ReadyAPI is an API testing tool offering many different testing services. ReadyAPI is a powerful tool that offers robust features. You can set up functional testing, security testing, and more.
ReadyAPI also offers integration with various softwares. We can send requests over HTTP and HTTPS. We can even configure SSL certificates for the same.
In this blog, we will see the various different software that ReadyAPI offers integrations for.
Integrations
You will use different tools to build complex software, such as a Web API. You will have source control, such as Git. You will have something for Project Management, such as Jira. You will have other software for ease of communication, such as Slack. While adding new software to this mix, it must work well with your existing setup.
ReadyAPI offers integrations with other software through the use of plugins. Plugins and integrations are often used synonymously by the ReadyAPI documentation, so we will do the same here.
Let us look into the vast amount of software we can integrate with ReadyAPI.
Software Available for Integration in ReadyAPI
Jenkins
Jenkins is a Continuous Integration-Continuous Deployment (CI-CD) workflow software. It allows us to run custom code in a structured and ordered way automatically. We can trigger buildsin Jenkins through version control (e.g., when a commit is pushed to GitHub) or at different intervals or times (e.g., every night at midnight).
We can add compilation, testing, and deploying to any build. ReadyAPI offers plugins for Jenkins that we can install. Thus we can make sure ReadyAPI tests also run during our Jenkins build. We can install these plugins on any Jenkins nodes (systems) we have running and configure them using our license. Then, via the ReadyAPI command line, we can run our tests.
Docker
Docker is a containerization software. It allows us to package our apps into containers that can run on any system - Windows, macOS, Linux, etc. Thus, developers are freed from the issues of multiple OS's. Docker does this by running a virtual machine on top of the OS. However, it only runs the libraries and necessary parts - not a full OS. Thus it is lightweight as well.
ReadyAPI offers preconfigured Docker images with certain functionality built into them - such as for functional tests and TestEngine. The functional test (or TestEngine) will run whenever the docker container runs.
Azure DevOps
Azure is a cloud service provider, that provides a host of services such as hosting, database, virtual machines, etc. They also offer DevOps services, which include CI-CD workflows (like the ones we discussed in Jenkins). We can integrate ReadyAPI with Azure builds, similar to how we did with Jenkins. Our tests will run automatically for us, and ReadyAPI will pack the results into a file we can view later.
Maven
Maven is a build automation tool that is used mainly for Java projects. It assists in the management of dependencies, plugins, external modules, etc. These can be written in an XML file (pom.xml). When building, Maven will unpack that file, read it, and understand it. Then it will do all the necessary work automatically.
It generally adds Java libraries from online sources to local projects. We can also add ReadyAPI testing into it through the use of plugins. We have to specify the plugin in the pom.xml file and add our desired tests to the test phase of the file.
Git
Git is one of the most common tools used by developers. It allows us to maintain and merge our code and to have multiple developers working on the same project together. Having tests stored in a Git repository is good practice. It allows all team members to use and run them. ReadyAPI supports integration with Git so we can push our ReadyAPI tests to a git repository and clone a Git repository into ReadyAPI. We can accomplish all this from the ReadyAPI UI itself.
Swagger is a collection of API development and management tools offered by SmartBear (the same company behind ReadyAPI). It allows us to develop, document, and create SDKs for our APIs. Swagger documents are generally built on SwaggerHub. ReadyAPI offers support for both Swagger and SwaggerHub. We can add our SwaggerHub account to ReadyAPI and import Swagger APIs into ReadyAPI.
Jira
Jira is a project management tool built explicitly for software projects. It allows developers to track schedules, bugs, issues, etc., in a project. It is excellent for collaboration, managing releases, monitoring team performance, and much more. ReadyAPI offers support for Jira - in which we can create Jira issues in case a ReadyAPI test fails. This is again done from the ReadyAPI UI itself, without ever opening Jira!
Zephyr Squad
Zephyr Squad is a test management tool that is a part of Jira. SmartBear offers it. It allows us to add a special testtype of issue in Jira, in which we can track our tests and manage them. We can add test steps and tasks to be performed. Generally, QA engineers have to perform tests manually and then type the results into Zephyr Squad. With the ReadyAPI plugin for it, we can automate this step.
