Authorize.net Testing

Anushree Chatterjee

You need a payment gateway in several scenarios, especially when you are running a business that requires secure, efficient, and versatile payment processing capabilities.

Think of the payment gateway as a messenger or a mediator. It’s like when you want to send a confidential message to a friend but can’t deliver it yourself, so you use a trusted courier service. The payment gateway securely takes the payment details from the customer, encrypts this sensitive information to ensure it’s safe from prying eyes, and then sends it to the bank for approval. The bank reviews the request, checks if the customer has enough funds, and then sends back a response: approved or denied.

Once the payment gateway receives this response, it acts like the courier returning to you with your friend’s reply to your message. It informs the store and the customer whether the transaction was successful or not. If approved, the store can fulfill the order, confident that the payment is on its way.

One such reliable payment gateway is Authorize.net.

About Authorize.net

Authorize.net is a widely recognized payment gateway service provider that enables merchants to accept credit card and electronic check payments through their websites, over the phone, or in person. Owned by Visa Inc., it is a solution designed for businesses of all sizes, providing a secure and reliable platform for processing payments, managing transactions, and simplifying the complexities associated with digital commerce. Authorize.net supports a variety of businesses, from online stores and services to nonprofit entities and beyond, facilitating seamless payment experiences.

Authorize.net offers the following services.

• Multiple payment methods
  • Credit and debit cards: They accept major credit and debit cards.
  • Electronic checks: They process e-checks through the Automated Clearing House (ACH).
  • Digital payment solutions: There’s support for digital wallets like Apple Pay, PayPal, and Visa Checkout.
• Secure transaction processing
  • It utilizes advanced encryption and security protocols to transmit customer payment information securely.
  • It complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
• Fraud prevention tools
  • Fraud Detection Suite (FDS): It offers a set of customizable, rules-based filters and tools to help detect and manage suspicious transactions, reducing the risk of fraud.
• Recurring billing
  • There’s automated billing for subscriptions and memberships, allowing for easy management of recurring payments.
• Customer Information Manager (CIM)
  • Securely store customer payment information for future transactions, enhancing the checkout process for returning customers.
• Advanced integration options
  • It offers a comprehensive API for custom integrations, allowing businesses to tailor the payment process to their specific needs.
  • It also provides pre-built SDKs for several programming languages like PHP, Java, and .NET to streamline development.
• Hosted payment solutions
  • Hosted payment page: There’s a customizable payment page hosted by Authorize.net, reducing the PCI compliance burden for merchants.
  • Hosted payment buttons: Simple payment buttons can be added to a website for quick payment processing.
• Account updater
  • It automatically updates card information for recurring payments, reducing declines due to expired or updated cards.
• Simple checkout
  • It offers an easy-to-implement solution for accepting donations or payments with minimal coding.
• Reporting and transaction management
  • It provides detailed reports and transaction history for effective financial management and reconciliation.
  • They also allow batch processing and the ability to void or refund transactions directly through the merchant interface.
• Mobile payments
  • There’s support for mobile transactions, enabling merchants to accept payments through mobile apps and optimized mobile websites.

Customizing Authorize.net

Authorize.net allows for a broad range of customizations to tailor the payment processing experience to the specific needs of your business. These customizations can be implemented through their APIs, enabling you to integrate payment services seamlessly with your applications or websites.

Authorize.net itself, as a payment gateway provider, operates on its own backend systems, which may utilize multiple programming languages and technologies not publicly detailed. However, when it comes to integrating Authorize.net services into your application or website, you are not limited to a specific programming language.

Authorize.net provides APIs and SDKs (Software Development Kits) that support a wide range of programming languages, enabling developers to integrate payment processing features into their applications regardless of their development stack.

