Mastering EchoAPI: A Comprehensive Guide to API Development, Testing, and Collaboration

This comprehensive guide on EchoAPI is divided into the following sections: Overview of EchoAPI, Introduction to Basic Features, Building API Requests, Debugging and Testing, Team Collaboration and API Management, Environment Variables, and Automated Testing.

What is EchoAPI?

EchoAPI is a powerful tool designed for modern developers, aimed at simplifying and accelerating the API development and testing process. Similar to Postman, it enhances team collaboration and documentation management, offering complete offline functionality. EchoAPI supports API design, API debug, performance testing, automated testing, mock services, and bulk API documentation generation, making it easier to manage interface debugging and testing tasks.

In addition to these features, EchoAPI includes numerous lightweight plugins that integrate seamlessly with various development environments, further streamlining your workflow.

Installing EchoAPI

Visit the EchoAPI official website to download and install the version suitable for your operating system.

Overview of the EchoAPI Interface

The EchoAPI UI mainly consists of the following areas:

• APIs Sidebar: Manage your API and API Tests.
• Request Builder: Create and send API requests.
• Response Window: Display the contents of the API response.
• Environment Variable Configuration: Manage variables used in requests (like API addresses, tokens, etc.).
• Team Collaboration: Allow you and your team members to share APIs, documentation, and test data.

Introduction to Basic Features

Creating a New Request

Click the “New Request” button on the left, select the HTTP method you wish to use (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.), enter the API URL, and fill in the request headers, body, and query parameters as needed. Click the “Send” button to send the request to the specified URL, and view the response results below.

Setting Request Headers and Parameters

• Headers: Set header information such as Content-Type, Authorization, etc.
• Params: Query parameters, applicable for GET requests.
• Body: For POST, PUT, etc., you can specify the request body, supporting formats like form-data, raw (JSON, etc.), binary, and more.

Viewing Response Results

Once the request is successfully sent, you can see the following in the response area:

• Status Code (e.g., 200, 400, 500): Indicates the request status.
• Response Time: The duration of the response.
• Response Body: The content returned by the server, which could be in JSON, HTML, XML, etc.
• Headers: Response header information.

Saving Requests

After completing an API request, you can save it in your project for future use. You can name the request and categorize it into different folders.

Environment Variable Configuration

Creating Environment Variables

To test APIs in different environments (like development, testing, production), you can use environment variables:

• Click the “Environment Settings” button at the top.
• Create different environments (e.g., Development, Production).
• Configure different variables for each environment, such as {{base_url}}, with values that can differ across the environments.

Using Environment Variables in Requests

In the API request’s URL, headers, and body, you can directly use variables like:

{{base_url}}/api/v1/user

EchoAPI will automatically replace the variable values with the current environment's values.

API Testing and Debugging Features

Mocking

EchoAPI provides a Mock service that simulates API responses, useful for frontend-backend development or testing when backend APIs are unfinished. You can find the Mock functionality in your project, create new mock data, define API paths and expected responses, and make requests through the mock URL.

Automated Testing

EchoAPI supports automated testing. You can write scripts for assertions after receiving a response. In the Test tab, you can write JavaScript to check the returned results. For example, to check if the status code is 200:

pm.test("Status code is 200", function () {
    pm.response.to.have.status(200);
});

Scheduled Tasks and Continuous Integration

EchoAPI allows you to set up scheduled tasks to run API tests automatically at specified intervals. You can integrate CI/CD tools like Jenkins for automated test reporting and workflow management.

Team Collaboration and API Documentation Management

Sharing Requests

EchoAPI provides project collaboration features, allowing you to share API requests with team members. Create a new project in the sidebar and invite team members, making API requests and test cases accessible to everyone.

Automatic API Documentation Generation

EchoAPI auto-generates API documentation, detailing request URLs, methods, parameters, and responses based on the requests you create. Click “Export Documentation” to export it in formats like Markdown or HTML for easier sharing and viewing.

