API Testing and Development with Postman: A practical guide to creating, testing, and managing APIs for automated software testing

Explore the world of APIs and learn how to integrate them the production-ready applications using Postman and the Newman CLI

Key Features

• Learn the tenets of effective API testing and API design
• Gain an in-depth understanding of the various features Postman has to offer
• Know when and how to use Postman for creating high-quality APIs for software and web apps

Book Description

Postman enables the exploration and testing of web APIs, helping testers and developers figure out how an API works. With Postman, you can create effective test automation for any APIs. If you want to put your knowledge of APIs to work quickly, this practical guide to using Postman will help you get started.

The book provides a hands-on approach to learning the implementation and associated methodologies that will have you up and running with Postman in no time. Complete with step-by-step explanations of essential concepts, practical examples, and self-assessment questions, this book begins by taking you through the principles of effective API testing. A combination of theory coupled with real-world examples will help you learn how to use Postman to create well-designed, documented, and tested APIs. You'll then be able to try some hands-on projects that will teach you how to add test automation to an already existing API with Postman, and guide you in using Postman to create a well-designed API from scratch.

By the end of this book, you'll be able to use Postman to set up and run API tests for any API that you are working with.

What you will learn

• Find out what is involved in effective API testing
• Use data-driven testing in Postman to create scalable API tests
• Understand what a well-designed API looks like
• Become well-versed with API terminology, including the different types of APIs
• Get to grips with performing functional and non-functional testing of an API
• Discover how to use industry standards such as OpenAPI and mocking in Postman

Who this book is for

The book is for software testing professionals and software developers looking to improve product and API quality through API test automation. You will find this book useful if understand APIs and want to build your skills for creating, testing, and documenting APIs. The book assumes beginner-level knowledge of JavaScript and API development.

Table of Contents

1. API Testing Theory and Terminology
2. Principles of API Design
3. OpenAPI and API Specifications
4. Considerations for Good API Test Automation
5. Understanding Authorization Options
6. Creating Test Validation Scripts
7. Data Driven Testing
8. Running API Tests in CI with Newman
9. Monitoring APIs With Postman
10. Testing an Existing API
11. Designing an API Specification
12. Creating and Using a Mock Server in Postman
13. Using Contract Testing to Verify an API
14. Design and create an API

Dave Westerveld is test developer with many years of testing experience. He has been involved in the testing of many different projects ranging from well-established products to helping with the early stages of major new initiatives. He excels at solving automation problems in a team environment and has been involved in traditional automation initiatives at various stages. Dave has also helped to improve product quality through the creative use of automation tools and by helping build out automation frameworks. He has a desire to see teams efficiently producing high-value software and is enthusiastic about understanding the way that automation tools can be used to help with this goal. Currently, Dave works as a test developer at D2L, owner of the worlds first integrated learning platform. In this role, he has had the opportunity to learn a lot about services-based architecture and how to test them in the real world. As an employee at an educational company, Dave has a passion for sharing what he has learned with others. He is also passionate about the importance of producing good quality software and so is excited to be able to author courses that allow him to share some of his testing knowledge. He blogs at offbeattesting.