How to test non idempotent Web Api endpoints with Specflow

Question

I'm developing a Web API, which features some CRUD operations I want to test.

When running the following scenario the test is expected to pass always given the same parameters.

Scenario: Check each employee's info
Given an Employee's Id is <Id>
When getting the Employee's info
Then the First Name should be <FirstName> and the Last Name should be <LastName>

Examples:
  | Id | FirstName | LastName    |
  | 1  | George    | Georglou    |
  | 2  | John      | Johnopoulos |
  | 3  | Mike      | Mikou       |

On the other hand, when running the following scenario,

Scenario: Create a new Employee
Given an Employee's Fist Name is <FirstName> and Last name is <LastName>
When creating the Employee
Then the status code should be 201

Examples:
  | FirstName | LastName    |
  | Jack      | Jackglou    |

the test is passed only the first time because after that the employee is already created which is logical.

How do I test non idempotent endpoints? Do I need to change the example data each time I'm running the test? What is the best practice?

Answer 1

The general solution is to delete the test data after the test is completed. Unfortunately, there is no general code you can write to accomplish this.

The general process is:

1. Track the people that get created using the ScenarioContext .

    [Binding] public class EmployeeSteps { private readonly ScenarioContext scenario; private List<Guid> TestEmployees => (List<Guid>)scenario["TestEmployees"]; public EmployeeSteps(ScenarioContext scenario) { this.scenario = scenario; } [Given(@"Given an Employee's First Name is ([^ ]+) and Last name is ([^ ]+)")] public void CreateEmployee(string firstName, string lastName) { var api = new YourAPI(); // <-- however you init your web API service var employeeId = api.CreateEmployee(/* pass whatever you need to here */); TestEmployees.Add(employeeId); } }

2. In an AfterScenario hook , call API endpoints to delete the people that were created. Initialize this collection of "test employees" in a BeforeScenario hook:

    [Binding] public class Hooks { private readonly ScenarioContext scenario; public Hooks(ScenarioContext scenario) { this.scenario = scenario; } [BeforeScenario] public void CreateTestEmployeeCollection() { // Create list of employee Ids. Use whatever type for List<T> // that your API returns. This example uses a Guid. Could be // and int. Check your API documentation. scenario["TestEmployees"] = new List<Guid>(); } [AfterScenario] public void DeleteTestEmployees() { var api = new YourAPI(); // <-- however you init your web API service var employeesToDelete = (List<Guid>)scenario["TestEmployees"]; foreach (var employeeId in employeesToDelete) { api.DeleteEmployee(employeeId); } } }