REST Assured API Testing - Complete Revision Notes for Interviews

✅ 1. What is REST Assured?

REST Assured is a Java library used for testing RESTful APIs. It provides a domain-specific
language (DSL) for writing tests for REST services in a simple and expressive manner.

✅ 2. Basic REST Assured Syntax:

Java

import io.restassured.RestAssured;

import io.restassured.response.Response;

import static io.restassured.RestAssured.*;

Response response = given()

.header("Content-Type", "application/json")

.when()

.get("https://api.example.com/users")

.then()

.statusCode(200)

.extract().response();

✅ 3. HTTP Methods:
 Java

// GET

get("/users");

// POST

given().body(jsonData).post("/users");

// PUT

given().body(updatedData).put("/users/1");

// DELETE

delete("/users/1");

✅ 4. Validating Response:
Java

.then().statusCode(200)

.body("data.id", equalTo(1));

✅ 5. Logging Request and Response:

Java

given().log().all();
 then().log().all();

✅ 6. Query & Path Parameters:

Java

// Path

.get("/users/{id}", 2);

// Query

.queryParam("page", 2)

.get("/users");

✅ 7. Authentication:
Java

// Basic

.auth().basic("username", "password");

// OAuth2

.auth().oauth2("token");

✅ 8. JSON/XML Parsing:
 Java

response.jsonPath().get("data.name");

response.xmlPath().get("response.user.name");

✅ 9. Schema Validation:
Java

.then().body(JsonSchemaValidator.matchesJsonSchemaInClasspath("sc
hema.json"));

✅ 10. Serialization and Deserialization:

Java

// POJO to JSON

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

String json = mapper.writeValueAsString(myObject);

// JSON to POJO

MyObject obj = mapper.readValue(response.asString(),

MyObject.class);

✅ 11. REST Principles:

●​ Stateless​

●​ Client-Server​
 ●​ Cacheable​

●​ Uniform Interface​

●​ Layered System​

●​ Code on Demand (optional)​

✅ 12. API Caching:

●​ Use of cache-control, expires, etag headers.​

●​ Helps avoid repeated API calls, improves performance.​

Example:

Java
.header("If-None-Match", etagValue)

✅ 13. API Mocking:

●​ Simulate server behavior during testing.​

●​ Tools: WireMock, MockServer​

Example:

Java
stubFor(get(urlEqualTo("/users/1"))

.willReturn(aResponse().withStatus(200).withBody("{\"name\":\"Tes
t\"}")));
✅ 14. Response Time Validation:
Java

.then().time(lessThan(2000L));

✅ 15. Parallel Execution with TestNG:

➤ By Packages:

Unset

<suite name="Parallel Test Suite" parallel="tests"

thread-count="2">

<test name="Test1">

<packages>

<package name="com.api.tests.package1" />

</packages>

</test>

<test name="Test2">

<packages>

<package name="com.api.tests.package2" />

</packages>

</test>

</suite>

➤ By Instances (Classes):
 Unset

<suite name="Parallel Suite" parallel="instances"

thread-count="2">

<test name="API Tests">

<classes>

<class name="com.api.tests.UserTest" />

<class name="com.api.tests.ProductTest" />

</classes>

</test>

</suite>

✅ 16. Request and Response Specification:

Java

RequestSpecification requestSpec = new RequestSpecBuilder()

.setBaseUri("https://api.example.com")

.setContentType(ContentType.JSON)

.build();

ResponseSpecification responseSpec = new ResponseSpecBuilder()

.expectStatusCode(200)

.expectContentType(ContentType.JSON)

.build();
 // Usage:

given().spec(requestSpec)

.when().get("/users")

.then().spec(responseSpec);

✅ 17. Handling Dynamic Parameters:

Java

Map<String, Object> params = new HashMap<>();

params.put("userId", 1);

params.put("type", "active");

given().params(params).get("/users");

✅ 18. Rate Limiting / Throttling:

●​ Usually returns status code 429 (Too Many Requests)​

●​ Use retry logic or wait time​

Java
if(response.statusCode() == 429) {

Thread.sleep(5000);
 // Retry the request

✅ 19. BDD Style:

Java

given()

.when().get("/users")

.then().assertThat().statusCode(200);

✅ 20. File Upload and Download:

➤ File Upload:

Java

File file = new File("src/test/resources/sample.pdf");

given()

.multiPart("file", file)

.when()

.post("/upload")

.then().statusCode(200);

➤ File Download:
 Java

Response response = given()

.when()

.get("/download/sample.pdf");

byte[] fileData = response.asByteArray();

Files.write(Paths.get("downloaded_sample.pdf"), fileData);

✅ 21. Form Parameters:

Java

given()

.formParam("username", "admin")

.formParam("password", "pass123")

.when()

.post("/login")

.then().statusCode(200);

✅ 22. Upstream vs Downstream APIs:

●​ Upstream API: External system your service depends on. You call it.​

●​ Downstream API: API that depends on your service. It calls your API.​

Interview Context:
 ●​ How do you mock an upstream API?​

●​ How do you ensure backward compatibility for downstream consumers?​

✅ 23. Common Interview Questions:

1.​ What is REST Assured? How is it better than other tools?​

2.​ How do you validate response codes and body?​

3.​ Explain serialization and deserialization in REST Assured.​

4.​ How do you perform schema validation?​

5.​ How do you test APIs that require tokens/authentication?​

6.​ What are REST constraints?​

7.​ How to mock an API in real-time testing?​

8.​ What is the use of caching in APIs?​

9.​ How do you handle dynamic parameters in REST Assured?​

10.​How to achieve parallel execution in TestNG?​

11.​Difference between request specification and response specification?​

12.​How do you test rate limiting or throttling scenarios?​

13.​Explain BDD style in REST Assured.​

14.​How to handle file upload or multipart/form-data in REST Assured?​

15.​How to validate response headers?​

16.​How to pass bearer token dynamically in tests?​

17.​How to reuse token/authentication in multiple tests?​

18.​What are upstream and downstream APIs?​

 19.​How to download and store a file from an API?​

20.​How to handle form-based login authentication?​

✅
This doc gives you 100% coverage for REST Assured-based interview preparation. Use it as
your quick revision go-to guide before interviews.