Make your JSON API tests clean with linter

Recently, one of our customers requested that mobile devices should communicate with backend via JSON API. We started implementing an endpoint for registering customers.

We used JSON Schema describing JSON API as a part of custom RSpec matcher. To be sure that both request and response body are following the schema.

RSpec::Matchers.define :be_valid_jsonapi_document do
  def schema_path
    Rails.root.join("spec/support/schema.json").to_s
  end

  match do |document|
    JSON::Validator.validate(schema_path, document)
  end

  failure_message do |document|
    JSON::Validator.fully_validate(schema_path, document).join("\n")
  end
end

As you might notice, json-schema gem was used to validate the schema, but that’s an implementation detail. Let’s take a look at the test:

RSpec.describe "Customers endpoint", type: :request do
  specify "registering customer" do
    json_data = JSON.dump({
      data: {
        id: "de47043c-bd1a-4592-9601-a68ad0d0ea89",
        type: "customers",
        attributes: {
          email: "joe@example.com",
          password: "Foo123Bar",
          toc_agreement: true,
          marketing_agreement: true,
          newsletter_agreement: true,
        }
      }
    })

    post "/users", params: json_data, headers: { "CONTENT_TYPE" => "application/vnd.api+json" }

    expect(JSON.parse(json_data)).to be_valid_jsonapi_document
    expect(request.content_type).to eq("application/vnd.api+json")

    expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
    expect(response.content_type).to eq("application/vnd.api+json")
    parsed_body = JSON.parse(response.body)
    expect(parsed_body).to be_valid_jsonapi_document
    expect(parsed_body["data"]["id"]).to eq("de47043c-bd1a-4592-9601-a68ad0d0ea89")
    expect(parsed_body["data"]["type"]).to eq("customers")
  end
end

We’re posting data regarding customer like email, password, and some agreements. Then we validate if request and response meet our expectations. Especially if they are valid with JSON Schema.

This test is a bit cluttered, don’t you think? Wouldn’t it be better to make schema validations more transparent and focus on important things? By important I assume business information, not infrastructural things like proper headers or following the schema.

The spec above is a request type of spec. Request specs provide a thin wrapper around Rails’ integration tests, and are designed to drive behaviour through the full stack, including routing (provided by Rails) and without stubbing (that’s up to you). If it’s a full stack test, probably we can get access to the Rails app via app method. #<UsersApp::Application:0x007fc86503cc7... >. Yes, we can.

Let’s write a middleware which wraps the Rails app instantiated in a spec example to validate request & response. We can do this since Rails application is a Rack object. According to Rack documentation, it provides a minimal interface between webservers that support Ruby and Ruby frameworks. To use Rack, provide an “app”: an object that responds to the call method, taking the environment hash as a parameter, and returning an Array with three elements:

- The HTTP response code - A Hash of headers - The response body, which must respond to each

Linter implementation:

class JsonApiLint
  class InvalidContentType < StandardError
    def initialize(content_type)
      super(<<~EOS)
          expected: Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json
          got:      Content-Type: #{content_type}
      EOS
    end
  end

  class InvalidDocument < StandardError
    def initialize(document)
      super(JSON::Validator.fully_validate(Rails.root.join("spec/support/schema.json").to_s, document).join("\n"))
    end
  end

  def initialize(app)
    @app = app
  end

  def call(env)
    request  = Rack::Request.new(env)
    status, headers, body = @app.call(env)
    response = Rack::Response.new(body, status, headers)

    validate_request(request)
    validate_response(response)

    response
  end

  private

  def validate_response(response)
    raise InvalidContentType.new(response.content_type) unless match_content_type(response.content_type)

    document = JSON.parse(response.body.dup.join)
    raise InvalidDocument.new(document) unless valid_schema(document)
  end

  def validate_request(request)
    raise InvalidContentType.new(request.content_type) unless match_content_type(request.content_type)

    document = request.body.read
    request.body.rewind

    raise InvalidDocument.new(document) unless valid_schema(document)
  end

  def valid_schema(document)
    return true unless document.present?
    JSON::Validator.validate(Rails.root.join("spec/support/schema.json").to_s, document)
  end

  def match_content_type(content_type)
    /application\/vnd\.api\+json/.match?(content_type)
  end
end

Linter wraps Rails app, takes env hash as input to the call method and then performs checks. At first glance it verifies Content-Type header whether one matches application.vnd.api+json. Then it verifies request body whether it’s compliant with JSON Schema, same goes for the response. If any deviation occurs, an exception with RSpec look-a-like error is raised. If everything goes fine, the response is returned so we can check other expectations in our spec example.

To make linter working, app method has to be overridden as I mentioned before:

def app
  JsonApiLint.new(super)
end

Our complete spec now looks like:

RSpec.describe "Customers endpoint", type: :request do
  specify "registering customer" do
    json_data = JSON.dump({
      data: {
        id: "de47043c-bd1a-4592-9601-a68ad0d0ea89",
        type: "customers",
        attributes: {
          email: "joe@example.com",
          password: "Foo123Bar",
          toc_agreement: true,
          marketing_agreement: true,
          newsletter_agreement: true,
        }
      }
    })

    post "/users", params: json_data, headers: { "CONTENT_TYPE" => "application/vnd.api+json" }

    expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
    expect(parsed_body["data"]["id"]).to eq("de47043c-bd1a-4592-9601-a68ad0d0ea89")
    expect(parsed_body["data"]["type"]).to eq("customers")
  end

  def app
    JsonApiLint.new(super)
  end

  def parsed_body
    JSON.parse(response.body)
  end
end

For me this test is now more compact & business value oriented.

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Make your JSON API tests clean with linter

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