API testing masterclass

APIs play a vital role in many modern software development efforts as the glue that connects different components, as well as entire systems. As a software tester or developer, it is therefore vital that you know

  • why testing APIs and testing at the API level is important,
  • what to look for when you’re testing APIs, and
  • how to go about testing APIs efficiently.

In this three-day API testing masterclass, you will learn all about APIs, how to test them and how to use a variety of tools to your advantage when doing so.

Course contents - day 1

Day 1 of the masterclass lays the groundwork for days 2 and 3. You will learn:

  • What APIs are and what types of APIs exist
  • What the building blocks are that make up different types of APIs
  • What roles APIs play in modern software systems, such as web and mobile applications and microservices architectures
  • Why testing your APIs is so important
  • What benefits testing at the API level brings to your testing and test automation efforts
  • What you can (and can not) test for at the API level
  • How to perform exploratory testing on an API
  • How to use tools to your advantage when performing exploratory API testing
  • How to gauge API testability and make suggestions for improving it

After completing day 1, you will have a clear overview of what APIs are and what role they play in modern software systems. You will also be able to answer the questions of “why?”, “what?” and “how?” to test APIs.

Course contents - day 2

On day 2, you will dive deeper into various tools that can help you test your APIs more efficiently. You will learn:

  • What standards there are for API specifications and API contracts
  • What contract testing is
  • How to perform contract testing
  • How to write and run automated tests for APIs that check basic API functionality
  • How to work with API parameters when creating automated tests
  • How to work with request and response bodies efficiently when creating automated tests

After completing day 2, you will have gained experience in using several types of tools to support your API functional testing efforts. You will leave with various examples and suggestions that you can apply in your own context.

Course contents - day 3

The final day of this masterclass covers testing other API characteristics, making API testing part of your overall testing and test automation strategy and dealing with API dependencies. You will learn:

  • How to make API test automation part of your overall test automation suite
  • How to integrate API testing into your Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery pipeline
  • How to create and run performance tests on APIs
  • How to create and run security tests on APIs
  • How to use mocking and service virtualization tools to create API simulations that will support you in your testing efforts

After completing day 3, you will have a good overview of all there is to know related to testing APIs. You can explain the role and place of API testing in an overall testing and software development strategy, and you will have gained knowledge of and experience with a wide range of tools that can help you implement this strategy.

This masterclass is packed with a variety of exercises. Some of these will be individual, some are done in groups of 2-4 people. A number of them will be carried out on laptops, but there will be other exercise formats too. Interaction is a key component in this course.

Intended audience and prerequisite knowledge

This course is aimed at software testers and developers that want to learn more about testing APIs and using tools to do so more efficiently.

Some prior exposure to (object-oriented) software development and test automation can be helpful. I am confident, however, that even without this you will find this masterclass to be very useful.

After this course

After completing this API testing masterclass, you’ll know why knowing how to test APIs is so important, what to look for when you’re testing APIs and how to use tools to your advantage in your API testing efforts. You’ll leave this course with a collection of tools, examples and resources for further studying that will help you in your day to day work.

Delivery and group size

This is a live training course, available both on site and online.

If you would like to book me to teach this course in your organization, or if you have any additional questions, please send an email to bas@ontestautomation.com or use the contact form on this page.

For an overview of all training courses I have on offer, please visit the main training page.