Tools - Software Developer's Tour

Effortless API Testing with Visual Studio Code: Quick and Easy Guide

Paweł Majewski — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 20:15:10 +0000

Have you ever wondered how to test your API endpoints? There are many options to do so. You can use:

Swagger

Postman

Insomnia

(other less known software)

or our star for today…

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VSC) is a really powerful tool. Calling VSC an IDE wouldn’t be entirely accurate, as its functionality largely depends on extensions.

One time VSC can be typical text editor, and the other time you can use VSC to manage your Linux server files over SSH using https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh.

Firstly, let’s create a new Web API project and modify the default WeatherForecastController with the code below.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.Net.Http.Headers;

namespace TestApi.Controllers;
[ApiController]
[Route("[controller]")]
public class WeatherForecastController : ControllerBase
{
    [HttpGet("get")]
    public IActionResult Get()
    {
        return Ok(Enumerable.Range(1, 5));
    }

    [HttpGet("get-protected")]
    public IActionResult GetProtected()
    {
        if (!Request.Headers.ContainsKey(HeaderNames.Authorization) || Request.Headers[HeaderNames.Authorization] != "Bearer testKey")
            return Unauthorized();

        return Ok(Enumerable.Range(1, 5));
    }

    [HttpPost("post")]
    public IActionResult Post([FromBody] TestRequest request)
    {
        return Ok(request);
    }

    public class TestRequest
    {
        public required string Name { get; set; }
        public int Age { get; set; }
    }
}

As you can see, there are three endpoints that we will test today:

Get

GetProtected

and Post

These three endpoints will cover all our base cases, so let’s get started!

Install REST Client extension

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=humao.rest-client

Create file with .http extension

Naming convention It's a good practice to name your files with words that clearly describe their purpose. Today, I'll test the endpoints in WeatherForecastController, so I've named the file WeatherForecastControllerTests.http.

First sending of the request

The arrow points to the button which sends the request, and on the right panel, you can see the response from the server.

GET https://localhost:7081/WeatherForecast/get

Let's make authorized request

We’ve received a 401 Unauthorized error. I’ve created a fake authentication based on a Bearer token. If you are not familiar with Bearer tokens, read more https://docs.github.com/en/rest/authentication/authenticating-to-the-rest-api?apiVersion=2022-11-28

What should we do? Just add an Authorization header

GET https://localhost:7081/WeatherForecast/get-protected
Authorization: Bearer testKey

How about POST http method?

Nothing easier!

What is worth highlighting is that VSC automatically suggests possible HTTP MIME types.

The full request

POST https://localhost:7081/WeatherForecast/post
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "name": "pawelmajewski.com",
    "Age": 22
}

Improvements

We’ve got this. Our tests work perfectly, but… what if the base URL changes?

Variables

Yes!We will replace repetitive elements with variables.

@baseUrl = https://localhost:7081
@apiToken = Bearer testKey
@contentTypeApplicationJson = application/json

GET {{baseUrl}}/WeatherForecast/get

###

GET {{baseUrl}}/WeatherForecast/get-protected
Authorization: {{apiToken}}

###

POST {{baseUrl}}/WeatherForecast/post
Content-Type: {{contentTypeApplicationJson}}

{
    "name": "pawelmajewski.com",
    "Age": 22
}

Now, I’m happy with this code. As you can see, VSC is a very powerful tool with an enormous number of extensions that make VSC a multitool.

Additionally, what makes this tool very simple and fast to use for programmers is that here you simply write code, without needing to learn a new UI to do anything.

The post Effortless API Testing with Visual Studio Code: Quick and Easy Guide first appeared on Software Developer's Tour.

Chat GPT and refactor?

Paweł Majewski — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 19:56:00 +0000

In this post How to generate website using Chat GPT I checked how ChatGPT is doing with generating the layout.

Today, we will see how it copes with the refactoring.

Variables chain

var x = 5;
var a = x;
var b = a;
var c = b;
Console.WriteLine(c);
var d = c;
var e = d;
var f = e + 1;
var g = f;
var h = g;
Console.WriteLine(g);

That’s not exactly what I meant.

Let’s try it differently.

Much better.

Complicated LINQ

int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

var result = numbers
    .Where(n => n % 2 == 0)
    .Select(n => n * n)
    .OrderByDescending(n => n)
    .Skip(1)
    .TakeWhile((n, index) => index < 2 || n > 10)
    .Sum();

Console.WriteLine(result);

Okay, time to ask ChatGPT what can we do with this piece of code.

I’m pasting here the code provided by ChatGPT, which allows you to verify that I’m not lying.

int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

var result = numbers
    .Where(n => n % 2 == 0)
    .Select(n => n * n)
    .OrderByDescending(n => n)
    .TakeWhile((n, index) => index < 2 || (index == 2 && n > 10))
    .Sum();

Console.WriteLine(result);

This code changes the result. The original code returned 4, but now it’s 20. Tell that to ChatGPT and watch how it will react.

int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

var result = numbers
    .Where(n => n % 2 == 0)
    .Select(n => n * n)
    .OrderByDescending(n => n)
    .TakeWhile((n, index) => index < 2 || (index == 2 && n > 10))
    .Sum();

Console.WriteLine(result);

Ok, let’s see.

ChatGPT said that this code would now return 4 as a result, but as you can see, it’s still 20.

My answer for this is

Yes, I know ChatGPT is capable of performing good refactoring, but we still need to double-check everything based on ChatGPT’s answer.

ChatGPT is wonderful tool, but again – it’s not medicine for every problem.

The post Chat GPT and refactor? first appeared on Software Developer's Tour.

Using Visual Studio Code to create .NET application

Paweł Majewski — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:21:33 +0000

Many of us use Visual Studio Code for frontend purposes, but how about using it to develop an .NET Applications?

I always use Visual Studio or Rider to develop .NET apps, but today, I’ll create a simple TODO application using Visual Studio Code to check if I’m able to create the application in a convenient way.

As first glance, we can see the “Create .NET Project” button which allows us to create an application with a few clicks.

I’ll choose standard MVC application as easiest way to test VSC in real application.

public class TodoItem
{
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
    public TodoItemStatus Status { get; set; }
}

I’ve modified HomeController and added TodoItems storage as static list

    public static List TodoItems = [
        new() {
            Title = "Write new post",
            Description = "Go to the pawelmajewski.com and add a new post",
            Status = TodoItemStatus.New
        }
    ];

And the result

Ok, let’s stop at this moment. I’ll write something about using Visual Studio Code and the feeling of using it instead of a dedicated IDE created for .NET applications.

As you can see, VSC doesn’t add namespace by default.

None of these options generate correct namespace automatically. The first option ends word to full “namespace” and the second one creates new namespace scope. Too bad I couldn’t find such an option to generate correct namespace with consideration for the folder structure.

I've found solution There are several extensions allowing create class with namespace automatically. You can read more about it Stack overflow

Summary

Visual Studio Code is amazing software with a vast amount of extensions. We can easily develop .NET applications using Visual Studio Code. There are many extensions available that make our job faster and more convenient. However, in my opinion, the usage of dedicated IDEs is a better option. I’ll stay with Rider / Visual Studio for .NET and Visual Studio Code for frontend 🙂

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