Logging

In many cases it can be useful to print the response and/or request details in order to help you create the correct expectations and send the correct requests. To do this you can use one of the predefined filters supplied with REST Assured or you can use one of the shortcuts.

Request logging

given().log() logs the request specification before it’s sent, using the RequestLoggingFilter. It logs what you specified, which isn’t exactly what’s sent: the HTTP client adds headers such as Host and Content-Length, and filters that run after the logging filter can still change the request. To see what’s actually sent, turn on the logging of the HTTP client. For the JDK client, the default, start the JVM with -Djdk.httpclient.HttpClient.log=requests,headers. For Apache HttpClient 5, set the logger org.apache.hc.client5.http.wire to DEBUG. A tool such as Wireshark works too. Examples:

given().log().all(). .. // Log all request specification details including parameters, headers and body
given().log().params(). .. // Log only the parameters of the request
given().log().body(). .. // Log only the request body
given().log().headers(). .. // Log only the request headers
given().log().cookies(). .. // Log only the request cookies
given().log().method(). .. // Log only the request method
given().log().path(). .. // Log only the request path

Response logging

If you want to print the response body regardless of the status code you can do:

get("/x").then().log().body() ..

This will print the response body regardless if an error occurred. If you’re only interested in printing the response body if an error occur then you can use:

get("/x").then().log().ifError(). ..

You can also log all details in the response including status line, headers and cookies:

get("/x").then().log().all(). ..

as well as only status line, headers or cookies:

get("/x").then().log().statusLine(). .. // Only log the status line
get("/x").then().log().headers(). .. // Only log the response headers
get("/x").then().log().cookies(). .. // Only log the response cookies

You can also configure to log the response only if the status code matches some value:

get("/x").then().log().ifStatusCodeIsEqualTo(302). .. // Only log if the status code is equal to 302
get("/x").then().log().ifStatusCodeMatches(matcher). .. // Only log if the status code matches the supplied Hamcrest matcher

Log if validation fails

You can log the request or response only if the validation fails. To log the request do:

given().log().ifValidationFails(). ..

To log the response do:

.. .then().log().ifValidationFails(). ..

It’s also possible to enable this for both the request and the response at the same time using the LogConfig:

given().config(RestAssured.config().logConfig(logConfig().enableLoggingOfRequestAndResponseIfValidationFails(HEADERS))). ..

This will log only the headers if validation fails.

There’s also a shortcut for enabling logging of the request and response for all requests if validation fails:

RestAssured.enableLoggingOfRequestAndResponseIfValidationFails();

You can also use onFailMessage to add a message that’s shown when a test fails. For example:

when().
      get().
then().
      onFailMessage("Some specific message").
      statusCode(200);

Now “Some specific message” will be shown in the error message. This is good if you want to e.g. distinguish more easily between tests if they fail.

Blacklist headers from logging

You can blacklist headers so that they are not shown in the request or response log. Instead the header value will be replaced with [ BLACKLISTED ]. You can enable this per header basis using the LogConfig:

given().config(config().logConfig(logConfig().blacklistHeader("Accept"))). ..

The response log will the print:

Request method:   GET
Request URI:    http://localhost:8080/something
Proxy:          <none>
Request params: <none>
Query params:   <none>
Form params:    <none>
Path params:    <none>
Headers:        Accept=[ BLACKLISTED ]
Cookies:        <none>
Multiparts:     <none>
Body:           <none>

The logging filter of log(), as in given().log().headers(), and of RequestSpecBuilder.log(..), takes the blacklisted headers, the print stream, the URL encoding of the request URI and pretty printing from the config of the request when it logs. So a blacklist in RestAssured.config, in the config of a client, or set with given().config(..) after log(), applies. Pretty printing that you give explicitly, as in log().body(false), still wins. Before REST Assured 7.0.0, log() took these settings from the config as it was when log() was called.

The response log hides the blacklisted headers too, whichever way you log it: then().log(), expect().log(), ResponseSpecBuilder.log(..), logging if validation fails, the response logs of form authentication and CSRF, and a ResponseLoggingFilter or ErrorLoggingFilter that you create without blacklisted headers. They take the blacklist from the config of the request when they log. Before REST Assured 7.0.0, only then().log() hid them in the response log. Blacklisted headers that you give to the constructor of a logging filter are matched ignoring case, like those of blacklistHeader(..), so they’re hidden also when the HTTP client gives the header names in lower case, as the JDK client does.

To hide Authorization, Proxy-Authorization and Cookie, use logConfig().blacklistDefaultSensitiveHeaders().