When working with REST APIs, you might come across XML responses that need to be parsed and validated. REST Assured provides a convenient way to handle such responses, making it easy to automate your API testing. Let’s dive into the practical part of it.

Step 1: Setting Up REST Assured

Make sure you have REST Assured in your project. If you’re using Maven, add the following dependency to your pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
    <artifactId>rest-assured</artifactId>
    <version>5.4.0</version>  <!-- Check for the latest version -->
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

Step 2: Sending a GET Request

Let’s first send a GET request to an example endpoint that returns an XML response.

import io.restassured.RestAssured;
import io.restassured.response.Response;

public class XmlResponseExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String url = "http://example.com/api/xml"; // Your API endpoint

        Response response = RestAssured
                .given()
                .when()
                .get(url)
                .then()
                .statusCode(200) // Assert that the response status is OK
                .extract().response();

        // Printing the raw XML response
        System.out.println(response.asString());
    }
}

In this code snippet:

• We’re sending a GET request to the specified URL.
• We check if the response status code is 200 (OK).
• Finally, we print the raw XML output.

Step 3: Parsing the XML Response

To effectively handle and extract data from the XML response, we can use REST Assured's XML capabilities. Here’s how you can parse the XML content:

import io.restassured.RestAssured;
import io.restassured.response.Response;
import static io.restassured.RestAssured.given;

public class XmlParsingExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String url = "http://example.com/api/xml";
        
        Response response = given()
                .when()
                .get(url)
                .then()
                .statusCode(200)
                .extract().response();

        // Parsing the XML response
        String specificData = response.xmlPath().getString("YourXPathExpression");

        // Display the extracted data
        System.out.println("Extracted Data: " + specificData);
    }
}

In this example:

• We utilize the xmlPath() method to parse the XML content.
• Use XPath expressions to extract specific information.
• Replace YourXPathExpression with the actual XPath to the data you're interested in retrieving.

Step 4: Validations

You can also validate different properties of the XML response to make sure it meets your expectations. Here’s an example to check if a specific value exists:

import io.restassured.RestAssured;
import io.restassured.response.Response;

import static io.restassured.RestAssured.given;

public class XmlValidationExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String url = "http://example.com/api/xml";

        Response response = given()
                .when()
                .get(url)
                .then()
                .statusCode(200) // Validate status
                .extract().response();

        // Validate a specific tag value
        String expectedValue = "ExpectedValue"; // The value you're expecting
        String actualValue = response.xmlPath().getString("YourXPathToTag");

        if (actualValue.equals(expectedValue)) {
            System.out.println("Validation Passed: Value matches!");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Validation Failed: Expected " + expectedValue + " but got " + actualValue);
        }
    }
}

In this scenario:

• You can extract the values using XPath and compare them against expected values.
• Based on the validation, you can print appropriate messages accordingly.

By using REST Assured to manage XML responses, you streamline your API testing process and make it much more intuitive. With this toolkit in hand, you are well-equipped to handle XML data efficiently and effectively.