API Testing Tools by RapidAPI changing the developer workflows
API testing plays a pivotal role in the development process. A performant API is not just developed but also thoroughly tested to ensure its integrity. There are different API testing tools available in the market that you can use to test your APIs. Although these tools do a good job, they often lack in areas where scheduled testing is required.
RapidAPI is one of the leading companies that provides API development, consumption, and testing solutions. Our product, RapidAPI Hub, is the world’s largest API Hub that handles billions of API calls monthly. Recently, we brought two new API testing tools to the market to help developers with their APIs.
In this piece, we will look at the new API testing tools by RapidAPI and how they are changing the developer workflow. So without any further ado, let’s jump in!
RapidAPI Client – API Testing Tool for VS Code
With millions of developers using VS Code to write code daily, it only seemed natural to build an API testing tool that runs inside VS Code. The easiest way to do that was to build an extension that could be publicly available to people.
RapidAPI Studio – API Management and Testing Tool
RapidAPI Studio is an API management platform that houses one of the most powerful API testing tools in the market. It offers three major features, i.e., Requests, Tests, and Hub Listing. The first two handle API testing and debugging, whereas the third one is a management tool.
What makes RapidAPI API Testing Tools better than others?
RapidAPI Studio and Client for VS Code individually and collectively bring several unique features to the table. Let’s learn about some of these features and see what makes API testing tools offered by RapidAPI better than any other tools in the market.
1. Execute API tests globally
Your API plays a significant role in performing data operations. If your site is hosted on a server in America and someone is requesting it from Asia, they might experience some delays. We should test our APIs on global data centers to ensure it does not happen.
With RapidAPI Studio, you can quickly run API tests on nine different data centers. This way, you can see the API test execution in different geographical locations.
2. Write API tests by drag and drop
If you do not know how to write tests for your APIs, you can still utilize the API testing tool provided by RapidAPI Studio. It provides a visual editor that lets you drag and drop testing steps into your API test. When the test runs, each step is executed one after another.
3. Create API tests by writing Code
The Tests feature inside RapidAPI Studio is a powerful API testing tool that lets you write JSON to create an API test. Each object inside the JSON array is a step with a unique id, action, and parameters. Once the test is executed, the JSON file is run to test the API.
4. Automatic API Test Generation
Suppose you are unsure how to write an API test. In that case, you can utilize the automatic test generation feature of RapidAPI Studio. All you will need to do is call the API with the help of the user interface and click on the Add to test button.
5. Schedule API Tests
Your API must always be up if you want people to use it. You can write tests to ensure this. But the API can break later due to any reason. To take care of it, RapidAPI Studio lets you schedule tests for your API.
When you schedule a test, you have to select the scheduling frequency. RapidAPI Studio offers every six, twelve, and twenty-four hours on the free package. You can upgrade to a premium package if you want to run the test every minute or five minutes.
By scheduling tests, you can look at the RapidAPI Studio dashboard later to check if any scheduled test has failed. You can also set up alerts (more on it below) to notify you when a test fails.
6. Set up Real-time Alerts
You can also set up real-time alerts inside the Tests feature of RapidAPI Studio. This way, if any of your scheduled tests have failed, you are notified immediately.
You can receive these alerts via email or SMS. You can also integrate it with existing developer tools like GitHub, PagerDuty, Slack, and Twilio.
7. Detailed Execution report
Every time a test runs on RapidAPI Studio, it generates a detailed execution report. The report contains the test name, the execution time, API request details, request header, API response, location information, and more.
You can look at it later to see if everything works as expected.
8. Test Analytics
RapidAPI Studio provides key analytics and quick insight to determine your tests' performance. These analytics show how many total tests were run and how many passed and failed. You can also see test executions over different periods of time.
Moreover, the API testing tool by RapidAPI Studio lets you see the analytics of individual API tests.
9. API testing inside VS Code
Sometimes we need to test and debug our APIs quickly while building them. With RapidAPI Client for VS Code, you can test your APIs in the same place you code them. There is no need for context switching. You just have to select the RapidAPI Client icon from the sidebar and start debugging your endpoints.
10. Test APIs in different environments
RapidAPI Client is an API testing tool built as an extension for VS Code. It lets you create different environments to test your APIs.
You can create a development environment with development-specific variables to debug API endpoints. Moreover, you can create staging and production environments to do the same thing with different variables.
11. Generate API Response types and interface
With a single click, RapidAPI Client for VS Code can generate types and interfaces for your API response. It’s a unique feature that improves your code quality by automating the grunt work of writing these types yourself.
Currently, this API testing tool can generate types/interfaces for three languages, i.e., TypeScript, Swift, and Python.
12. One-click request from clipboard
RapidAPI Client for VS Code lets you create an API request from the clipboard. You need to copy an API and select “Create new requests from clipboard” from the VS Code command palette.
If you have a cURL command copied, RapidAPI Client will create a request with the method, headers, and body already populated for you.
13. GraphQL API Testing Support
You can test any GraphQL API using RapidAPI Client inside your VS Code. It provides GraphQL API testing support. All you need to do is go to the Body, select GraphQL and start writing your query.
14. VS Code theme support
You can check the API response in your favorite VS Code theme with RapidAPI Client. Change your theme, and the Client will match it with full syntax highlighting.
Wrap Up
These two API testing tools by RapidAPI have changed how developers test APIs. You can schedule thorough testing to ensure your API is always up. And you can quickly test and debug them without needing to switch programs.
If you want to learn more about RapidAPI Studio and Client, I recommend you take a look at the following pieces: