{"id":466,"date":"2014-06-10T07:47:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T11:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qxf2.com\/blog\/?p=466"},"modified":"2015-04-12T08:35:21","modified_gmt":"2015-04-12T12:35:21","slug":"api-testing-using-runscope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qxf2.com\/blog\/api-testing-using-runscope\/","title":{"rendered":"API Testing using Runscope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem:<\/strong> Automating tests for APIs and backend services can be time consuming. Runscope is a powerful tool to help you quickly get started with API testing.<\/p>\n

Runscope<\/a> is a tool which helps us to automate web services testing. Runscope has a user friendly web interface. It also allows you to perform advanced variable manipulations and complex assertions in your tests via scripts<\/a>. You can also schedule tests to run regularly and receive notifications. When it comes to API testing, Runscope makes the easy things easy and the hard things possible. <\/p>\n

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When to use Runscope<\/h3>\n

There are a range of options that testers can use when it comes to API testing. You can choose not to test at all, get developers to do the testing, write scripts to do the testing, test the API indirectly via the front end, etc. In the past we have written about API testing using the Python module Mechanize<\/a>. Runscope is a relatively new option that we explored and liked at Qxf2 Services<\/a>. Some specific times I would choose to use Runscope are when I need:
\n1. a lightweight option to do API testing
\n2. to get started quickly with API testing
\n3. to work with testers who are new to API testing<\/p>\n

There are two ways to create your tests: capturing live calls using Runscope URLs and creating requests from scratch. In the example below we show you how to get started with Runscope by creating requests from scratch. For this example we are going to use the public api at OpenFDA<\/a>. Our test is to search for records listing a specific drug and validating the count of the five most frequently reported patient reactions.<\/p>\n

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Getting started with Runscope<\/h3>\n

1. Sign up for a Runscope account
\n2. Login and organize your projects
\n3. Choose a test
\n4. Create a request by adding method, URL, header, parameters etc
\n5. Run the test
\n6. Check the result
\n7. [OPTIONAL] Schedule tests and notifications<\/p>\n

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Detailed steps<\/h3>\n

STEP 1: Sign up for a Runscope account<\/a>.<\/strong>
\nYou can sign up for a 30 day free Runscope account<\/a><\/p>\n

STEP 2: Login and organize your projects<\/strong>
\nLogin<\/a> to your account. Create a bucket for your project and add tests in the bucket.<\/p>\n

\"Runscope<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also view the bucket key which will be used when you post request using Runscope<\/p>\n

\"Runscope_Bucket_Key\"<\/a><\/p>\n

STEP 3: Choose a test<\/strong>
\nWe will test the request for OpenFDA<\/a>. OpenFDA is an Elasticsearch-based API that serves Food and Drug Administration publicly accessible data about drugs, devices and food. Our test is to search for records listing a specific drug and validating the count of the five most frequently reported patient reactions.<\/p>\n

STEP 4: Create a request by adding method, URL, header, parameters etc<\/strong>
\nWe are trying to create the following request in Runscope:<\/p>\n

\r\nhttps:\/\/api.fda.gov\/drug\/event.json?count=patient.reaction.reactionmeddrapt.exact&search=patient.drug.openfda.pharm_class_epc:\"nonsteroidal+anti-inflammatory+drug\"&limit=5\r\n<\/pre>\n
Click on add request where you can create request, add parameters, assertions, variables and scripts<\/p>\n