Test Format

Gabbi tests are expressed as YAML containing an HTTP request and an expected response. Each YAML file is an ordered sequence of requests. The bare minimum YAML file for a single request is::

tests:
   - name: the name of a test
     url: /

This will make a request to / on whatever the configured Target Host is. The test will pass if the status of the HTTP response is 200.

The tests key can contain as many requests, in sequence, as required. Other top level keys are:

• fixtures: A sequence of named Fixtures.
• defaults: A dictionary of local default values for the requests and responses in the tests in this file. These override the global defaults (explained below).

Each test can use the following structure. Only name and url are required. For examples see the gabbi tests. Most of these allow substitutions (explained below).

• name: The name of the test. Should be unique in this file. When tests are dynamically generated the TestCase name will include this name, lowercased with spaces transformed to _. In at least some test runners this will allow you to select and filter on test name. Required
• desc: An arbitrary string describing this test. This is perhaps redundant as YAML allows comments. However it’s here in case other tooling might use it.
• url: The URL to request. This can either be a full path or a fully qualified URL (with host and scheme). If not qualified the test builder will be responsible for determining host and scheme. Required
• method: The request method to use. Defaults to GET.
• status: The expected response status code. The default is 200. If necessary you may indicate multiple response codes separated by || (e.g. 302 || 301). Avoid this if possible as it indicates there is ambiguity in your tests or your API. Ambiguity is bad.
• ssl: Make this request use SSL? Defaults to False. This only comes into play if the url does not provide a scheme (see Target Host for more info).
• redirects: If True automatically follow redirects. Defaults to False.
• request_headers: A dictionary of key-value pairs representing request header names and values. These will be added to the constructed request.
• data: A representation to pass as the body of a request. If you use this you should set content-type in request_headers to something meaningful. See Data below for more details.
• response_headers: A dictionary of key-value pairs representing expected response headers. If the value of a header is wrapped in /, it will be treated as a raw regular expression string.
• response_strings: A sequence of string fragments expected to be in the response body.
• response_json_paths: A dictionary of JSONPath rules paired with expected matches.
• skip: A string message which if set will cause the test to be skipped with the provided message.
• xfail: If True expect this test to fail but run it anyway.

There are a number of magical variables that can be used to make reference to the state of a current test or the one just prior. These are replaced with real values during test processing. They are processed in the order given.

• $SCHEME: The current scheme (usually http or https).
• $NETLOC: The host and potentially port of the request.
• $ENVIRON['<environment variable>']: The name of an environment variable. It value will replace the magical variable.
• $LOCATION: The location header returned in the prior response.
• $HEADERS['<header>']: Indicate the name of a header from the prior response to inject in the value.
• $RESPONSE['<json path>']: A JSONPath query into the prior response.

All of these variables may be used in all of the following fields:

• url
• data
• request_headers
• response_strings
• response_json_paths (on the value side of the key value pair)
• response_headers (on the value side of the key value pair)

With these variables it ought to be possible to traverse an API without any explicit statements about the URLs being used. If you need a replacement on a field that is not currently supported please raise an issue or provide a patch.

As all of these features needed to be tested in the development of gabbi itself, the gabbi tests are a good source of examples on how to use the functionality.

Data

The data key has some special handing to allow for a bit more flexibility when doing a POST or PUT. If the value is not a string (that is, it is a sequence or structure) it is treated as a datastructure which is turned into a JSON string. If the value is a string that begins with <@ then the rest of the string is treated as a file to be loaded from the same directory as the YAML file. If the the value is an undecorated string, that’s the value.

When reading from a file care should be taken to ensure that a reasonable content-type is set for the data as this will control if any encoding is done of the resulting string value. If it is text, json, xml or javascript it will be encoded to UTF-8.