Parasoft Revolutionizes API Testing with New SOAtest Smart API Test Generator

Latest Parasoft SOAtest release introduces artificial intelligence to convert manual UI tests into automated, scriptless API tests

Monrovia, CA – Parasoft, the global leader in automated software testing, announced today the release of the Parasoft SOAtest Smart API Test Generator. This innovative technology uses artificial intelligence to convert manual UI tests into automated API tests, lowering the technical skills required to adopt API testing. By leaning on smart technology to perform the heavy lifting, it’s easier for organizations build and scale a comprehensive API testing strategy, which until now has posed significant challenge to software teams.

As stated in Gartner’s February 2018 Critical Capabilities for Software Test Automation, “Software test automation tools are evolving beyond core capabilities to support automated test-case generation, emerging AI-driven test-set optimization and intelligent test maintenance… Application leaders that are responsible for modernizing application development should: Evaluate and map potential tools against their use cases and technologies – and the skill sets needed to support them – and prepare to acquire more than one test automation tool to address all of them.”

The Smart API Test Generator solves this core problem facing software development organizations today. In today’s software projects, up to 80% of testing time is spent either executing manual UI tests or fixing automated UI tests that have broken as a result of application change. As a result, manual testing isn’t keeping pace with development, and while organizations know that API tests can more precisely pinpoint the root cause of defects because they are closer to the code, easier to automate, and more resistant to application change, due to the higher learning curve and specialized skills required to adopt API testing, organizations tend to lean on UI testing and fail to realize the benefits of API testing.

With the release of the Smart API Test Generator, Parasoft SOAtest is solving the API testing adoption problem by helping organizations bring this critical testing practice into their testing strategy as a simple extension of their existing manual testing efforts. Controlled by an easy-to-deploy browser extension, the Smart Generator monitors underlying API calls that are made while a user is manually testing an application, and then uses artificial intelligence to discover patterns and understand relationships between those API calls in order to create fully-automated, scriptless API test scenarios that users can interact with without knowing how to code an API test. Once built, those API tests are automatically imported into the industry-leading Parasoft SOAtest, which enables users to parlay their tests into a comprehensive API testing strategy, using SOAtest’s visual tooling, test flow logic, and data solutions to cover more application logic and build complete end-to-end tests, paving the way for more test maturity and automation.

“Testing at the API layer represents a sweet spot on the testing pyramid, but until now it has been underutilized by most organizations due to the wall of knowledge required to understand and fully test the API,” explained Chris Colosimo, Parasoft SOAtest Product Manager. “With the new Smart API Test Generator, we have simultaneously enabled the broader testing community to jump over that wall and empowered the power-user to accelerate their testing efforts so that organizations can fully unlock the potential of API testing. And all you have to do to get started is install a plugin on your browser.”

To learn more about Parasoft API testing, please visit: www.parasoft.com/solutions/api-testing