraphQL APIs
GraphQL API example
Summary
Chapter 2: Principles of API Design
Technical requirements
Start with the purpose
Figuring out the purpose
Creating usable APIs
Usable API structure
Good error messages
Document your API
Documenting with Postman
Good practices for API documentation
RESTful API Modeling Language
Designing an API
Case study – Designing an e-commerce API
Modeling an existing API design
Summary
Chapter 3: OpenAPI and API Specifications
Technical requirements
What are API specifications?
API specification terminology
Types of API specifications
Creating OASes
Parts of an OAS
Defining API schema
Using API specifications in Postman
Creating mocks from an OAS
Creating tests from an OAS
Summary
Chapter 4: Considerations for Good API Test Automation
Technical requirements
Exploring and automating
Exercise – considerations for good API test automation
Writing good automation
Types of API tests
Organizing and structuring tests
Creating the test structure
Organizing the tests
Creating maintainable tests
Using logging
Test reports
Summary
Section 2: Using Postman When Working with an Existing API
Chapter 5: Understanding Authorization Options
Understanding API security
Authorization in APIs
Authentication in APIs
API security in Postman
Getting started with authorization in Postman
Using Basic Auth
Using Bearer Tokens
Using API keys
Using AWS Signature
Using OAuth
Using Digest auth and Hawk authentication
Using NTLM authentication
Using Akamai EdgeGrid
Security testing with Postman
Fuzzing
Command injection
Authorization testing
Integrating with Burp Suite
Summary
Chapter 6: Creating Test Validation Scripts
Technical requirements
Checking API responses
Checking the status code in a response
Checking the body of a response
Checking headers
Custom assertion objects in Postman
Creating your own tests
Creating folder and collection tests
Cleaning up after tests
Setting up pre-request scripts
Using variables in pre-request scripts
Passing data between tests
Building request workflows
Using environments in Postman
Managing environment variables
Editing environment variables
Summary
Chapter 7: Data-Driven Testing
Technical requirements
Defining data-driven testing
Setting up data-driven inputs
Thinking about the outputs for data-driven tests
Creating a data-driven test in Postman
Creating the data input
Adding a test
Comparing responses to data from a file
Challenge – data-driven testing with multiple APIs
Challenge setup
Challenge hints
Summary
Chapter 8: Running API Tests in CI with Newman
Technical requirements
Getting Newman set up
Installing Newman
Running Newman
Understanding Newman run options
Using environments in Newman
Running data-driven tests in Newman
Other Newman options
Reporting on tests in Newman
Using Newman's built-in reporters
Using external reporters
Creating your own reporter
Integrating Newman into CI builds
General principles for using Newman in CI builds
Example of using Travis CI
Summary
Chapter 9: Monitoring APIs with Postman
Technical requirements
Setting up a monitor in Postman
Creating a monitor
Using additional monitor settings
Adding tests to a monitor
Viewing monitor results
Cleaning up the monitors
Summary
Chapter 10: Testing an Existing API
Technical requirements
Finding bugs in an API
Setting up a local API for testing
Testing the API
Finding bugs in the API
Resetting the service
Example bug
Automating API tests
Reviewing API automation ideas
Setting up a collection in Postman
Creating the tests
An example of automated API tests
Setting up a collection in Postman
Creating the tests
Sharing your work
Sharing a collection in Postman
Summary
Section 3: Using Postman to Develop an API
Chapter 11: Designing an API Specification
Technical requirements
Creating an API specification
Starting the file
Defining the endpoints
Defining parameters
Adding additional responses
Describing request bodies
Using examples
Adding the API to Postman
Contract testing
Understanding API versioning
Thinking through when to create a new API version
Summary
Chapter 12: Creating and Using a Mock Server in Postman
Technical requirements
Different approaches to testing with mocks
Setting up a mock server
Creating a mock server from a specification file
Creating a mock server from a collection
Creating a new mock server from scratch
Creating good mock responses
Using default examples
Creating custom examples
Using dynamic variables in examples
Responding based on parameters
Understanding example matching
Using mock servers
Developing against a mock server
Continuous planning with a mock server
Testing with a mock server
Summary
Chapter 13: Using Contract Testing to Verify an API
Understanding contract testing
What is contract testing?
How to use contract testing
Who creates the contracts?
Setting up contract tests in Postman
Creating a contract testing collection
Adding tests to a contract test collection
Running and fixing contract tests
Fixing contract test failures
Sharing contract tests
Summary
Chapter 14: Design and Create an API
Technical requirements
Designing an API
Setting up the challenge
Challenge – Design a usable API
Solution – Design a usable API
Challenge 2 – Create an API specification file
Solution 2 – Create an API specification file
Setting up the API in Postman
Challenge – Add an API and mock server in Postman
Solution – Add an API and mock server in Postman
Creating tests and documentation for the API
Challenge – Add tests to the API
Solution – Add tests to the API
Sharing what you have done
Summary