Hey Ninja!! 🥷You must have used the TV remote and never bothered to understand how it works 😂. Similarly, in the world of software development or web development, we tend to overlook a variety of sub-domains in terms of their architecture.
API's come into the picture when we want to offer our services or take someone else's services in the tech domain. APIs hide the complexity that we don't need to know. These APIs are pretty complex and thus need rigorous testing and updation regularly.
In this blog, we will learn how to manage these tests and structure our tests for optimal performance.
Project Structure
Let us look through the project structure panel and learn the components present. Having a firm knowledge of the contents present in the panel will help simplify the management of tests.
You can clearly identify the test suites, cases and steps in the above image. We will go into more detail about these topics in the sections below. ❄️
Managing Test Suites
Suites stand at the top of the testing hierarchy. They define the general testing design that we are going to implement. Managing test suites is itself a big challenge. We will go through various operations that we can perform on test suites. So what are you waiting for? Lets's jump into the details directly!!⚡⚡⚡⚡
Disable Test Suites
A lot of times, you may want to disable a test suite. That is, you want to skip these sets of tests while testing. To do so, right-clickon the suite and select 'Disable Test Suite'.
Enable Test Suites
If your test suite is disabled, right-click on the suite and click on the 'Enable Test Suite' option.
Clone a Test Suite
We often don't want to perform any changes in our test suite but test some changes inside it. Cloning a test suite comes in handy in such situations. To make a copy of the test suite, right-click and select the option 'Clone Test Suite'.
After this, give your new suite a name and its target project.
Clone Several Test Suites
ReadyAPI gives us the power to clone many test suites to use them in a different projects. To clone several test suites, open the context menu and select Clone Test Suites. You can configure the settings from the dialogue box.
Move Several Test Suites
To move several test suites within the project or from outside the project, follow these steps:
Select desired test suites
Open the context menu and click on Move Test Suites
Configure the dialogue box and click on Move to complete the operation.
Remove Test Suite
To remove a test suite, right-click on the suite from the panel and select the Remove option. You may press the Shift+Delete button combination as well.
Rename Test Suite
To rename the test suite, right-click on the suite and then click Rename option. Alternately, after selecting the suite, press F2.
Change Test Suite Order
To change the test suite order, drag and drop to the correct place or select Move up or down from the context menu.
Save Test Suite
First of all, make sure that the suite is not empty and it is not under a composite project. Either false will lead to a warning, and the suite will not be saved. To save the test suite follow these steps:
Go to the context menu
Right-click on the test suite and select composite actions -> Save Test Suite.
Managing Test Cases
Test cases are at the second level in the hierarchy tree. These define the instances in which tests are to be performed. It contains multiple test steps which are to be executed to perform tests.
Let us now go through the actions that can be performed on test cases.
Disable Test Cases
There are instances when we want to skip a particular test case. In those times, disabling a test case comes in handy. To disable test cases, right-click on the test case and select Disable Test Case. Alternately, select the test case and from the context menu, click on Case and then Disable Test Case.
Enable Test Cases
If a test case is disabled, to enable it, follow these steps:
Right-click on the disabled test case and click on Enable Test Case.
Alternatively, you can select the disabled test case, click on the Case option from the context menu, and click on Enable Test Case.
Clone/Move Individual Test Case
To clone a test case, right-click on the test case and then select the Clone Test Case option.
Configure settings according to your needs and click OK to finish cloning.
Clone Several Test Cases
You can create clones of several test cases similar to how you learned to develop them for test suites. All the cloned copies will be the same at the time of cloning, which you can later change according to your needs. To clone multiple test cases, follow these steps:
Select test cases
From the context menu, choose Clone Test Cases
Configure the cloning process in the following dialogue box, and click on Clone to complete the cloning process.
Move Several Test Cases
You can move several test cases at once from multiple suites and projects. ReadyAPI will copy the test cases automatically to the destination project if needed. To move numerous test cases, follow these steps:
Select the test cases
From the context menu, click on Move Test Cases
Finally, configure the dialogue box and click on Move to complete the process.
Validate Test Cases
Validation is necessary to remove any errors which might have crept in due to external dependencies. ReadyAPI shows Validate Test Case option if there is any error after cloning. Using the dialogue box, you can remove any mistake if present.
