Testing Network Requests

Relevant source files

The following files were used as context for generating this wiki page:

• APIClient.swift
• UserService.swift
• DeepLinkHandler.swift
• AppDelegate.swift
• KeychainManager.swift

The networking layer in Social-Connect is built around a centralized APIClient that manages HTTP communication with the backend services. Testing these network requests involves understanding the interaction between high-level services like UserService, the underlying URLSession data tasks, and the authentication mechanisms managed by the KeychainManager.

This system ensures that requests to specific endpoints—such as following or unfollowing users—are properly authenticated and that the application state is updated upon successful completion of these operations.

Network Architecture and Data Flow

The networking architecture follows a layered approach where requests are initiated by services or handlers and processed by a core client.

Core Networking Components

The primary components involved in the network request lifecycle are:

Component	Responsibility
APIClient	Handles the construction of URLRequest objects, manages headers, and executes tasks using URLSession.
UserService	Provides high-level methods for user-specific actions like followUser and unfollowUser.
KeychainManager	Retrieves the stored authentication token required for authorized requests.
DeepLinkHandler	Triggers network requests based on incoming external URLs.

Sources: APIClient.swift:3-5, UserService.swift:3-6, KeychainManager.swift:6-8, DeepLinkHandler.swift:3-6

Request Flow Diagram

The following diagram illustrates the flow of a network request initiated by a deep link, passing through the service layer to the API client.

The flow shows how an external trigger (Deep Link) results in an authenticated network request and a subsequent local state update via notifications. Sources: AppDelegate.swift:16-19, DeepLinkHandler.swift:30-38, UserService.swift:9-15, APIClient.swift:18-21

API Implementation Details

Request Configuration

All outgoing POST requests are configured with a base URL of https://api.socialconnect.com/v1/ and include specific headers.

• Content-Type: Always set to application/json.
• Authorization: Includes a Bearer token if one is available in the KeychainManager.
• Validation: The system considers any status code in the 200...299 range as a successful request.

Sources: APIClient.swift:4-16, APIClient.swift:36-38

User Service Endpoints

The UserService abstracts the specific URL paths for user interactions.

Action	Endpoint Path	Implementation
Follow User	users/{userId}/follow	UserService.followUser(userId:completion:)
Unfollow User	users/{userId}/unfollow	UserService.unfollowUser(userId:completion:)

Sources: UserService.swift:9-25

Authentication Integration

Network requests are dependent on the KeychainManager to provide security credentials. The APIClient attempts to fetch an authToken during request construction.

// APIClient.swift
if let token = KeychainManager.shared.getAuthToken() {
    request.addValue("Bearer \(token)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization")
}

Sources: APIClient.swift:18-21, KeychainManager.swift:10-25

State Synchronization

Successful network requests often trigger side effects to keep the UI in sync. The UserService utilizes NotificationCenter to broadcast changes when follow or unfollow operations succeed.

• Notification Name: .userFollowStatusChanged
• Trigger: Invoked within the apiClient.post completion handler only if success is true.

Sources: UserService.swift:12-14, UserService.swift:21-23

Conclusion

Testing network requests in Social-Connect requires verifying the integrity of the APIClient's request construction, ensuring the KeychainManager correctly provides tokens, and confirming that UserService properly handles responses by notifying the rest of the application. The system's reliance on URLSession and NotificationCenter provides a standard pattern for managing asynchronous data operations and local state consistency.