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API testing is a process that confirms an API is working as expected. There are several types of API tests, and each one plays a distinct role in ensuring that the API’s functionality, security, and performance remain reliable. Developers can run API tests manually, or they can automate them with an API testing tool.

Developers use API’s as one simply breathes – it is a requirement to be productive, retrieve information … and to stay alive. Testing these API’s (endpoints) is critical to ensure an application continues to function properly, provides the information an application needs and ensures there is no interruption of service.

But … testing is something that developers fundamentally avoid, ignore or overlook. Testing is boring, tedious and takes precious time away from the fun stuff, the work that needs done, the building of features or shiny new components that are important. Simplifying this effort, of testing and having those tests run automatically, with dynamic data parameters and optionally on a scheduled basis is where CodeNeighbor comes to the rescue.

This initial release provides the core foundation of defining an API endpoint, its’ required parameters and headers and the ability to save the result are now available in the version just released today – version 2.7. Work has started on improving this feature to provide data driven tests, using data created in the data artifacts widget, that can provide varied testing situations, simulating real world scenarios and reviewing the results ensuring success or failure.

Additionally, having these tests run on a scheduled basis will also be possible by enabling a feature typically only available to higher subscription levels and that being by using the CRON scheduler. The CRON widget itself will not be available (in full feature mode) to free or entry level subscribers in full, but only allowing scheduling of API test harnesses with somewhat limited scheduling capabilities. If your subscription level allows for full CRON capabilities, stay tuned for advanced features integrating CRON with API testing … in the mean time – happy testing !

“Workflow is a generic term for orchestrated and repeatable patterns of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information.”

That sounds like a great definition … but to simplify what it means to those familiar with this technology, it is a great way to automate repeatable processes and allow for ‘dynamic development’. Depending on what features a workflow engine provides, it may be a simple connection of fixed functions or it may allow for invoking custom code, scripts or applications.

What CodeNeighbor provides with this initial feature release is somewhere in the middle. There are some common workflow steps that provide fixed features, such as listing an S3 bucket in AWS to those steps that invoke scripts or Swift code, that is provided by you, the developer.

Future releases will provide the ability to create custom workflow steps to invoke your own reusable components as well as expanding data integrations when invoking scripts and code — and in future providing ability to use other languages, like Python or …

Please let us know your experiences with this new exciting and powerful feature and have fun creating new workflows !

Version 2.36 is now available and includes some great new features !

Push notifications messaging from the CodeNeighbor system is now available. System messages can be delivered for updates and information. This update allows CodeNeighbor to release timely updates and stay connected with you and your teams. Communication is key to success and these updates provide a pathway to our next steps which is chat messaging support.

The main component of this remote notification setup is the Apple Push Notification service, also known as APNs. APN in actuality is a collection of services that allows the developer to send the notifications from their server to the targeted iOS devices. The APNs are robust and secure methods to establish a connection between the provider server and individual Apple devices. 

Audible and speech cues have also been added to complement any messaging. Incoming messages from the system can provide audio cues when they arrive and we are interested in evaluating the role audio cues can play in improving engagement and outcomes in the context of messaging. This feature does provide the ability to be disabled should one wish to turn it off.

Version 2.01 is released and with it the new feature of white boarding. This initial release of drawing capabilities is just the beginning .. the whiteboard is where you can draw out ideas, sketch, fingerpaint … and eventually collaborate in real time.

This introduction will continue to have updates providing for more feature rich capabilities – adding shapes, text and the usual suspects. Planning has begun to use this new feature as the initial real time collaboration for individuals and teams to use a whiteboard with other collaborative features to follow.

We hope you like this simple addition … take it for a spin … even to do some simple finger painting !

We hope you have been trying out CodeNeighbor and now an updated version, 2.0, is available in the store !

As always, we are continuing to apply new feature updates to ensure this application provides the developer community with great capabilities and as always, your feedback is welcome and requested.

Version 2.0 adds an exciting new feature: CRON (no, not TRON, which would be cool – stay tuned, ya never know if a light cycle might appear). CRON is available in the automation section and provides that feature which may not be available in corporate environments and includes some capabilities not available in the traditional CRON as well.

CRON is just the first of more automation capabilities on our roadmap and a sneak peak of that is adding a visual workflow builder and API creation, testing and deployment to a Swift server as well … so stay tuned.

CodeNeighbor has introduced a new item in the dashboard: scripts. With scripts (currently only unix scripts, but other supporting coming soon for Swift, Python, etc.), invocation of the script can be done within the application.

Wait, that’s not a big deal, right ? Actually, it is just the first phase of a planned automation in early 2024 … the ability to run a flow using scripts, code and built-in functions to perform custom workflows. The flows could support code and application generation, data transformation, API testing .. seemingly endless possibilities.

This is part of a larger vision for what CodeNeighbor can do for you and your team. Imagine, using (another soon to be introduced feature) a schedule, to search for artifacts matching a criteria, deciding if the results should be further analyzed for useful code snippets, notifying the team at 2am of those findings.

Clearly, there is a large roadmap ahead of us, but we believe this will open more ideas and creative solutions that not only save time but improve communication and collaboration.

We are excited to be planning these upgrades and welcome others to be involved, provide beta testing and feedback … and those that do would be provided with level upgrades for their efforts. Stay tuned.

An update to the MacOS version of CodeNeighbor is now in the Mac Store. This version is more suitable to working on apps from a desktop perspective, provides better integration with desktop content, includes features not yet available in the web version and is part of a roadmap that will bring fantastic integrations and automation for the development community.

The playgrounds in Xcode was a very welcome addition – saving time and testing simple functions. Xcode allows for previewing your mobile projects, nearly live. The ‘playground’ capability in CodeNeighbor is not a 100% mirror of what Xcode provides, but does allow for non UI (for now) Swift code invoke actions and shows the results, or errors (hopefully not).

The next version of this will support UI invocations and screen captures of your creative masterpieces.

Just a bit of brevity … we all spend a lot of time absorbing tech, attending meetings and missing our deadlines (hopefully not too much). Since we are largely remote, all we have to talk to, in person, is either our mailman, our dog, or our cat.

We will focus on the cat in this entry.

My cat (and she has two step sisters – a german shepherd and a labrador retriever) has been well fed … well snacked and has a weekly offering of tuna to honor her presence.

Over the years (Amelia is 4.5 years old) … she has accumulated more mass, and less bones, to the point there I truly believe, she no longer has any bones. When I pet her, I dont feel any bones and clearly, due to the massive volume of fur (a calico) has, she exposes no evidence of bones whatsover.

So, blame it on the parentage, the over consumption of snacks (tuna can’t be blamed, as it is lean) or the lack of forced exercise (have you ever tried to take your cat for a walk) … she has experienced what Wall-E has verified – bones have diminshed.

Take this moment, to reflect on your own household and whether you over-snack your animals, as we do, but, don’t feel remorse, but rather – joy, that at least, your animals are, and have forever, worked from home.

Working in a ‘silo’, as they call it, is more normal these days now that we are (mostly) not in the office daily. Even so, when we get a user story or task, off we go to the races and start work. There are times however, when we need to work with others for inspiration, share ideas and code (snippets) and to discuss the latest episode of Stranger Things.

This is where collaboration comes in – between sharing assets with team members (and building team member groups), engaging in chat and now, whiteboarding, collaboration takes team interaction to a whole new level. CodeNeighbor has started the journey of interactive whiteboarding amongst teams and this will truly enable remote workers to stay in touch, share ideas and collaborate easily.

Get out your markers (virtual ones) and start planning to share with your team !