What Is API Testing: Types, Benefits, and Documentations

What is an API's ? 

An API stands for Application Programming Interface. An API is basically a software intermediate that allows two applications to interact with each other. API acts like a messenger which takes your request and delivers it to the provider or the request acceptor and than request acceptor gives response in back to you.

Example :- Let's say you are searching for a food  through an online food booking site / app. Using the site’s /app online form, you will fill the necessary information like the food /crusine you want to eat , number of guests, and number of food /item quantity. Then you click “search.”. The site aggregates information from many different hotels/restaurant's. When you click “search,” the site/app then interacts with each hotel’s/restaurant's API, which delivers results for available food/meals that meet your criteria. And all this happens in seconds because of an API, which acts like a messenger that runs back and forth between applications, databases, and devices.

Moreover, if the API is designed correctly, hopefully, your search won’t crash. To avoid that, API’s are tested before they are put to use.

What is API's Testing ?  

API testing is a type of software testing that verifies and validates if APIs meet the expected performance requirements.

API testing determines the functionality, efficiency, reliability, and security of Application Program Interfaces (APIs). It guarantees that your APIs are healthy and that you can use them reliably and safely in your applications.

Applications frequently have different layers: 

a data layer, a service layer -- the API layer -- and a presentation layer -- the user interface (UI) layer. The business logic of the application -- the guide to how users can interact with the services, functions and data held within the app -- is in the API layer. API testing focuses on analyzing the business logic as well as the security of the application and data responses. An API test is generally performed by making requests to one or more API endpoints and comparing the response with expected results.

API testing is frequently automated and used by performance tester, DevOps, quality assurance (QA) and development teams for continuous testing practices.

Types of API Testing .

 There are different types of API testing :

1. Unit testing
2. Integration testing
3. Performance testing
4. Load testing
5. Runtime error detection
6. Security testing
7. Interoperability testing
8. Fuzz testing
9. Validation testing