Accelerating APIs for digital QA evolution

In this modern application efficiency era, API testing plays an essential role in any software application development. Previously, testing was always performed only when the GUI was completed. The testing team has to wait till the code completion phase to start a test execution. For better productivity, API testing slowly started to outdate the above process and it ensures that a tester need not wait till the completion of GUI layer.

There are some noteworthy advantages in API testing that contribute to effective quality assurance. One among is the early detection of defects, by validating the response of the API call with all possible requests. Precisely, we can validate the business logic of an application by creating test scenarios with test data that includes the input parameters, expected response and finally the response time taken.

For instance, if a requirement says “A user should be able register, create and edit a user profile” the tester can test this requirement using the corresponding API services with all the positive and negative cases to save time taken for application release. Obviously, this allows the user to perform tests at a very beginning level even before the GUI work for the above requirement is underway.

Additionally, the fact that this API testing is totally technology neutral adds to its substantial applicability. The data exchange is done using JSON or XML formats. This particular feature allows to perform API testing using any language when automating the API services.

By identifying and correcting the functional defects during the early phase, we can easily evaluate the quality of the application. Testers now have the privilege of focusing only on the integration and the UI issues when running the GUI tests. Also, API testing allows for easy integration with the GUI. This reduces the cost of performing functional testing at the GUI level.

By eliminating the reliance on UI automation to carry out functional tests, test validation should be accomplished more quickly as the software industry transitions towards DevOps, Continuous Integration (CI), and Continuous Development (CD). Concentrating only on UI automation, which is notoriously slow and will only slow down the delivery schedule. So, the only method to accomplish the goal of completing tasks rapidly is through API testing.

The tools that are on the market can be used to automate API tests. Here are a few of the tools:

• REST Assured
• Postman
• SoapUI
• JMeter

The above listed API testing tools are all effective and offer useful options to users. We can select any one of them based on our needs and requirements.

In a nutshell, API testing will be the future of the QA process. When adding API testing to your QA process, you will definitely yield high quality, good performance, and a stable application. People should be aware of the strategic importance of API testing and get started with this approach for at least one reason: "API Testing is Cost Effective".