More detail on JSON validation in Cucumber

Here's more details on my last post about doing a JSON smoke test.  The idea here, is that a test is needed to check the schema of the JSON coming back - to verify that the JSON structure itself is intact with the correct categories and sub categories.

I used Rotten Tomato's API end point.  I'll pass in a fixed parameter to a specific movie and then validate the JSON coming back.

The end point URI that i'm hitting is:
http://api.rottentomatoes.com/api/public/v1.0/movies.json?apikey=jc7eaxjfpemb2uz7qsrudnsq&q=Toy+Story+3&page_limit=1

Let's review the JSON response we get with the above query - jsonlint.com shows that the top level categories are:

• total
• movies
• links
• link_template

Some of these categories have sub categories, and some do not.  For example, Total, does not have a sub category in the JSON, but movies has a bulk of sub categories.  In fact movies has:

• id
• title
• year
• mpaa_rating
• runtime
• critics_consensus
• release_dates
• ratings
• synopsis
• posters
• abridged_cast
• alternate_ids
• links

some of these of sub categories themselves.  But to just cover these categories and sub-categories here's how I wrote the code in the step definition file:
require 'open-uri'
require 'json'

Given /^A call to the Rotten Tomattoes API$/ do
  @mquery = JSON.parse(open("http://api.rottentomatoes.com/api/public/v1.0/movies.json?apikey=jc7eaxjfpemb2uz7qsrudnsq&q=Toy+Story+3&page_limit=1").read)
end
Then /^the response should have  the (.*) expected$/ do |category|
  @mquery["#{category}"].should be_true
end

Given /^A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API$/ do
  @mquery = JSON.parse(open("http://api.rottentomatoes.com/api/public/v1.0/movies.json?apikey=jc7eaxjfpemb2uz7qsrudnsq&q=Toy+Story+3&page_limit=1").read)
end
Then /^the response returned should have the movies (.*) expected$/ do |subcategory|
  @mquery['movies'][0]["#{subcategory}"].should be_true
end
Then /^the response returned should have the (.*) subcategory expected$/ do |release_dates_sub|
  @mquery['movies'][0]['release_dates']["#{release_dates_sub}"].should be_true
end
Then /^the ratings response returned should have the (.*) subcategory expected$/ do |ratings_sub|
  @mquery['movies'][0]['ratings']["#{ratings_sub}"].should be_true
end
Then /^the posters response returned should have the (.*) subcategory expected$/ do |posters_sub|
  @mquery['movies'][0]['posters']["#{posters_sub}"].should be_true
end
Then /^the abridged cast response returned should have the (.*) subcategory expected$/ do |abridged_cast_sub|
  @mquery['movies'][0]['abridged_cast'][0]["#{abridged_cast_sub}"].should be_true
end
Then /^the alternate id's response returned should have the (.*) subcategory expected$/ do |alternate_ids_sub|
  @mquery['movies'][0]['alternate_ids']["#{alternate_ids_sub}"].should be_true
end
Then /^the links response returned should have the (.*) subcategory expected$/ do |links_sub|
  @mquery['movies'][0]['links']["#{links_sub}"].should be_true
end


The Cucumber test I wrote uses a Cucumber Scenario Outline to pass in the expected categories or sub-categories into the code above.  Here's how I wrote the tests:

Feature: Smoke tests to ensure json validity by checking and verifying each JSON category and sub category exists
  #Note: this is not validating values, just that the JSON structure has the expected categories and sub categories

   Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON top level categories returned
     Given A call to the Rotten Tomattoes API
     Then the response should have  the <category> expected

     Examples:
     |category|
     |movies  |
     |links|
     |link_template|

  Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON movies sub categories returned
    Given A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API
    Then the response returned should have the movies <subcategory> expected

  Examples:
    |subcategory|
    |id  |
    |title|
    |year|
    |mpaa_rating|
    |runtime    |
    |critics_consensus|
    |release_dates    |
    |ratings          |
    |synopsis         |
    |posters          |
    |abridged_cast    |
    |alternate_ids    |
    |links            |

  Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON release dates sub categories returned
    Given A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API
    Then the response returned should have the <release dates_sub> subcategory expected

  Examples:
    |release dates_sub|
    |theater  |
    |dvd|

  Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON ratings sub categories returned
    Given A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API
    Then the ratings response returned should have the <ratings_sub> subcategory expected

  Examples:
    |ratings_sub|
    |critics_rating  |
    |critics_score|
    |audience_rating|
    |audience_score |

  Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON posters sub categories returned
    Given A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API
    Then the posters response returned should have the <posters_sub> subcategory expected

  Examples:
    |posters_sub|
    |thumbnail  |
    |profile|
    |detailed|
    |original |

  Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON abridged cast sub categories returned
    Given A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API
    Then the abridged cast response returned should have the <abridged_cast_sub> subcategory expected

  Examples:
    |abridged_cast_sub|
    |name  |
    |id|
    |characters|

  Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON alternate ids sub categories returned
    Given A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API
    Then the alternate id's response returned should have the <alternate_ids_sub> subcategory expected

  Examples:
    |alternate_ids_sub|
    |imdb  |

  Scenario Outline: Smoke test the JSON links sub categories returned
    Given A call is made to the Rotten Tomattoes API
    Then the links response returned should have the <links_sub> subcategory expected

  Examples:
    |links_sub|
    |self  |
    |alternate|
    |cast     |
    |clips    |
    |reviews  |
    |similar  |