MQTT
MQTT stands for Message Queuing Telemetry Transport. It is a network protocol for transmitting messages between places where the network is unreliable and clients are not powerful. It is generally used in IoT devices. ReadyAPI allows us to test APIs using this protocol via a plugin. We can perform Publish, Receive, and Drop tests.
AMQP
It stands for Advanced Messaging Queuing Protocol. It is an application layer protocol for software/hardware that supports messaging between Distributed Systems. It is a reliable and secure protocol that supports message orientation, queuing, and routing. ReadyAPI supports testing with APIs that use this protocol via a plugin.
AlertSite
AlertSite is a UI and API monitoring tool. It monitors a user's website for availability, performance and functionality. It is known for its low false alert rate. The ReadyAPI plugin for AlertSite provides a service called Test on Demand. This allows us to upload our test case to a remote location, run it over there - and get the test results back.
QAComplete
QAComplete is yet another test management tool offered by ReadyAPI. Unlike ZephyrSquad, this isn't a part of Jira and is its own software. It allows for organizing, managing and tracking of tests. We can also report and track issues with this. Using a plugin, you can integrate this with ReadyAPI to help manage testing.
Postman
Postman is an API platform used to build, document and manage APIs. It can also be used for testing APIs. It is generally used with RESTful services. We can add workspaces, collections and many other things to help manage our APIs easier. ReadyAPI has a Postman plugin, allowing us to import our Postman API collections into ReadyAPI. This way, we don't have to write them again.
Slack
Slack is a communication tool specially designed for teams. It allows users to set up workspaces and chat with their coworkers using DMs, group chats (channels), and threads. It also allows people to create custom Slack Apps, which are automated tools that can help productivity. ReadyAPI allows us to create a ReadyAPI Slack app. We add this to Slack and link it with ReadyAPI - so test reports are automatically sent to the desired channels.
TeamCity
TeamCity is a build management tool that is based on Java. JetBrains offers the company behind popular IDEs such as IntelliJ, PyCharm, CLion, etc. It has features for unit and integration tests, managing builds, code inspection, and more. We can integrate this with ReadyAPI and add ReadyAPI tests as a part of the build process.
Selenium
Selenium is a tool that automates browsers. We can run various browser commands, such as navigating to web pages, waiting for some request to finish, and finding elements in the web page. This is especially useful for testing purposes. ReadyAPI allows us to run Selenium WebAPI tests through their UI, using plugins.
CouchDB
CouchDB is a NoSQL database, similar to MongoDB. It is offered by Apache. What makes CouchDB unique is that it stores data in the form of JSON documents. JSON is the same file format that is used for most web communications these days. CouchDB offers a REST API that allows you to access your database, perform queries, and view results. We can add these REST APIs to ReadyAPI the same way we do with normal REST APIs, and use and test them.
Java Applications
Java, as we all know, is a popular language for developing applications of all kinds. We can use it to develop Web applications, desktop apps, and backend applications as well. We can add ReadyAPI testing to our Java code by installing the ReadyAPI Java library, and then writing test cases in Java normally - using the features offered by the library. ReadyAPI for Java works well with popular test frameworks like JUnit as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I create a custom file for some software I want to integrate?
Yes, it is possible, and ReadyAPI provides a way for it. ReadyAPI will accept any .jar file that is in a valid format. However, it should follow the ReadyAPI standards and should contain an implementation of a specific class that ReadyAPI has defined.
Are there more available plugins for ReadyAPI?
There are many more available plugins for ReadyAPI - these are just some popular and basic ones. You can view a complete list of plugins in the ReadyAPI UI. Some others not mentioned in this list include AWS, Azure, etc.
Is any more software required for software development?
This totally depends upon your software and business needs. All the softwares listed above may be too much or too little - depending on the size, scale, and requirements of the product that you're building. If it's just an academic project or for a small group of people, you probably don't need all those. If it's for millions of users, you might need more.
Conclusion
This blog goes through some of the various integrations that ReadyAPI offers. We have seen many of them and explored what each software does.
We hope you leave this article with a broader knowledge of ReadyAPI, development tools, and integrations. We recommend that you explore our different articles on these topics as well, such as: