Skip to main content

checkLink

The checkLink action checks if a URL returns an acceptable status code from a GET request. This action is useful for verifying that a hyperlink or image URL is valid.

You can also specify

  • an origin to navigate to a URL relative to a specific path.
  • statusCodes to set acceptable HTTP status codes.

For comprehensive options, see the checkLink reference.

Examples​

Here are a few ways you might use the checkLink action:

{
  "tests": [
    {
      "steps": [
        {
          "description": "Check if Google is up.",
          "action": "checkLink",
          "url": "https://www.google.com"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Check for one of a set of status code responses​

{
  "tests": [
    {
      "steps": [
        {
          "description": "Check if Google is up with extra status codes.",
          "action": "checkLink",
          "url": "https://www.google.com",
          "statusCodes": [200, 201, 202]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
{
  "tests": [
    {
      "steps": [
        {
          "description": "Check if Google is up with an origin.",
          "action": "checkLink",
          "url": "/search",
          "origin": "https://www.google.com"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Troubleshooting​

If the checkLink action fails for a valid URL that loads without redirects, it may be due to an internal or custom certificate that the testing machine doesn't recognize.

Example​

Consider the following test configuration, which checks the validity of https://self-signed.badssl.com/—a website using a self-signed certificate:

bad-certificate.json
{
  "tests": [
    {
      "steps": [
        {
          "description": "Check site with a self-signed certificate",
          "action": "checkLink",
          "url": "https://self-signed.badssl.com/",
          "statusCodes": [200, 201, 202, 301]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

To run the test, use the following command:

npx doc-detective runTests -i bad-certificate.json

This command executes the test, but it fails, returning the following response:

{
  "result": "FAIL",
  "resultDescription": "Invalid or unresolvable URL: https://self-signed.badssl.com/"
}

This occurs because the self-signed certificate isn't recognized by the testing machine. This behavior is expected in axios, but you can bypass it in Doc Detective by setting an environment variable.

Solution​

To fix this issue, follow these steps:

  1. Create a .env file with the following content:

    ignore-certificate-problems.env
    NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0

  2. Modify your test configuration to include a setVariables action:

    bad-certificate.json
    {
      "tests": [
        {
          "steps": [
            {
              "action": "setVariables",
              "path": "ignore-certificate-problems.env"
            },
            {
              "description": "Check self-signed.badssl.com",
              "action": "checkLink",
              "url": "https://self-signed.badssl.com/",
              "statusCodes": [200, 201, 202, 301]
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }

Expected result​

After applying these changes, the test should pass:

{
  "result": "PASS",
  "resultDescription": "Returned 200"
}