4 Tips to Improve your Data-driven API Testing
Published: 2023-01-12 11:08:52


With a large number of benefits of implementing API in business, organizations are keeping API development on their top priority list.  Companies have realized that APIs are key to the success of their business as it has helped them boost automation, deliver great customer experience, and also to build new revenue models. To help their business grow, organizations need to build quality APIs that can integrate seamlessly and efficiently leading to a new phase of innovation
To ensure the quality of APIs we need to test these APIs in the best possible way before opening them for the user. While there are a number of tests like performance checks, security tests, and functional tests to be conducted while testing the API in this article we will be discussing ways to improve the data-driven API tests that will help you in further improving the quality of your API. 

So let’s begin.

**1. Use Realistic Data**

While testing your applications it is always advisable that your test data should represent real-world production conditions. The same goes for API testing, as the effectiveness of API testing is greatly increased when realistic data is used in the testing process.

Consider a sample request body used in a banking API

<BankUserAccountInfo>
    <UserAccount   accountNo="" accountTypeEnum="SAVINGS">
      <Identifiers pan="AXBPP" mobile="999999988888" email="name@email" aadhar="689956"></Identifiers> 
    </UserAccount>
</BankUserAccountInfo>

In the above example if the data of PAN, Aadhar, and other details hold junk or irrelevant values then it might defeat the purpose of testing. Most of the possible bugs present in the system can be captured by using realistic data.

To ensure the test data is realistic we need to make sure to understand the [API in detail](https://www.testrigtechnologies.com/what-is-api-testing-why-api-testing-is-needed-to-fulfil-the-requirements/). 

**2. Reuse of realistic test data sets**

Once you have spent time and effort designing realistic test data for your functional testing, you can make use of the same data for performance and security testing of the APIs. This will help in saving testing time and increase the test coverage thereby building quality APIs. Test data needs to be structured and maintained to use for testing purposes.  

 

**3. Must include Negative Testing**

Although testing for positive responses is a common practice in API testing, it is equally important to send incorrect or otherwise invalid parameters to the API and check how our API behaves. For instance, consider a scenario where a user is able to create a new bank account without providing his PAN card details. Also, suppose in a login module a user is able to log in with invalid credentials which may lead to chaos. This is why we need to include such scenarios wherein the user would generally get an error message if invalid parameters are entered into the system.  

**4. Regression testing can help**

In the business process, an API undergoes multiple changes and revisions which can lead to new errors in the system and so the process of regression testing cannot be ignored. These errors are uncovered during the regression testing process. It is crucial to track these API changes so that our testing process is better and more accurate. 

**Conclusion**

In the article, we saw the important role played by APIs in business, and the necessity to build quality APIs for the benefit of the users and the organization. We also saw the importance of ensuring your tests reflect real-world use cases. The article also highlights that testing teams need to track and respond to changes in API. 

API testing is a must for delivering quality APIs which are the building blocks of your business application. API testing can be challenging, provided you use the right tools and best practices. At Testrig Technologies, we follow manual and automated API testing processes with industry best practices that help us deliver quality APIs to our customers. 

To [Hire an API tester](https://www.testrigtechnologies.com/hire-api-tester/) or to learn more about the API testing process contact Testrig Technologies and our QA experts will be happy to assist you in the process.