Remove Test Cases
Sometimes you may want to delete a test case. This option is helpful in such situations if you made a clone by mistake or no longer need that test case. To remove a test case, follow these steps:
Right-click on the test case and select the Remove option.
Alternatively, select the test case, and then Case->Remove.
Rename Test Case
To rename a test case, follow these steps:
Right-click on the test case and select the Rename option.
Alternatively, select the test case and then Case->Rename.
Write the new name in the dialogue box and click on OK to complete the process.
Change Test Case Order
To change the execution order, you can change the order from the panel. To do this, follow the steps:
Click on a test case and drag it to its correct position.
Alternatively, right-click on the test case and select the Move Up or Move Down option.
Save Test Case
ReadyAPI allows us to save test cases in a composite project to avoid saving individual test cases. This is helpful when we want to keep a test case rather than the project itself.
To save a test case in a composite project:
Go to the context menu
Right-click on the test case and then follow Composite Actions → Save Test Case
Managing Test Steps
Managing test steps is the most critical aspect of testing. This is where you write the actual testing logic and the steps. It is crucial to handle these steps to perform efficient testing. Let us go through the necessary actions we can take to address the steps.
Add Test Step
Adding a test step is relatively easy. Right-click on the test case, click on Add Step and select the desired type of Step you need from the list.
After adding a test step, ReadyAPI automatically opens the step editor.
Disable Test Steps
Sometimes you may want to skip a step from the sequence of steps. To do this, follow these steps:
Right-click on the step and select Disable Test Step
Alternatively, select the step and then follow Step → Disable Test Step
Enable Test Steps
To enable a disabled test step, follow these steps:
Right-click on the step and select Enable Test Step
Alternatively, select the step and then follow Step → Enable Test Step
Clone/Move Individual Test Step
To clone an individual test step, follow the steps:
Right-click on the step and select Clone Test Step
Alternatively, select the step and then follow Step → Clone Test Step
Configure the dialogue box and click on OK to complete the cloning process.
Clone Several Test Steps
You have the option to create copies of multiple test steps at once to use them somewhere else. ReadyAPI will automatically copy them to the destination location. To clone several test steps at once, follow these steps:
Select test steps you wish to clone
From the context menu, select the Clone Test Steps option
Configure the dialogue box and click Clone to complete the process
Clone Test Steps from a Single Test
ReadyAPI allows copying test steps from a single test case as well. To do this, follow these steps:
Right-click on the test case from which you wish to clone steps
Click on Clone Test Steps from the context menu
Configure the dialogue box and click OK
Move Several Test Steps
ReadyAPI provides the functionality to move several test steps at once. You can select steps from multiple locations, including suites, cases and steps. To move simultaneously, follow these steps:
Select the steps you wish to move
From the context menu, click on the Move Test Steps option
Configure the dialogue box and click on Move to complete the process
Remove Test Step
Sometimes you may want to remove a test step. To remove a step, follow these steps:
Right-click on the test step and select the Remove option
Alternatively, select the test step and then follow Step → Remove
In the following dialogue box, confirm the operation.
Rename Test Step
Sometimes you may want to rename a test step. To rename a step, follow these steps:
Right-click on the test step and select the Rname option
Alternatively, select the test step and then follow Step → Rename
In the following dialogue box, click on OK to finish the operation.
Change Test Step Order
You may need to change the order of execution of these steps. To change the order, follow these steps:
Right-click the Step and click the Move Up or Move Down option from the panel.
Alternatively, after selecting the step, perform the Step → Move Up or Step → Move Down operation
Common Actions and Settings
All the steps have some settings available in the context menu. Some are step-specific, and some are general settings. You may use these to manage steps efficiently.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ReadyAPI?
ReadyAPI is an API testing platform. It gives all the functions required to test an API. You can perform functional, security and performance tests using built-in tools.
Why is test management critical?
Loosely implemented testing will lead to bugs in the application. Therefore it becomes an aspect of immense importance to perform robust testing. ReadyAPI is one such platform that tests APIs rigorously.
What is an API?
API stands for Application Programming Interface. These are the endpoints through which various services are accessed without knowing the inner complexities of the service/application.
Conclusion
In this blog, you learned how to manage test items in ReadyAPI. All the important topics related to Managing Test Items in ReadyAPI were covered in detail.
Also, do refer to other API testing-related articles: