Testing APIs and JSONs

In the lesson, let's talk about API testing. The testing wouldn't be something like asserting redirect. The API usually contains JSON. We will see a couple of examples.

Laravel Code

In this example, we have a route in the route/api.php and two Controller methods to list products and store a product.

routes/api.php:

Route::middleware('auth:sanctum')->get('/user', function (Request $request) {
    return $request->user();
});
 
Route::apiResource('products', \App\Http\Controllers\Api\ProductController::class);

php artisan make:controller Api/ProductController --resource --api --model=Product

app/Http/Controllers/Api/ProductController.php:

use App\Models\Product;
use App\Http\Requests\StoreProductRequest;
 
class ProductController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return Product::all();
    }
 
    public function store(StoreProductRequest $request)
    {
        return Product::create($request->validated());
    }
}

If we test /api/products using any API client, we will get a list of products from the DB.

api products list

The Tests

We will continue to add tests in the same ProductsTest file. You can create a tests/Feature/Api directory, for example, and add all your API tests there.

In the first test, to get all products list, we will create a product using Factory and make a GET request. But the critical part is instead of a get to, use getJson. And we can assertJson that the product is returned. The assertJson accepts an array as a parameter.

tests/Feature/ProductsTest.php:

class ProductsTest extends TestCase
{
    // ...
 
    public function test_api_returns_products_list()
    {
        $product = Product::factory()->create();
        $response = $this->getJson('/api/products');
 
        $response->assertJson([$product->toArray()]);
    }
 
    private function createUser(bool $isAdmin = false): User
    {
        return User::factory()->create([
            'is_admin' => $isAdmin,
        ]);
    }
}

Now, let's add a validation test. And for testing APIs, the HTTP status codes are very important. First, we will add a test for successfully storing a product.

Similar to a GET request, here we must use postJson to send a POST request. The assertions would, first, be the status code 201, which means created, and second, the returned record is the one we created.

tests/Feature/ProductsTest.php:

class ProductsTest extends TestCase
{
    // ...
 
    public function test_api_product_store_successful()
    {
        $product = [
            'name' => 'Product 1',
            'price' => 123
        ];
        $response = $this->postJson('/api/products', $product);
 
        $response->assertStatus(201);
        $response->assertJson($product);
    }
 
    private function createUser(bool $isAdmin = false): User
    {
        return User::factory()->create([
            'is_admin' => $isAdmin,
        ]);
    }
}

Now, let's add a test for the unsuccessful creation of a product. In the test, we will not pass the product name, which means the validation will fail. And the expected request status now will be 422, which means Unprocessable Entity.

tests/Feature/Products/Test.php:

class ProductsTest extends TestCase
{
    // ...
 
    public function test_api_product_invalid_store_returns_error()
    {
        $product = [
            'name' => '',
            'price' => 123
        ];
        $response = $this->postJson('/api/products', $product);
 
        $response->assertStatus(422);
    }
 
    private function createUser(bool $isAdmin = false): User
    {
        return User::factory()->create([
            'is_admin' => $isAdmin,
        ]);
    }
}

products API tests

Commit for this lesson

Delete Product: test if it's actually removed from database Php artisan test Flags: Run Specific Test(s)

Course Content

Testing in Laravel 9 For Beginners: PHPUnit, Pest, TDD

Testing APIs and JSONs

Laravel Code

The Tests

Course Content

Intro

Practical Project: Testing of CRUD

So, What Should We Test?

PEST Example

TDD Example

What's Next?