The world has become a global village. The Application Programming Interface is the core factor that has contributed to the world becoming connected. Have you developed an application and you are not sure of its performance? API testing will ensure your application is covered for success and accuracy.

What is API Testing?

This is a testing performed on a system that has a collection of API (connects an application to the web and other APIs) to figure out if they meet the functionality, reliability, performance and security expectations.

Examples include:

  • Putting in check return values of API based on the input condition.
  • Confirming if there is nothing in return from the API.
  • Confirming if the API is updating any structure of data.
  • Confirming if the API makes a call to another API or initiates some other event.

How the Testing Works

  • It verifies functionality and exposes failures by exploring boundary conditions and ensuring that the test harness varies API calls parameters.
  • Verifies the calls with two or more parameters by generating more value to added parameter combinations.
  • Considers the external environment conditions like peripheral devices, files amongst others in order to verify the API behavior.
  • Verifies the API calls sequence and checks if useful results are produced by the APIs from successive calls.
  • It’s important to understand that if you’re testing shared web hosting servers, you might need to do the testing a little differently and interpret the results differently that you would on a VPS or dedicated server, according to Web Hosting Buddy. This matters because you need to ensure that you are fair in your testing, otherwise you could end up with bad data and a biased view against one company or another.

Types of Testing

There are various types of API testing that you can use to test your API for:

  • Functional testing- Involves checking if the API is able to work technically
  • Reliability testing- Checks for the consistency in connecting to the API and the expected outcome
  • Usability testing- Checks if the API can be worked with easily.
  • Load testing- Verifies if the API can withstand simulation of high levels of traffic of calls
  • Creativity testing- Verifies if the API can handle diverse use.
  • Security testing- Checks if the API vital data is protected by its defined security requirements, that is, authentication, permission and access controls.
  • Proficiency testing- API increases the developer’s performance
  • Discovery testing- Verifies that the API documentation guides the user easily.

This testing is faster and takes a shorter time when a code is checked in. No other testing is better to ensure that your application is connected to the web and other APIs successfully as a complete project. Go ahead and give your application value.