Supported programming languages for integration

Authorize.net also provides official SDKs for specific languages to simplify integration. These pre-written libraries handle common tasks like authentication and data formatting, offering a more convenient way to interact with the APIs. Supported languages include

• C# (.NET): For developers working within the Microsoft ecosystem, Authorize.net offers a .NET SDK that makes it easier to integrate with .NET applications.
• Java: A Java SDK is available for integrating Authorize.net features into applications running on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), including web applications and enterprise solutions.
• PHP: The PHP SDK allows for easy integration with web applications built in PHP, one of the most common languages for web development.
• Ruby: Ruby developers can use the Ruby SDK to integrate Authorize.net into web applications built with Ruby on Rails or other Ruby frameworks.
• Python: There is a Python SDK available for applications written in Python, including Django and Flask web applications.
• Node.js: Authorize.net provides an SDK for Node.js, catering to applications that run on this JavaScript runtime, making it suitable for both frontend and backend integrations.

Integration via API

• REST API: Authorize.net offers a RESTful API that can be consumed directly over HTTP, making it language-agnostic. This means you can integrate Authorize.net with any programming language that can make HTTP requests and process HTTP responses, including but not limited to the ones mentioned above.
• SOAP API: For systems that prefer SOAP-based web services, Authorize.net provides a SOAP API, although REST is more commonly used in modern integrations.

Testing customized Authorize.net code

While you can’t directly test the internal workings of Authorize.net itself, you can definitely write tests for your own code that interacts with Authorize.net. This is crucial for ensuring your integration functions as expected and handles various scenarios gracefully.

Going by the testing pyramid, you can test in the following sequence.

• Unit testing
• Integration testing
• End-to-end testing

Authorize.net unit testing

Unit testing involves testing individual components of your application in isolation to ensure that each part functions correctly. Some places to focus unit tests on are those areas where functionalities are taking place, such as checking error handling, data validation, and security aspects.

Due to security concerns and unpredictable responses, you cannot directly call the production Authorize.net API during unit testing. Instead, use mocking frameworks or the Authorize.net Sandbox environment to mimic API behavior under controlled conditions. Your tests should primarily focus on how your code interacts with the mocked or sandbox environment. Assert expected behaviors for your code based on specific inputs and API responses.

The choice of tools for writing these tests largely depends on the programming language and environment you are using for your application. Here are some popular testing frameworks and tools for various languages that can be effectively used to write unit tests for your Authorize.net integration.

.NET (C#)

• NUnit: A widely used testing framework for all .NET languages, offering a rich set of assertions to test API interactions.
• xUnit.net: Another popular test framework for .NET, known for being more extensible and supporting parallel testing.

Java

• JUnit: The de facto standard for unit testing in Java, allowing you to create repeatable tests with assertions to check the responses from your Authorize.net integration.
• Mockito: A mocking framework that works well with JUnit to mock external dependencies, such as web service calls to Authorize.net.

PHP

• PHPUnit: A comprehensive testing framework for PHP, suitable for testing your application’s interaction with the Authorize.net API.
• Mockery: A mock object framework for PHP, used in conjunction with PHPUnit to mock the Authorize.net SDK or direct API calls.

Python

• pytest: A no-boilerplate alternative to Python’s standard library unittest module, offering more expressive tests and easier test writing.
• unittest: Python’s built-in library for testing, which can be used with unittest.mock to mock Authorize.net API calls.

Ruby

• RSpec: A behavior-driven development (BDD) framework for Ruby, perfect for testing your Ruby application’s integration with Authorize.net.

Node.js

• Mocha: A flexible JavaScript testing framework with asynchronous testing support, making it suitable for testing API interactions.
• Chai: An assertion library that can be paired with Mocha to write more readable tests for your Authorize.net integration.

Authorize.net integration testing

Integration testing for your Authorize.net integration involves testing the interaction between your application and the Authorize.net API to ensure they work together as expected. Unlike unit testing, which tests parts of the application in isolation, integration testing verifies the flow from your application through to Authorize.net and back. This can include testing the entire transaction process, handling errors, and processing responses.

