How can I add parameters to the url as part of the path in a SOAP UI REST request?

Question

I'm creating a test case for a REST API in soapUI 4.5 where I'm going to use the content from step X to make a new call in step Y.

Ideally I'd create the REST request with some parameters, say A and B, and say that these parameters should be used in the URL: http://myapi.com/v1/stuff/A/B

Then I'd do a property transfer step and simply set values extracted from step X into A and B.

It looks as if soapUI only lets me create querystring parameters, like this: http://myapi.com/v1/stuff?ParamA=A&ParamB=B

This works of course, but I'd like to be able to call it both ways, to verify they're both working.

Am I missing something?

Solution

I am not a soapui expert by any means, but have just worked through a very similar scenario, so this might help you out.

Part 1: Create a paramatized resource
In my service, I have a resource called stuff:

http://{host}/stuff

I create a child resource with the below values:

    Resource Name: Get stuff by ID
    Resource Path/Endpoint: {stuffId}

and before clicking ok, click Extract Params - this will populate the Parameters table with an entry like:

    Name     | Default value | Style      | Location
    stuffId  | stuffId       | TEMPLATE   | RESOURCE

then click ok. You now have a resource that allows you to dynamically supply an id:

http://{host}/stuff/{id}

you would need to repeat this to create the B parameter above (or you could create A and B as two parameters to the single resource if you never call /stuff/A without also supplying B).

Part 2: Create the test case
Now in the test case, you need to retrieve A, transfer the property, and then send a request to the above resource using the property:

1. In the test case, create the request to retrieve the response containing A
2. Right click the testcase and add a Properties step. Add a property to store the value of A.
3. From the response in the Outline view, right click the value of A and select "Transfer to > Property", select the property you just created and hit ok

4. Create a new request, using the new paramatized resource created in the first part. In the place of the id, put a reference to the property which is holding the value of A in this format:

   ${propertyName}
   

I might have done something wrong, but my test initially fails on the property transfer with "Missing source property". In the Source are of the PropertyTransfer step, I needed to set the property to ResponseAsXml

Hope this helps!