Software companies work tirelessly to make their products as attractive and relevant as they can. One of the many ways they promote adoption and consistent use is through integration with other applications. When creating the code necessary to achieve this integration, engineers commonly refer to an API, or application programming interface. To put it simply, an API helps to define how components within both applications should interact.
It’s widely known that thorough API testing results in a high-quality final product. One question that lingers for many product companies, however, has to do with timing -- when should API testing be introduced? For many top QA teams, the answer aligns with the increasingly popular Agile methodology. For a strong, robust product, API testing is best performed in parallel with development.
The application programming interface (API) lays the groundwork for how your software components interact, and it helps guide your development team through the programming of the graphical user interface (GUI). Thorough API testing is the best way to ensure the functionality of your application's code and the API layer itself. Before partnering with an outsourced QA provider to begin testing your product, acquaint yourself with the advantages, approach, and associated tools of API testing.
The primary goal of API testing is code-level testing of both the application and the API. A full, organized suite of testing will verify the individual parts of each method, class, and package within the API, ensure security of the application’s code, and confirm the expected interaction between the API layer and the application. Grow your test toolkit by pairing this API testing tutorial with our blog post about API testing advantages.
Compared with graphical user interface (GUI) testing, application programming interface (API) testing provides several key advantages, each of which can improve the coverage of your test cycle, conserve resources, and result in faster, more efficient releases. Based on your project timeline, integration requirements, and desired functionality, API testing is usually a worthwhile approach when testing your application in-house or with an offshore QA team. Four key advantages of API testing include: