Postman Tutorial for Beginners

with API Testing Example

What is Postman?
Postman is currently one of the most popular tools used in API
testing. It started in 2012 as a side project by Abhinav Asthana to
simplify API workflow in testing and development. API stands for
Application Programming Interface which allows software
applications to communicate with each other via API calls.

In this training course, you will learn:

 What is Postman?
 Why Use Postman?
 How to use Postman
 Working with GET Requests
 Working with POST Requests
 How to Parameterize Requests
 How to Create Postman Tests
 How to Create Collections
 How to Run Collections using Collection Runner
 How to Run Collections using Newman

Why Use Postman?

With over 4 million users nowadays, Postman has become a tool
of choice for the following reasons:

1. Accessibility - To use Postman, one would just need to log-in

to their own accounts making it easy to access files anytime,
anywhere as long as a Postman application is installed on
the computer.
2. Use of Collections - Postman lets users create collections for
their API calls. Each collection can create subfolders and
multiple requests. This helps in organizing your test suites.
3. Collaboration - Collections and environments can be
imported or exported making it easy to share files. A direct
link can also be used to share collections.
4. Creating Environments - Having multiple environments aids
in less repetition of tests as one can use the same collection
but for a different environment. This is where
 parameterization will take place which we will discuss in
further lessons.
5. Creation of Tests - Test checkpoints such as verifying for
successful HTTP response status can be added to each API
calls which help ensure test coverage.
6. Automation Testing - Through the use of the Collection
Runner or Newman, tests can be run in multiple iterations
saving time for repetitive tests.
7. Debugging - Postman console helps to check what data has
been retrieved making it easy to debug tests.
8. Continuous Integration - With its ability to support
continuous integration, development practices are
maintained.

How to Download and Install POSTMAN

Being an Open Source tool, Postman can be easily downloaded.
Here are the steps to install:

Step 1) Go to https://www.getpostman.com/downloads/ and

choose your desired platform among Mac, Windows or Linux. Click
Download.

Step 2) Your download is in progress message should now

display on the Apps page. Once the download has completed,
click on Run.
Step 3) Installation Starts

Step 4) In the next window, Signup for a Postman Account

NOTE: There are two ways to sign up for a Postman account. One
is to create an own Postman account, and the other is to use a
Google account. Though Postman allows users to use the tool
without logging in, signing up ensures that your collection is
saved and can be accessed for later use.

Step 5) Select the workspace tools you need and click Save My
Preferences
Step 6) You will see the Startup Screen

How to use Postman

Below is the Postman Workspace. Let's explore the different
features of the tool!
1. New - This is where you will create a new request, collection
or environment.
2. Import - This is used to import a collection or environment.
There are options such as import from file, folder, link or
paste raw text.
3. Runner - Automation tests can be executed through the
Collection Runner. This will be discussed further in the next
lesson.
4. Open New - Open a new tab, Postman Window or Runner
Window by clicking this button.
5. My Workspace - You can create a new workspace
individually or as a team.
6. Invite - Collaborate on a workspace by inviting team
members.
7. History - Past requests that you have sent will be displayed
in History. This makes it easy to track actions that you have
done.
8. Collections - Organize your test suite by creating collections.
Each collection may have subfolders and multiple requests.
A request or folder can also be duplicated as well.
9. Request tab - This displays the title of the request you are
working on. By default, "Untitled Request" would be
displayed for requests without titles.
10. HTTP Request - Clicking this would display a dropdown
list of different requests such as GET, POST, COPY, DELETE,
etc. In testing, the most commonly used requests are GET
and POST.
11. Request URL - Also known as an endpoint, this is where
you will identify the link to where the API will communicate
with.
12. Save - If there are changes to a request, clicking save
is a must so that new changes will not be lost or overwritten.
 13. Params - This is where you will write parameters
needed for a request such as key values.
14. Authorization - In order to access APIs, proper
authorization is needed. It may be in the form of a username
and password, bearer token, etc.
15. Headers - You can set headers such as content type
JSON depending on the needs of the organization.
16. Body - This is where one can customize details in a
request commonly used in POST request.
17. Pre-request Script - These are scripts that will be
executed before the request. Usually, pre-request scripts for
the setting environment are used to ensure that tests will be
run in the correct environment.
18. Tests - These are scripts executed during the request.
It is important to have tests as it sets up checkpoints to
verify if response status is ok, retrieved data is as expected
and other tests.

Working with GET Requests

Get requests are used to retrieve information from the given URL.
There will be no changes done to the endpoint.

We will use the following URL for all examples in this tutorial

https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users

In the workspace

1. Set your HTTP request to GET.

2. In the request URL field, input link
3. Click Send
4. You will see 200 OK Message
5. There should be 10 user results in the body which indicates
that your test has run successfully.
*Note: There may be cases that Get request may be
unsuccessful. It can be due to an invalid request URL or
authentication is needed.

Working with POST Requests

Post requests are different from Get request as there is data
manipulation with the user adding data to the endpoint. Using the
same data from the previous tutorial in Get request, let's now add
our own user.

Step 1) Click a new tab to create a new request.

Step 2) In the new tab

1. Set your HTTP request to POST.

2. Input the same link in request
url: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users
3. switch to the Body tab

Step 3) In Body,

1. Click raw
2. Select JSON
Step 4) Copy and paste just one user result from the previous
get request like below. Ensure that the code has been copied
correctly with paired curly braces and brackets. Change id to 11
and name to any desired name. You can also change other details
like the address.

[
{
"id": 11,
"name": "Krishna Rungta",
"username": "Bret",
"email": "[email protected]
",
"address": {
"street": "Kulas Light",
"suite": "Apt. 556",
"city": "Gwenborough",
"zipcode": "92998-3874",
"geo": {
"lat": "-37.3159",
"lng": "81.1496"
}
},
"phone": "1-770-736-8031 x56442",
"website": "hildegard.org",
"company": {
"name": "Romaguera-Crona",
"catchPhrase": "Multi-layered client-server neural-net",
"bs": "harness real-time e-markets"
 }
}
]

*Note: Post request should have the correct format to ensure

that requested data will be created. It is a good practice to use
Get first to check the JSON format of the request. You can use
tools like https://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/
Step 5) Next,

1. Click Send.
2. Status: 201 Created should be displayed
3. Posted data are showing up in the body.

How to Parameterize Requests

Data Parameterization is one of the most useful features of
Postman. Instead of creating the same requests with different
data, you can use variables with parameters. These data can be
from a data file or an environment variable. Parameterization
helps to avoid repetition of the same tests and iterations can be
used for automation testing.

Parameters are created through the use of double curly brackets:

{{sample}}. Let's take a look at an example of using parameters
in our previous request:

Now let's create a parameterize get request.

Step 1)

1. Set your HTTP request to GET

2. Input this link: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users.
Replace the first part of the link with a parameter such as
{{url}}. Request url should now be {{url}}/users.
3. Click send.

There should be no response since we have not set the source of

our parameter.
Step 2) To use the parameter you need to set the environment

1. Click the eye icon

2. Click edit to set the variable to a global environment which
can be used in all collections.

Step 3) In variable,

1. set the name to the url which is

https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com
2. click Save.
Step 4) Click close if you see the next screen
Step 5) Go back to your Get request then click send. There
should now be results for your request.
*Note: Always ensure that your parameters have a source such as
an environment variable or data file to avoid errors.

How to Create Postman Tests

Postman Tests are JavaScript codes added to requests that help
you verify results such as successful or failed status, comparison
of expected results, etc. It usually starts with pm.test. It can be
compared to asserts, verify commands available in other tools.

Let's create some basic tests for our parameterize requests from
the previous lesson.

Step 1) Go to your GET user request from the previous tutorial.

1. Switch to the tests tab. On the right side are snippet codes.
2. From the snippets section, click on "Status code: Code is
200".

The pane is auto-populated

Step 2) Now click Send. The test result should now be displayed.

Step 3) Go back to the test tab and let's add another test. This
time we will compare the expected result to the actual result.

From the snippets section, click on "Response body:JSON value

check". We will be checking if Leanne Graham has the userid 1.
Step 4)

1. Replace "Your Test Name" from the code with "Check if user
with id1 is Leanne Graham" so that the test name specifies
exactly what we want to test.
2. Replace jsonData.value with jsonData[0].name. To get the
path, check the body in Get result earlier. Since Leanne
Graham is userid 1, jsonData is in the first result which
should start with 0. If you want to get the second result, use
jsonData[1] and so on for succeeding results.
3. In to eql, input "Leanne Graham"

pm.test("Check if user with id1 is Leanne Graham", function () {

var jsonData = pm.response.json();
pm.expect(jsonData[0].name).to.eql("Leanne Graham");
});

Step 5) Click send. There should now be two passed test results
for your request.
*Note: There are different kind of tests that can be created in
Postman. Try to explore the tool and see what tests will fit your
needs.

