Forum Discussion

em_qdx's avatar
em_qdx
Occasional Contributor
3 years ago

Add multiple values from a table to request headers

Is there a method for adding values from multiple records from a table (or any source) to a request name/value combination (header for instance) without knowing the "Name" and "Value" values prior to...
Data-Driven Testing
Function Tests
REST
Test Setup
  • ChrisAdams's avatar
    ChrisAdams
    3 years ago

    Hi,

     

    I think I have something for you.

     

    I have built a basic test that looks like this....

     

    In relation to yours, Mock Headers equals you Test Header select.  The Rest Request is your Eligibility Request.  So, one new step before and two new steps in between.

     

    The first step, Initialise Headers allows us to blow away any headers from a previous test or previous iteration of your outer loop.  It looks like this...

    // Need this to build the object for the headers...
import com.eviware.soapui.support.types.StringToStringMap;

// Get the test step of interest...
def testStep = testRunner.testCase.getTestStepByName("REST Request");

// Get the request object fo rthe test step
def testRequest = testStep.testRequest;

// Create an empty map.
def newHeaders = new StringToStringMap();

// Add the empty map to blow away previously added headers.
testRequest.setRequestHeaders(newHeaders);

     

    As I don't have the db set-up you have, my Mock Headers data source has several rows.  Think of these as the next batch of headers to apply to the test request.

     

    Here is what my datasource looks like....

     

    The next step is Set Headers.  Here's the Groovy script.

    // Need this to build the object for the headers...
import com.eviware.soapui.support.types.StringToStringMap;

// Get the test step of interest...
def testStep = testRunner.testCase.getTestStepByName("REST Request");

// Get the request object for the test step
def testRequest = testStep.testRequest;

// Grab the header and value from the Mock Header datasource for this iteration only...
def header = context.expand( '${Mock headers - DataSource#header}' );
def value = context.expand( '${Mock headers - DataSource#value}' );

// Get headers we've added so far.  On the first iteration this will be empty.
def currentHeaders = testRequest.getRequestHeaders();

// Add the header from the current iteration
currentHeaders.put(header, value);

// Put the request headers back into the request.
// Note : Default headers are still there.  E.g. Connection, Accept-Encdoding, but you could use this method to override the default set if you so wish
testRequest.setRequestHeaders(currentHeaders);

// Let's have a look.  For each iteration, this log statement will get bigger.
log.info(testRequest.getRequestHeaders());
log.info("Mock header '${header}' set to value '${value}'.  ");

     

    Why do I get the headers and then add to it?  My earlier attempt just added the next.  But the effect was that it overridden previously add mock headers.  So the header applied to the test request was always the last.  So, instead, get what's there; add to it; put them back in one go.

    The next step is my datasource loop.  I've bound this to the Mock Headers data source and Set Headers Groovy.  This makes my test loop over each mock header before moving on to call the request....

     

    The datasource loop looks like....

     

    No need to look at the Rest Request yet.

     

    Run this test case as a whole and look at the Script Logs...

     

    Let's have a look at the Raw tab for the request now the test has run.

     

    Suggest you create a new test case and copy the above.  Have a play then apply to yours as it will need some tweaking for the datasource values.

em_qdx's avatar
em_qdx
Occasional Contributor

About the headers.  The names of the headers are defined within the APIs themselves, so they don't actually vary from request to request for the same API.  I created a database for data driven testing.  With that in mind, part of the design is to use the same ReadyAPI test for as many test cases as possible.  That means making that one ReadyAPI functional test as generic as possible.  One of the ways to do that is to use an EAV (Entity-Attribute-Value) approach to some of the tables, including the table that stores the headers for each test case.  Instead of having a table that contains a lot of columns, one for each specific header in each API, I have a header table that only has two columns instead: One column for the name of the header and the second for the value (EAV approach).  That is why I need to create a request that can load multiple headers with associated values from that table, but without knowing what the name and value of each header is prior to run time of the request.  It appears the only way to do this is to script the request itself, even if I use embedded functionality for data selects, validations, etc...Looks like I'll need to research Groovy and scripting a request test step. Thanks for the response.

ChrisAdams's avatar
ChrisAdams
Champion Level 3
3 years ago

Hi,

 

My example may be a bit simple and use hard-coded values, but it was just an example to show how to set headers.

 

There's absolutely no reason why the example cannot be extended to use ODBC to look up the headers table and then add each applicable header for the test to the service call.

 

 

  • em_qdx's avatar
    em_qdx
    Occasional Contributor
    3 years ago

    ChrisAdams - Would you be able to expand on your existing code example?  I need to retrieve all of the header rows (usually more than one) from an existing Data Source step (embedded, not scripted) and then add the values to headers in a POST request step.  Sorry if that wasn't clear from my original example.  I'm new to using Groovy and I'm having a difficult time finding relevant examples.  I'm also not having much luck finding a list/library of functions/methods available.  The auto complete feature for a line of code I attempted to write ("testRunner.testCase.testSteps["Header Table"].) didn't provide me with a method of retrieving the number of result rows, for instance, and I couldn't find any reference to this in a web search either.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

    • ChrisAdams's avatar
      ChrisAdams
      Champion Level 3
      3 years ago

      Hi,

       

      Are your headers in a datasource?  You mentioned database at the start of the thread.

      Can you share a screenshot of your test steps so far and highlight where the headers are listed?

      The Groovy will be different for each of the above, so I just want to be sure.

       

    • em_qdx's avatar
      em_qdx
      Occasional Contributor
      3 years ago

      @ChrisAdams -


      Yes, the header records are selected in the "Test Header Select" data source.  This Data Source step to select the header records occurs immediately before the "Eligibility_With_Rules_Request" request step where the headers are required.

      I could create a more complex query at the beginning of the test case to select all of the data I need across multiple tables, but for reasons specific to our business, and for the sake of simplicity, I have broken the selects out into simpler select statements in different Data Sources that occur just prior to each step that requires data from that table(s).  The initial "Automation Test Select" Data Source selects all of the test cases required for the test case. The subsequent selects/Data Sources use a foreign key in each of the associated tables to perform a select based on the primary key in the "Automation Test Select" Data Source result set.  Since the test case iterates through the result set from Automation Test Select, each subsequent select statement in the other Data Sources selects only the records in the other tables associated with the current record from the "Automation Test Select" Data Source.  Each "HeaderKey" from the table would be passed to the "Header" request header field and each "HeaderValue" would be passed to the "Value" request header field.  I hope that clarifies how this test case is structured, and how I am attempting to get the header data I require for each iteration of this test case. The headers I'm attempting to pass from the Data Source are in addition to the headers already shown in this screenshot.

       




      The select statement from the "Test Header Select" Data Source:
      Select TestRequestHeader.AutomationTestId as TestRequestHeader_AutomationTestId,
      TestRequestHeader.TestRequestHeaderKey as TestRequestHeader_TestRequestHeaderKey,
      TestRequestHeader.TestRequestHeaderValue as TestRequestHeader_TestRequestHeaderValue
      From TestRequestHeader
      Where TestRequestHeader.AutomationTestId = ${Automation Test Select#AutomationTest_AutomationTestId}

       

       

      • ChrisAdams's avatar
        ChrisAdams
        Champion Level 3
        3 years ago

        Hi,

        Gotcha.  One more question, the headers datasource.  When it runs, the query obtains all headers required for the next service call?  I ask as I'd need to think of a way to iterate over each header and add it to he request before submitting the request itself.