🧪 PracticeSoftware – Layered API Automation Framework

A layered API automation framework built with REST Assured, Java, and TestNG for API validation, authentication workflows, reporting, database state validation, and selective UI verification using Selenium WebDriver.

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Table of Contents

• Project Overview
• Tech Stack
• Prerequisites
• Automated Test Scenarios
• Framework Architecture
• Project Structure
• Framework Evolution
• How to Run
• Contact

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Project Overview

This project is a layered API automation framework developed for the Practice Software Testing demo application.

Covered workflows:

• user registration and authentication
• token-based authorization
• brand management CRUD operations
• image resource validation
• report generation
• full user lifecycle operations
• database state validation

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Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
Java	Core programming language
REST Assured	API automation and validation
TestNG	Test execution framework
Maven	Dependency and build management
Jackson Databind	Request and response serialization/deserialization
Allure Reports	Test reporting and execution visibility
Log4j2	Logging and Allure step integration
MySQL / JDBC	Database connectivity and state validation
Selenium WebDriver	Selective UI verification
Git / GitHub	Version control and collaboration

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Prerequisites

• Java SDK 17
• Apache Maven 3.6+
• Google Chrome and a compatible ChromeDriver version
• Allure Commandline
• MySQL Server (default port 3306)

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Automated Test Scenarios

Test Class	Business Scenario	Description	Validation
BrandBETest	Brand Management	Creates, updates, validates, and deletes a brand	Status codes 201, 200, 204, 404
ImageBETest	Image Resource Validation	Retrieves all image resources	Status code 200; response structure
ReportBETest	Report Generation	Authenticates as admin and validates report generation	Status code 200; data validation
UserBETest	User Registration and Authentication	Creates user via API, verifies login via UI	Status code 201; successful UI login
UserLoginBETest	Full User Lifecycle	Registration, login, profile check, logout, deletion, post-deletion check	Status codes 201, 200, 204, 401

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Framework Architecture

The framework separates business validation, request execution, reporting, reusable models, and configuration into dedicated layers.

Layer	Responsibility
Tests	Business flows, assertions, and workflow validation logic
Services	Reusable API abstractions that separate request execution from test logic
Pages	POM classes for selective UI verification: BasePage, LoginPage
Client	Centralized HTTP configuration through RestClient
Models	Request and response payload objects serialized with Jackson
Types	Type-safe constants for HTTP methods, endpoints, and status codes
SharedData	WebDriver lifecycle via TestNG hooks; attaches screenshots to Allure on failure
Utils	LogUtility (Log4j2 wrapper) and AllureAppender for step-level reporting
Database	DatabaseConnection and UserTable for MySQL-based state validation

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Project Structure

PracticeSoftware
│
├── src
│   └── test
│        └── java
│             ├── client
│             │   └── RestClient.java
│             │
│             ├── database
│             │   ├── DatabaseConnection.java
│             │   └── UserTable.java
│             │
│             ├── models
│             │   ├── AddressModel.java
│             │   ├── RequestBrandModel.java
│             │   ├── RequestUserLoginModel.java
│             │   ├── RequestUserModel.java
│             │   ├── ResponseBrandModel.java
│             │   ├── ResponseUserLoginModel.java
│             │   └── ResponseUserModel.java
│             │
│             ├── pages
│             │   ├── BasePage.java
│             │   └── LoginPage.java
│             │
│             ├── services
│             │   ├── BrandService.java
│             │   ├── ImageService.java
│             │   ├── ReportService.java
│             │   └── UserService.java
│             │
│             ├── sharedData
│             │   └── SharedData.java
│             │
│             ├── tests
│             │   ├── BrandBETest.java
│             │   ├── ImageBETest.java
│             │   ├── ReportBETest.java
│             │   ├── UserBETest.java
│             │   └── UserLoginBETest.java
│             │
│             ├── types
│             │   ├── EndpointType.java
│             │   ├── RequestMethodType.java
│             │   └── RequestStatusType.java
│             │
│             └── utils
│                  ├── AllureAppender.java
│                  └── LogUtility.java
│
├── pom.xml
├── testng.xml
└── log4j2.xml

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Framework Evolution

Started with direct REST Assured calls inside test classes and evolved into a layered architecture through incremental refactoring:

• reusable request and response models
• dynamic test data generation
• centralized WebDriver lifecycle via SharedData
• Page Object Model for selective UI verification
• CRUD API workflow coverage
• centralized HTTP execution through RestClient
• layer separation: tests, services, models, pages, utils, types
• authentication and authorization flows
• type-safe constants for endpoints, methods, and status codes
• Log4j2 with custom AllureAppender for step-level reporting
• database state validation

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Automation Design Decisions

• RestClient centralizes HTTP configuration across the entire framework
• Jackson models provide type-safe payload handling for all requests and responses
• Types package eliminates hardcoded strings and status codes across all layers
• Services layer keeps test classes focused on business logic, not request mechanics
• SharedData handles WebDriver setup and teardown via TestNG hooks
• AllureAppender maps Log4j2 output to Allure steps for full execution traceability
• Dynamic test data prevents conflicts from duplicate users and brands
• Database integration validates backend state beyond API response assertions

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Allure Reporting

• step-by-step execution breakdown via AllureAppender
• automatic screenshot on test failure
• pass/fail/skip statistics and trend history
• feature and story tagging via @Feature and @Story

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How to Run

Run all tests

mvn clean test

Run a specific suite

mvn test -DsuiteXmlFile=testng.xml

Generate Allure report

allure serve allure-results

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Contact

Oana Topan QA Automation Engineer

• GitHub: github.com/oanatopan