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Without an enterprise-level automated solution for ensuring the integrity of APIs and API-driven composite applications, organizations risk:
API Testing solutions help organizations reduce the risks, costs, and resources associated with exposing and consuming APIs. The application of API Testing solutions can range from very simple ad-hoc or reactive efforts to highly-complex test environments driven by business risks.
With ad-hoc API testing efforts, no formal process or tool is used to unit test or exercise the API. It is assumed that the API is exercised via manual testing of the UI. Ad-hoc API testing characteristics include:
Any pockets of maturity at this point are based on the experience and initiative of individuals. There is no centralization of assets; it’s every man for himself. Along the same vein, testing assets are typically created as one-off solutions and stored on a local machine, inaccessible to anyone but the creator. There’s no test automation here; it’s all manual, ad-hoc execution. Organizations are driven to move to a mature level of API testing when:
With optimized API testing efforts, business risks drive the testing process and the optimization of associated policies. Optimized API Testing characteristics include:
At this point, there’s seamless integration and orchestration of Service Virtualization with virtual test lab management systems. Automated regression suites are called and executed against complex environments and environment-based views deliver perspective on coverage and business risk.
This is just a brief introduction to the two extremes of API testing maturity. Most organizations today fall somewhere in between these two polar extremes.
Parasoft has developed an API Testing maturity model that provides a detailed look at the 5 different levels of API testing: Ad-hoc, Reactive, Proactive, Managed, and Optimized.
If you want to assess where your organization currently stands and see what’s involved in moving forward, download the complete API Testing Maturity Model.
If you’re exploring API Testing, Parasoft has prepared a list of key API Testing resources that our customers have found helpful at the early stages of the API testing solution research/evaluation process:
Parasoft’s industry-leading automated software testing tools support the entire software development process, from when the developer writes the first line of code all the way through unit and functional testing, to performance and security testing, leveraging simulated test environments along the way.