REST Assured – Introduction to JSON and how to send files as Payload

🔰 Formats of JSON

JSON is found in two formats. One is a JSON object, and another is a JSON array.

JSON object

{
	“language”: “C++”,
	“Difficulty”: “Moderate”,
	“Time to Learn (basic)”: “1 month”
}

JSON array

[
	{
		“State”: “Maharashtra”,
		“Language”: “Marathi”
	},
	{
		“State”: “West Bengal“,
		“Language”: “Bengali”
	},
	{
		“State”: “Andhra Pradesh“,
		“Language”: “Telugu”
	},
	{
		“State”: “Punjab“,
		“Language”: “Punjabi”
	}
]

JSON object starts with open curly bracket "{"and ends with close curly bracket "}". It is basically an unordered data structure. In comparison, a JSON array is an ordered collection of data. JSON array starts with the open square bracket "[" and ends with the close square bracket "]". A JSON array is capable of storing multiple JSON objects. 

Example

{
	“Country”: “India”,
	“Population”: “138 crores”,
	“Capital”: “Delhi”,
	“Major Cities”: [
		{
			“City Name”: “Mumbai”,
			“State”: “Maharashtra”
		},
		{
			“City Name”: “Kolkata”,
			“State”: “West Bengal”
		},
		{
			“City Name”: “Hyderabad”,
			“State”: “Telangana”
		},
		{
			“City Name”: “Banglore”,
			“State”: “Karnataka”
		},
	],
	“Tourist Places”: [
		“Ooty”, “Jaipur”, “Coorg”, “Agra”, “Lonavala”, “Darjeeling”
	]
}

In the above JSON, we have the JSON array of objects named “Major Cities”. We also have a JSON array of strings named “Tourist Places”.

🏹 Sending a JSON File as a Payload

First, you need to create a JSON file. Then write payload in it. Name the file as someInfo.json. Place the file in the “src/test/resources” folder.

Now here comes the coding part.

package DifferentWaysOfPassingPayloadToRequest;
 
import java.io.File;
import io.restassured.http.ContentType;
import io.restassured.RestAssured;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;
import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
 
public class FilePassingAsPayload {
	
	@Test
	public void passFile()
	{
		String location = "src/test/resources/Payloads/AuthPayload.json";
		/* File instance */
		File jsonDataPayload = new File(location);
		
		/* given */
		RestAssured
		    .given()
				.baseUri("https://restful-app.netlify.com/auth")
				.contentType(ContentType.JSON)
				.body(jsonDataPayload)
		/* when */
			.when()
				.post()
				/* then */
			.then()
				.assertThat()
				.statusCode(200)
				.body("token", Matchers.notNullValue())
				.body("token.length()", Matchers.is(15))
				.body("token", Matchers.matchesRegex("^[a-z0-9]+$"));
	}
}

You can also check about Java Tokens here.

Must Read Array of Objects in Java

Frequently Asked Questions

Are REST assured and REST API the same?

A Java library called REST Assured is used to test RESTful APIs. It is frequently used to test web applications that handle JSON and XML. Additionally, it supports all RESTful methods, including PUT, GET, PATCH, POST, and DELETE.

What is the difference between Postman and REST assured?

Code reusability: Since the Java client is REST-assured, it is possible. It can't be done in Postman. Creating a data-driven framework: For each collection, we can only offer one data file to the Postman automation runner. However, there is no restriction for this with REST-assured.

What is REST API in testing?

REST API sometimes referred to as RESTful API, is an API that complies with REST's restrictions and allows communication with RESTful web services. It is an open-source automation method for testing RESTful APIs for web apps. It is frequently used to test web applications that employ JSON and XML.

What is JSON used for?

It uses text to represent scalar values, arrays, and object literals in JavaScript. JSON is simple to parse and generate using software, and it is also simple to read and write. It is frequently used to serialize and exchange structured data across a network, usually between a server and web applications.

What JSON file means?

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a standard text-based format for representing structured data based on JavaScript object syntax. 

Conclusion

In this article, we have learned about the JSON file and its format. Also, we have learned to send a JSON file as a payload in REST Assured.

That's it from the article. I hope you all like it.

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Happy Learning!