Some time ago, I built a tool called HTTP File Generator to replace Swagger UI and keep my workflow as much as possible from within my editor.

These days, for .NET development I’m mostly on JetBrains Rider. Most, if not all, JetBrains IDE’s are built on top of IntelliJ IDEA and supports executing javascript code from .http files using their built in HTTP Client. This is very useful for chaining HTTP requests and handling responses.

You can handle the response using JavaScript. Type the > character after the request and specify the path and name of the JavaScript file or put the response handler script code wrapped in {%...%}.

GET https://httpbin.org/get

> /path/to/responseHandler.js

or

GET https://httpbin.org/get

> {%
    client.global.set("my_cookie", response.headers.valuesOf("Set-Cookie")[0]);
%}

I suggest Exploring the HTTP Client syntax

HTTP Response handler scripts are written in JavaScript ES6, with coding assistance and documentation handled by the bundled HTTP Response Handler library.

The library exposes two objects to be used for composing response handler scripts:

• client stores the session metadata, which can be modified inside the script. The client’s state is preserved until you close IntelliJ IDEA.
• response holds information about the received response: its content type, status, response body, and so on.

For example, to create several tests to verify an HTTP response would be something like this:

### Check response status, headers, and content-type
GET https://foo.com/bar

> {%
    client.test("Request executed successfully", function() {
        client.assert(response.status === 200, "Response status is not 200");
    });

    client.test("Headers option exists", function() {
        client.assert(response.body.hasOwnProperty("headers"), "Cannot find 'headers' option in response");
    });

    client.test("Response content-type is json", function() {
        var type = response.contentType.mimeType;
        client.assert(type === "application/json", "Expected 'application/json' but received '" + type + "'");
    });
%}

Sure, it’s nice to hand write these things if you want to test in detail, but sometimes you just want to know whether the response contains an expected HTTP status code, like 200. This led me to implement the --generate-intellij-tests feature in HTTP File Generator that will generate IntelliJ tests that assert whether the response status code is 200

with the --generate-intellij-tests option, the .http file generated by HTTP File Generator looks something like this:

@contentType = application/json

#######################################
### Request: GET /pet/{petId}
### Summary: Find pet by ID
### Description: Returns a single pet
#######################################

### Path Parameter: ID of pet to return
@petId = 1

GET https://petstore3.swagger.io/api/v3/pet/{{petId}}
Content-Type: {{contentType}}

> {%
    client.test("Request executed successfully", function() {
        client.assert(
            response.status === 200, 
            "Response status is not 200");
    });
%}

As it is right now, HTTP File Generator only supports generating a single test case which asserts that the HTTP status code in the response is 200. This fits my use case just fine, but if you have any ideas on what else would make sense for you then please don’t hesitate to request a feature on the HTTP File Generator Github repository. You are more than welcome to give the implementation a shot as well, and I will make sure that your feature gets merged in and released, once the code is up to my standards.