{"id":887,"date":"2019-03-20T14:10:48","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T14:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/djangostars.com\/blog\/?p=887"},"modified":"2024-11-26T08:59:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T08:59:07","slug":"testing-third-party-integration-using-mock-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/djangostars.com\/blog\/testing-third-party-integration-using-mock-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Testing Third-Party Integration Using Mock Data"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all long since gotten used to third-party services within apps and platforms we use on a daily basis, and we don\u2019t even notice them. Through an API, third-party services can be integrated with any other service to add a larger set of functions \u2013 like logging into cooking websites with Facebook, or getting bank information to get an online mortgage. These truly can be used in everything from entertainment to fintech. Fintech, by the way, is what we would like to talk about in the first place, considering how much we have worked in the financial field. We\u2019ve gathered one or two useful bits of info over the years.
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\nAs we\u2019ve said, third-party services guarantee extended functionality and flawless functioning without overburdening the main product and making it too complicated. It\u2019s safe to say that these are supporting services. They help major services check the data provided by users and their reliability. In fintech, it can be banks or other institutions that carry information about private persons or legal bodies, exchange-rate data used in e-commerce, or money transfers.<\/p>\n

This article will show you how to provide testing of 3rd party integration services for your product. But if you have problems with the project and you suspect that it\u2019s all about 3rd party services, and you do not know how to fix them, you can contact us<\/a> for additional advice.
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\n\t\t\tMake sure your product is perfect.<\/u>\t\t\t

\n Hire an experienced QA team. <\/p>\n <\/h3>\n\t\t

\n Learn more<\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Third-Party Services: A Short Guide<\/h2>\n

Before we tell you about testing of 3rd integration APIs, let\u2019s look at how these services work. For instance, we have a mortgage platform. Users register by providing their personal data \u2013 name and surname, date of birth, income, and other relevant information. The platform sends a request to the third-party service it\u2019s integrated with to confirm the data it\u2019s received. The third-party service \u2013 in this case, it might be a bank \u2013 has information about the user such as their credit history, possibly their criminal record, etc., and provides it to the platform. Here, we see how the third-party service helps the platform recognize imposters or simply provide a better mortgage estimate to a particular user.<\/p>\n

At the same time, all this data doesn\u2019t have to be stored on the platform. You store only the data you\u2019ve requested. But at the same time, you have a large pool of data for further searches if you need it. This is why they\u2019re called third-party services \u2013 they are the third side of your client-service relationship.<\/strong>
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Testing Third-Party Service Integration<\/h2>\n

Before we connect our platform to a third-party API<\/a>, we need to see if it plays well with whatever service we\u2019re providing. We need to make sure they understand each other well, and data is represented adequately. But if it\u2019s a third-party service, why do we<\/i> need to test 3rd party API?<\/p>\n

Testing Data Interpretation<\/h3>\n

What we really have to test is the integration of the third-party service, or rather the data we get from it. Since we\u2019re going to use it with our own product, we don\u2019t want it to mess up our business. Most importantly, we should test whether the data is interpreted correctly and whether it\u2019s being adequately processed.<\/strong> We need to be sure that the data is being converted to the necessary format and correctly delivered \u2013 for instance, if the amount that represents income is shown in the income field, or the calculation run correctly.<\/p>\n

It can get especially tricky when it comes to fintech products, as the services have to deal with a lot of numbers. You don\u2019t want your product to mix up someone\u2019s income with an outstanding debt. The whole product and the result of its work depends on the interpretation of data. And this is why testing of the third-party services is so important.<\/p>\n

Lacks of Standard Testing<\/h3>\n

Okay, we\u2019ve established the importance of third-party integration service testing. But how do we do it? For once, banks, agencies, tax offices and most other financial institutions have already taken care of it. For an extra fee, they can test their services with yours and provide you with the test results.<\/p>\n

At this point, you may think that there\u2019s no use in continuing reading this article, right? After all, you can just buy the test results and call it quits. It\u2019s cheap, and less cumbersome.<\/p>\n

But the problem is that third-party services can only give you standard testing data.<\/strong> They\u2019re obviously not diverse enough to answer to all the potential search queries. There can be billions of them, but third-party services can\u2019t even give you a couple of hundred.<\/p>\n

They love to keep it simple. For instance, test data shows you that if you look for a condo under $700, the third-party service will show you a corresponding list of possibilities. But what if you look for something more exotic, like a bungalow? And if the prices are between $600 and $2000? The third-party service doesn\u2019t include variables like these in their results. What we get is a standard accommodation type at an average price, and that\u2019s it. They\u2019re not configurable. We can\u2019t manipulate them in any way. And this is obviously not enough to test a product.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Pitfalls of Taking Integration Testing Into Your Own Hands<\/h3>\n

At this point, it\u2019s clear that we have to test the service using our own resources. There\u2019s just no use in spending money on the test data that third-party services offer. It\u2019s easier to create a test on our own, so we can add any data we want and manipulate it in a way that suits us.<\/strong> This way, we can cover all kinds of enquiries, like price range, type of property, average market price for rent or exchange rate, and so on.<\/p>\n

To test how well your product is integrated with the third-party service, you can input different data and see whether the third-party service provides a correct response (or if your product correctly interprets the service\u2019s response). However, this doesn\u2019t resolve the problem of every enquiry being costly. The truth is, using third-party data is quite expensive<\/strong>, as every request sent to them costs a certain amount of money. And you can only imagine how many enquiries you have to send to test all the possible answers you might get from the service!<\/p>\n

As you can see, testing may be the most expensive part of the product. So, how do you test your product in a way that allows you to manipulate input data, but without paying all the money in the world?<\/p>\n

The Solution to the Testing Problem<\/h2>\n

Worry not! There is indeed a way to get the test data you need instead of the average results you\u2019ll get from a third-party service. Try a mock service \u2013 an imitation of a third-party service. So, it basically looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, but isn\u2019t the actual duck. Confluence<\/a>, for instance, has an API that stores \u201cfake\u201d data . We use a mock service that our own backend developers wrote for us and enter our data manually. The data you get from the mock is saved in a json<\/i> file. For instance, Screen 1 shows data about a certain user, while Screen 2 shows potential data on a building, like in the example above.
\n\"Mocked\"Mocked
\nThe method of testing integration using mock data has pros and cons.
\nPros:<\/strong><\/p>\n