Advanced Features: Traffic Recording and Analysis

EchoAPI offers a traffic recording feature that captures API requests and responses for performance analysis and security auditing. Start the recording feature, and EchoAPI will log all API requests within a specified timeframe, helping you identify potential performance bottlenecks or security issues.

Practical Exercises

Exercise 1: Simple GET Request

Objective: Send a GET request and validate the JSON response status code.

Sample API: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts

Steps:

1. Create a new request, selecting the GET method.
2. Input the URL: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts
3. Click “Send” and check the returned response data.
4. Write an assertion to ensure the status code is 200.

Exercise 2: Creating a Resource with POST Request

Objective: Send a POST request to create a new resource.

Sample API: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts

Steps:

1. Create a new request, selecting the POST method.
2. Set the header: Content-Type: application/json.
3. In the body, enter the following:

   {
     "title": "foo",
     "body": "bar",
     "userId": 1
   }
   

4. Send the request and check the response data to ensure the id field is not empty.

Integrating with a Simple Spring Boot Backend

Assuming you have a simple Spring Boot backend running locally on port 8080, here are practical tests:

Exercise 1: Simple GET Request

• Goal: Send a GET request to fetch user data and validate the status code is 200.
• Sample API (Java Backend): /api/v1/users

Steps:

1. Start your local Java project at http://localhost:8080.
2. In EchoAPI, click “New Request” and select GET.
3. Enter the local API URL: http://localhost:8080/api/v1/users.
4. Click “Send” and check the expected JSON response.
5. Write an assertion in the Test tab to validate the status code.

Exercise 2: Creating a User with POST Request

Goal

Send a POST request to create a new user and verify the success of the operation.

Sample API (Java Backend)

Assuming we have an interface for creating users at /api/v1/users, this interface accepts a POST request to create a new user and returns the user data upon successful creation.

{
  "id": 3,
  "name": "foo",
  "email": "[email protected]"
}

Practice Steps

1. Create a New Request:
   In EchoAPI, click “New HTTP” and select the POST method.

2. Set the URL:
   Enter the URL: http://localhost:8080/api/v1/users.

3. Set the Request Header:
   In Headers, set the request header Content-Type: application/json, as we are going to send JSON data.

4. Fill in the Request Body:
   In Body, choose the raw mode and select JSON format. In the request body, enter the following data to simulate creating a new user:

   {
     "name": "foo",
     "email": "[email protected]"
   }
   

5. Send the Request:

   • Click the Send button and check the response data. The expected response should return a new user object containing an id, as shown below:

   {
     "id": 3,
     "name": "foo",
     "email": "[email protected]"
   }
   

6. Write an assertion:

In the Test tab, write a test script to verify whether the id field exists. For example:

pm.test("ID exists in response", function () {
    var jsonData = pm.response.json();
    pm.expect(jsonData).to.have.property("id");
});

Example Spring Boot Code

Here’s an example of the API implementations in a Java Spring Boot application:

GET /api/v1/users (Fetch User List):

[@RestController](/RestController)
[@RequestMapping](/RequestMapping)("/api/v1/users")
public class UserController {

    private List<User> users = Arrays.asList(
        new User(1, "John Doe", "[email protected]"),
        new User(2, "Jane Doe", "[email protected]")
    );

    [@GetMapping](/GetMapping)
    public List<User> getAllUsers() {
        return users;
    }
}

POST /api/v1/users (Create New User):

[@RestController](/RestController)
[@RequestMapping](/RequestMapping)("/api/v1/users")
public class UserController {

    private List<User> users = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(
        new User(1, "John Doe", "[email protected]"),
        new User(2, "Jane Doe", "[email protected]")
    ));

    [@PostMapping](/PostMapping)
    public User createUser([@RequestBody](/RequestBody) User user) {
        user.setId(users.size() + 1);  // Auto-generate ID
        users.add(user);
        return user;
    }
}

User Class Definition:

public class User {
    private int id;
    private String name;
    private String email;

    // Constructor, Getters, and Setters omitted for brevity
}

By following this guide, you can proficiently utilize EchoAPI to test and manage your Java backend projects efficiently. Happy testing!