How to Develop an Effective API Automation Testing Strategy
An integral step of automating API testing is developing a strategy for the upcoming QA project. With a good strategy, you can plan your resources wisely, ensure all-encompassing testing coverage, and make the team’s testing efforts as efficient as possible. Here is how to build an API automation strategy that works perfectly for your organization.
1. Collaborate with Manual Testers
Ideally, an API testing automation project is a collaborative effort between the manual and the automated QA departments. It is usually possible to launch an API automation testing project with the automation team alone. Still, the results are always going to be better when there are already some test cases written by the manual testers for the automation QAs to build their work upon.
2. Communicate with the Developers
Another vital aspect of a successful API automation testing project is regular communication between the QAs and the developers behind the product. This can be especially useful when there isn’t enough documentation on the project, or it’s lacking in quality. The developers can identify the endpoints and key features of the application, among other things.
3. Prioritize the Test Cases
Automating every single API test case is both impractical and not always realistic. This is why there needs to be a person with significant API testing experience who is able to correctly prioritize the test cases. For example, when the app being tested includes third-party APIs, there is no need to test those APIs themselves — only the way they interact with the main app.
4. Consider Local Laws and Regulations
One of the often overlooked aspects of API testing automation is not the technical parameters of the application, but its compliance with local regulations. This is particularly essential for products intended for international use. Laws and regulations can concern data storage, privacy, age limits, and so on, and they all need to be taken into account while testing.
5. Examine Every Possible Scenario
Since the primary purpose of API automation testing is in-depth quality assurance of a product that countless users will depend on, it’s important to consider every single scenario when developing a testing strategy. For example, how the app is going to behave when a third-party API stops working, or an in-house API is down for scheduled maintenance?
6. Pay Attention to the Revenue Streams
Some of the most important parts of an application that uses APIs are often the parts that directly impact the company’s revenue. For an eCommerce store, it can be the payment gateway application, while for a flight booking platform, it can be a feature that offers discounted ticket + hotel + car rental bundles. This type of functionality needs to be tested with special precision.
7. Put Emphasis on Regression Testing
While it’s true for many types of products and testing levels, regression testing is paramount for API automation testing. There are few things more harmful to the reputation of a product and company overall than a particular feature failing to work properly or being dropped altogether after the customers have gotten used to it. This is why regression testing should never be skipped in automating API testing.
How to Automate API Testing
Any successful API testing automation project is thoroughly planned and follows a specific set of steps designed by the automation team. Here are the steps a typical project in API testing automation includes.
1. Create a Detailed Plan
This is a crucial step on a way to automating your API testing efforts. A well-designed plan will help you understand the work ahead better and prepare your team members for the subsequent steps you will all need to take. Planning the project also helps you get a firm grasp of the available resources, which allows you to keep the project budget under control later.
2. Identify the Requirements
A comprehensive list of requirements gives a sense of direction to an API automation testing project and helps the team keep their eyes on the key goals of the project. The requirements will always depend on the project specifics, but the most typical ones include:
- Who the API is for and what it’s meant to do
- Principal and secondary functionality of the API
- Whether and how it interacts with other APIs
- What the team is looking for with testing
- The definition of passed and failed tests
3. Prepare the Test Cases
Whether you already have a roster of API test cases written by the manual team or you are planning to write the cases from scratch and have it done by the automation team, the number and variety of test cases have a direct impact on the process and the results of the project. Two popular approaches for designing test cases include behavior-driven and data-driven testing.
4. Select the Tools and the Framework
A testing framework is required to standardize the work of the QA team and improve the quality of testing overall. Teams may choose from ready-made frameworks or design their own, although the latter takes senior-level skills and experience. As for the tools, the choice is usually between paid and open-source ones, and there are plenty of options available in both categories.
5. Set Up the Testing Environment
This is the part of the project that should ideally be entrusted to the DevOps team or engineers with similar competencies. Setting up the testing environment for an API testing automation project includes configuring servers, databases, and other architecture items the API is going to interact with.
6. Execute the Tests and Analyze the Results
This is the stage where you get to evaluate not only the quality and stability of the API, but also the success of the previous steps of project planning. To increase the efficiency of testing and reduce dependencies, you can opt for parallel test running. As for analyzing the results of testing, you can rely on one or more API automation testing tools.