Authorize.net provides a Sandbox environment that simulates the payment gateway without processing real transactions. Use this environment for your integration tests to test your application’s interaction with Authorize.net safely. Ensure you have separate API credentials for the Sandbox environment. Do not use production credentials for testing.

The choice of testing framework depends on the programming language and your application’s environment.

Authorize.net end-to-end testing

Once you’ve tested the system at a code level through unit and integration testing, it’s time to do a complete run-through of the system via end-to-end testing. This form of testing involves checking user workflows and seeing if they function as intended.

Based on your business needs, you can choose from the available end-to-end testing automation tools in the market.

Selenium

Selenium is a popular open-source framework for automating web browsers, enabling developers to simulate user interactions with web pages. When it comes to end-to-end testing of payment integrations like Authorize.net, Selenium can be an invaluable tool for ensuring that the entire payment process works seamlessly from the user’s perspective.

Selenium allows you to write test scripts that automate user actions in a web browser, such as clicking buttons, filling out forms, and navigating through the payment process. For Authorize.net, this means you can automate the process of entering payment information, submitting the form, and verifying the response without manual intervention.

One of the key benefits of using Selenium for testing your Authorize.net integration is the ability to run tests across multiple browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and other platforms. Selenium tests can be integrated with various testing frameworks like JUnit, TestNG, pytest, etc., and run as part of your application’s test suite. This integration helps in running automated end-to-end tests alongside unit and integration tests, providing comprehensive test coverage.

Selenium, however, has its own set of drawbacks when used for end-to-end testing, forcing testers to look for other alternatives. Read here the 11 reasons why not to use Selenium.

testRigor

Though Selenium is one of the oldest test automation frameworks out there, it isn’t necessarily the most efficient. You can get much more done with half the heavy lifting if you opt for a modern tool like testRigor.

testRigor is a cloud-based tool that makes testing across various platforms like web, mobile, and desktop easy. It supports end-to-end testing, functional testing, UI-based testing, regression testing, and even API testing.

Let’s see how this AI-based tool helps in getting the job done.

• Easy test case creation: When it comes to complex integrations and systems like those related to payments, you’d instead focus on covering more tests instead of worrying about how to code test cases. With testRigor, you can write your test cases in plain English language through generative AI. This promotes team collaboration and allows everyone to participate in the test creation process.
• Cover complex test scenarios easily: Payment systems involve levels of authorization and authentication like one-time passwords (OTP) through emails or SMSs and 2-factor authentication (2FA). You can test these scenarios quickly with testRigor through plain English statements.
• Secure platform: testRigor follows the highest security standards, including SOC2 and HIPAA, and will never record or store your users’ or your company’s private data.
• Data-driven testing: With testRigor, you can quickly generate dummy data for data-driven testing to supplement testing various test cases.
• Intuitive interface: You will not be disappointed with testRigor’s interface. It is intuitive, but at the same time, it does not bother you with too many steps or pop-ups.
• Reduced test maintenance: testRigor uses AI to make test maintenance negligible, allowing you and your team to focus on the real stuff – creating quality test cases.
• Supported integrations: testRigor supports integration with various platforms and tools that offer services like test case organization, device farms, databases, CI/CD, and more.

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There’s a lot more you can do with testRigor. Create a free account with them to try out these features for yourself.

Conclusion

Integrating a payment gateway is a strategic move for businesses looking to grow, expand their market reach, and provide customers with a safe, efficient checkout process. By choosing a solution like Authorize.net, companies can leverage a robust infrastructure designed to handle the complexities of modern payment processing while providing a better customer experience.

As you customize the system based on your business needs, be sure to put in QA checks and balances to get the most out of your efforts. Intelligent tools like testRigor make your testing journey super-easy, quick, and effortless.

“We spent so much time on maintenance when using Selenium, and we spend nearly zero time with maintenance using testRigor.”

Keith Powe VP Of Engineering - IDT