A better tool for automated API smoke tests

[bajtos]

Right now, we are recommending Dredd for automated testing of API conformance with the spec. This tool has several shortcomings:

• A binary dependency. Setting up build env is tricky (especially in enterprise environments with a constrained access to the interned), it requires us to spend more time on support. The time needed to npm install all dependencies is too long too.

• The tool does not integrate with our Mocha test runner. We have to configure Dredd to log test failures to stdout/stderr, which makes test report inconsistent.

• When a test fails, the error message is too verbose and makes it difficult to quickly spot what went wrong.

I am proposing to find a tool that will give our users a better UX.

[kjdelisle]

We should determine if:

• is there a better solution than Dredd
• if not, drop this section from "Thinking in LoopBack" and from our examples (if any)
• write a blog post about it

[thinusn]

For API / swagger conformance tests that work in mocha one could look at https://github.com/CacheControl/hippie-swagger

[bajtos]

Removing from MVP, top-down approach is out of scope of MVP. However, see #796

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[bajtos]

Design-first (top-down) approach is out of scope of 4.0 GA, removing this story from the release.

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This issue has been marked stale because it has not seen activity within six months. If you believe this to be in error, please contact one of the code owners, listed in the CODEOWNERS file at the top-level of this repository. This issue will be closed within 30 days of being stale.

[stale]

This issue has been closed due to continued inactivity. Thank you for your understanding. If you believe this to be in error, please contact one of the code owners, listed in the CODEOWNERS file at the top-level of this repository.