How to Create Collections

Collections play an important role in organizing test suites. It can
be imported and exported making it easy to share collections
amongst the team. In this tutorial, we will learn how to create and
execute a collection.

Let's start in creating a collection:

Step 1) Click on the New button at the top left corner of the
page.
Step 2) Select Collection. Create collection window should pop
up.

Step 3) Input the desired collection name and description then

click create. A collection should now be created.
Step 4) Go back to the previous Get request. Click Save

Step 5)

1. Select Postman Test Collection.

2. Click Save to Postman Test Collection
Step 6) Postman test collection should now contain one request.
Step 7) Repeat steps 4-5 for the previous Post request so that
collection will now have two requests.
How to Run Collections using Collection
Runner
There are two ways to run a collection which is the Collection
Runner and Newman. Let's begin by executing the collection in
Collection Runner.

Step 1) Click on the Runner button found at the top of the page
next to the Import button.
Step 2) Collection Runner page should appear such as below.
Following is the description of various fields

Step 3) Run your Postman Test Collection by setting up the

following:

 Choose Postman test collection- Set iterations as 3

 Set delay as 2500 ms
 Click on Run Postman Test... button
Step 4) Run Results page should be displayed after clicking the
Run button. Depending on the delay, you should see the tests as
they execute.

1. Once tests have finished, you can see the test status if it is
Passed or Failed and the results per iteration.
2. You see Pass status for the Get Requests
3. Since we did not have any tests for Post, there should be a
message that the request did not have any tests.
You can see how important it is that there are tests in your
requests so that you can verify HTTP request status if successful
and the data is created or retrieved.

How to Run Collections using Newman

Another way to run a collection is via Newman. The main
differences between Newman and Collection Runner are the
following:

1. Newman is an add-on for Postman. You will need to install it

separately from the Native App.
2. Newman uses the command line while Collection Runner has
a GUI.
3. Newman can be used for continuous integration.

To install Newman and run our collection from it, do the following:

Step 1) Install nodejs using this link: http://nodejs.org/download/

Step 2) Open the command line and enter

npm install -g newman

Newman should now be installed on your computer.

Step 3) Once Newman has been installed, let's go back to our
Postman workspace.In the Collections box, click on the three dots.
Options should now appear. Select Export.
Step 4) Choose Export Collection as Collection v2.1
(Recommended) then click Export.

Step 5) Select your desired location then click Save. It is

advisable to create a specific folder for your Postman tests. A
collection should now be exported to your chosen local directory.

Step 6) We will also need to export our environment. Click on the
eye icon beside the environment dropdown in Global, select
Download as JSON. Select your desired location then click Save. It
is advisable that the environment should be in the same folder as
your collection.
Step 7) Environment should now be exported to the same local
directory as Collection.

Step 8) Now go back to command line and change the directory

to where you have saved the collection and environment.

cd C:\Users\Asus\Desktop\Postman Tutorial

Step 9) Run your collection using this command:

newman run PostmanTestCollection.postman_collection.json -e

Testing.postman_globals.json

Run results should now appear such as below.

For guide is a reference to some basic Newman codes for
execution:

1. Run a collection only. This can be used if there is no

environment or test data file dependency.

newman run <collection name>

2. Run a collection and environment. The -e indicator is for
environment.

newman run <collection name> -e <environment name>

3. Run a collection with desired no. of iterations.

newman run <collection name> -n <no.of iterations>

4. Run with data file.

newman run <collection name> --data <file name> -n <no.of iterations> -e

<environment name>
5. Set delay time. This is important as tests may fail if it is
run without delay due to requests being started without the
previous request completing processing on the endpoint
server.

newman run <collection name> -d <delay time>

Summary
 Postman is currently one of the most popular tools used in
API testing
 Accessibility, Use of Collections, Collaboration, Continuous
Integration, are some of the Key features to learn in
Postman
 It's recommended you create an account in Postman, so
your collections are available online
 You can parameterize request in Postman
 You can create Tests to verify a postman request
 Collections can be run using Newman or Collection Runner