Postman

Postman is a popular collaboration platform for API development. It provides a user-friendly interface for testing, documenting, and sharing APIs, making it a valuable tool for developers, QA testers, and product managers alike. In this article, we will explore the various features of Postman and how it can be used to streamline the API development process.

Installing and Setting Up Postman

Postman is available as a desktop application for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. You can download the latest version of Postman from the official website. Once downloaded, simply install the application by following the on-screen instructions.

After installing Postman, you will need to create an account to access all of its features. You can either sign up for a new account or sign in with your existing Google or GitHub credentials. Once you have logged in, you will be presented with the Postman dashboard.

Creating a Request

To create a new request, click on the “New” button in the top left corner of the dashboard and select “Request.” You will be presented with a form where you can enter the details of the request, including the request method, URL, headers, and body.

Postman supports all standard HTTP request methods, including GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. You can enter the URL of the API endpoint you want to test and add any required query parameters to the URL. You can also add custom headers to the request by clicking on the “Headers” tab and entering the header name and value.

Finally, you can add a request body if required. Postman supports various request body types, including form data, raw text, JSON, and XML. You can switch between these options using the tabs at the bottom of the request form.

Once you have entered all the details of the request, click on the “Send” button to send the request to the API endpoint. You will see the response in the “Response” pane at the bottom of the screen.

Organising Requests

Postman allows you to organise your requests into collections for easy access and management. To create a new collection, click on the “New” button in the top left corner of the dashboard and select “Collection.” You can then give your collection a name and description.

To add requests to your collection, simply click on the “Add Request” button and enter the details of the request as described above. You can then drag and drop the request into the appropriate collection.

You can also create folders within a collection to further organise your requests. For example, you might create separate folders for requests related to user authentication, product information, or billing.

Testing APIs

Postman provides a range of testing capabilities to help you ensure the reliability and accuracy of your APIs. You can create tests that automatically verify that the API response meets certain criteria, such as the expected status code, headers, or response body.

To create a test, click on the “Tests” tab in the request form and enter the JavaScript code for the test. Postman provides a range of built-in assertion functions, such as pm.expect(response.status).to.equal(200) to check the response status code.

You can also use variables in your tests to store and manipulate data between requests. Postman provides a range of variable scopes, including global, collection, environment, and local variables. This allows you to share data between requests, collections, or even across different environments.

Sharing and Collaboration

Postman allows you to share your APIs and collections with others, making it a valuable tool for collaboration and communication. You can share your APIs via email, link, or directly with other Postman users.

To share an API, simply click on the “Share” button in the top right corner of the dashboard and select the appropriate sharing option.