Native mock server inside XCTest

February 14, 2022 3 minute read

Introduction

An automated testing can be a tricky thing, especially when you’re dealing with unstable or constantly changing backend. What if we could get rid of the real backend and use a mock server in our tests instead? Perhaps that would solve a couple of our problems, eh?

Check out this repository to dive into the source code I’ll be playing with in this note.

Precondition

I’ll use Swifter just because I love it and it’s super easy to start hacking right away with it. But really there are several similar tools, so grab any other if Swifter does not suit you.

Create sample project

Open Xcode
Click on Create a new Xcode project
Choose iOS App as a template
Fill the product name and the team name
Choose SwiftUI as an interface
Click on the Next button
Open the ContentView.swift file
Fill it in with this code
Run an app on any iOS Simulator
Tap on the Game controller 🎮
^{The app pulls a random user from the backend}

Install Swifter

Open Xcode
Go to File => Add Packages...
Type https://github.com/httpswift/swifter.git in the search field
Click on the Add Package button
Open UITests target => Build Phases tab
Click on the plus button under the Link Binary With Libraries section
Find Swifter from the list under the Swift Package section
Click on the Add button
Open a <package name>UITests file
Import Swifter
```
import Swifter
```
Create this variable in the test class
```
private var server = HttpServer()
```

Create this method in the test class

private func startServer() {
  do {
    try server.start(4567)
    print("Server status: \(server.state)")
  } catch {
    print("Server start error: \(error)")
  }
}

Run this test to make sure everything goes fine (hopefully, you see a green light ✅)

func testUsername() {
    startServer()()
    XCUIApplication().launch()

    XCUIApplication().images["gamecontroller"].coordinate(withNormalizedOffset: CGVector(dx: 0.0, dy: 0.0)).tap()

    let username = XCUIApplication().staticTexts["username"]

    XCTAssertTrue(username.exists)
}

Mock production backend

Open the ContentView.swift file

Replace an existed function apiUrl() with:

 func apiUrl() -> URL {
     var urlString = "https://random-data-api.com"
     #if DEBUG
       if ProcessInfo.processInfo.arguments.contains("MOCK_SERVER") {
           urlString = "http://localhost:4567"
       }
     #endif
     let url = URL(string: urlString)!
     return url
 }

Run an app on iOS Simulator and tap on the Game controller 🎮

3.1 The result should remain the same, except for the username of course
Open a <package name>UITests file

Create new methods and variables to mock the required endpoint

 private var username = ""

 private func configureServer() {
   server["/api/v2/users"] = { [self] _ in
       var response = readData(fromFile: "users")
       response["first_name"] = username
       print("\nGAME STARTED 🏈\n\(response.toString(prettyPrinted: true))")
       return .ok(.json(response))
   }
 }

 private func mockUsername(_ username: String) {
     self.username = username
 }

 private func readData(fromFile name: String, ext: String = "json") -> [String: Any] {
     let bundle = Bundle(for: Self.self)
     let url = bundle.url(forResource: name, withExtension: ext)!
     let data = try! Data(contentsOf: url)
     return String(bytes: data, encoding: .utf8)!.json
 }

 extension String {
     var json: [String: Any] {
         try! JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: Data(self.utf8),
                                           options: .mutableContainers) as! [String: Any]
     }
 }

Create a json template users.json in your project to mock the response from the backend

Update the test and run it again

 func testUsername() {
     startServer()()
     configureServer()

     XCUIApplication().launchArguments = ["MOCK_SERVER"]
     XCUIApplication().launch()

     let expectedUsername = "Frodo"
     mockUsername(expectedUsername)

     XCUIApplication().images["gamecontroller"].coordinate(withNormalizedOffset: CGVector(dx: 0.0, dy: 0.0)).tap()

     let actualUsername = XCUIApplication().staticTexts["username"].label

     XCTAssertEqual(expectedUsername, actualUsername)
 }

Look at the green light ✅
^{The app pulls the expected user from the mock server}

Explore the mock server

Get request details

server["/api/v2/users"] = { request in
  let headers = request.headers
  let queryParams = request.queryParams
  let address = request.address
  let body = request.body
  let params = request.params
  let path = request.path
  let method = request.method
  return HttpResponse.ok(.text("""
  { "hello": "world" }
  """)
  )
}

Mock dynamic endpoint

server["api/:version/users"] = { request in
  let apiVersion = request.params[":version"]
  return HttpResponse.ok(.text("""
  { "hello": "world" }
  """)
  )
}

Return internal server error

server["api/:version/users"] = { _ in
  .internalServerError
}

Redirect

server["api/:version/users"] = { _ in
  .movedPermanently("http://www.google.com")
}

Customize response details

server["api/:version/users"] = { _ in
    let body = """
    { "hello": "world" }
    """.data(using: .utf8)

    let statusCode = 33
    let message = "Test message"
    let headers = ["User-Agent": "fake", "Test-Header": "test"]
    return HttpResponse.raw(statusCode, message, headers, { (writer) in
        try writer.write(body!)
    })
}

WebSockets

server["/websocket-echo"] = websocket(text: { session, text in
  session.writeText(text)
}, connected: { [weak self] _ in
  print("WS connected")
}, disconnected: { [weak self] _ in
  print("WS disconnected")
})

Set up a random port for parallel tests

private func startServer(
  port: in_port_t = in_port_t.random(in: 8081..<10000),
  maximumOfAttempts: Int = 10
) {
  guard maximumOfAttempts > 0 else { return }

  do {
      try server.start(port, forceIPv4: true)
  } catch SocketError.bindFailed(let message) where message == "Address already in use" {
      startServer(maximumOfAttempts: maximumOfAttempts - 1)
  } catch {
      print("Server start error: \(error)")
  }
}