API testing is essential for ensuring the functionality, reliability, and security of web services. By designing and executing test cases for API testing, we can uncover potential issues, validate API behavior, and guarantee a seamless experience for end users.
The Most Important Test Cases for API Testing
In this tutorial, you will explore a comprehensive set of test cases for API testing. We have covered various aspects such as request validation, response verification, error handling, security, and performance.
Different API testing areas and test cases
Let’s now check out the different API testing types. Also, see what scope and tasks you will need to do while performing API testing.
1. Request validation test cases
- Verify that required request parameters are present and correctly formatted.
- Validate the data types and formats of input parameters.
- Test different boundary conditions and edge cases for numeric, string, and date inputs.
- Check the behavior of optional parameters and their defaults.
- Invalid Request Format: Verify the API’s behavior when an invalid request format is provided.
- Input Data Validation: Test the API’s handling of invalid input data.
- Error Handling for Invalid Requests: Validate the API’s response when an invalid request is made.
2. Response verification test cases
- Ensure that the API response contains the expected data and fields.
- Validate the correctness of response data by comparing it against predefined values or patterns.
- Test the response time to ensure it meets performance expectations.
- Verify that the response headers contain the necessary information (e.g., content type, caching).
- Response Data Integrity: Ensure that the response data returned by the API is accurate, complete, and in the expected format.
- Pagination and Filtering: Test the pagination and filtering functionality of the API.
- Response Time for Large Data Sets: Evaluate the API’s performance when handling large data sets.
3. Error Handling test cases
- Test the behavior of the API when invalid or missing parameters are provided.
- Validate the response status codes for various error scenarios (e.g., 400 Bad Request, 404 Not Found).
- Verify that error messages or codes returned by the API are meaningful and descriptive.
- Test the API’s ability to gracefully handle and recover from unexpected errors.
- Boundary Error Conditions: Test the API’s response when input values are at the lower or upper boundaries of acceptable ranges.
- Exception Handling: Validate the API’s behavior when facing exceptions or error conditions.
- Error Logging and Reporting: Verify that the API logs and reports errors in order to make it easy to debug.
4. Security test cases
- Validate flows that involve login and require authorization, such as API keys, tokens, or OAuth.
- Test for potential security flaws, such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS).
- Verify that sensitive data is only passed securely over HTTPS.
- Test rate limiting and throttling mechanisms to protect against abuse or excessive usage.
- Access Control: Test the API’s access control mechanisms.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Prevention: Validate that the APIs are properly processing the input data. Also, ensure these paths to check against scripting attacks.
- API Key or Token Validation: Ensure that the API correctly validates and authorizes requests.
5. Performance test cases
- Evaluate the API’s response time under different load conditions.
- Test the API’s ability to handle concurrent requests and high traffic volumes.
- Monitor resource utilization, such as CPU and memory, during performance testing.
- Identify and optimize potential bottlenecks to ensure optimal API performance.
- Load Testing: Evaluate the API’s performance under different load levels.
- Stress Testing: Test the API’s behavior under high concurrent user requests or heavy data loads.
- Response Time for Concurrent Requests: Measure the API’s response time when multiple concurrent requests are made.
I’m sure you’ve already read the following posts on API testing and essential questions around it. Certainly, they will be immensely helpful to you.
Now, in the below section, we provided several samples for different types of test cases Please go through each of them.
API test case template & samples
Here is the most important part of this tutorial. Firstly, it lays down the sample test case template for API testing. And secondly, it provides some real test cases for security and performance API testing.
1. Default test case template
Below is an extremely rich test case template having all the possible fields you may need.
| Test Case ID | Test Case Name | Test Objective | Preconditions | Test Steps | Expected Result | Actual Result | Pass/Fail | Test Environment | Test Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC001 | API Health Check | To verify the API is up and running. | None | Send a GET request to the API endpoint for a health check. | API returns a 200 OK response with a success message or status. | Production environment | N/A |
2. Security API test cases sample
In order to explain to you how to use the above template, we have written a few security test cases using the same.
| Test Case ID | Test Case Name | Test Objective | Preconditions | Test Steps | Expected Result | Actual Result | Pass/Fail | Test Environment | Test Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC101 | Authentication – Invalid Credentials | To verify the API behavior when invalid authentication credentials are provided. | Set up the API endpoint with authentication enabled. | Send a request to the API with invalid authentication credentials. | API returns a 401 Unauthorized response with an appropriate error message. | Test environment with invalid credentials configured | |||
| TC102 | Security Vulnerability – SQL Injection | To test the API for SQL injection vulnerabilities. | Set up the API endpoint with a vulnerable SQL query parameter. | Send a request to the API with an SQL injection payload. | API returns a 500 Internal Server Error response or blocks the request with an appropriate error message. | Test environment with SQL injection configured |
3. Performance API test cases sample
In the same fashion, as shown above, we table a few more cases of performance testing.
| Test Case ID | Test Case Name | Test Objective | Preconditions | Test Steps | Expected Result | Actual Result | Pass/Fail | Test Environment | Test Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC201 | API Response Time – Single Request | To measure the response time of the API for a single request. | None | Send a request to the API. | Measure the time taken to receive the response. | Test environment with monitoring tools configured | |||
| TC202 | API Throughput – Concurrent Requests | To evaluate the API’s ability to handle concurrent requests. | None | Send multiple simultaneous requests to the API. | Measure the number of successful responses received within a specific time frame. | Test environment with load testing tools configured |
Conclusion
We hope that you have carefully read the above test cases. By covering these cases in API testing, you can create an effective test plan. It will help you thoroughly assess the functionality, reliability, and security of your web services.
Each test case for API testing addresses specific aspects of API behavior, enabling you to identify and resolve potential issues proactively. Remember, effective API testing is crucial for delivering robust, reliable, and high-performing web services that meet the expectations of your users.
Happy testing!
