Postman: The Complete Guide - REST API Testing

Postman API testing for manual and automated tests. Automate with Newman, Jenkins or any other CI tool.

What you'll learn
Create GET, POST, PUT, DELETE request
Understand GET vs POST request method
Work with real-world APIs (Github API, Trello API)
JavaScript basics for tests
Write API tests in Postman
Use data from Excel files (CSV) or JSON
Use Postman variables to create workflows and scenarios
Run API tests with Newman in Jenkins, GitLab CI or TeamCity
Use OAuth2, API keys, tokens, JWT, basic auth
Test file uploads
Use mock servers
Collaborate using Team Workspaces
Requirements
Basic programming and/or JavaScript knowledge is required (needed for writing tests)
Basic HTTP knowledge required (address, message body, headers, cookies, …)
Basic knowledge about RESTful APIs and JSON
Basic Jenkins experience, if an integration with Jenkins is desired
Basic NodeJS/NPM experience (needed for test automation)
Optional - Basic Docker experience (for Jenkins or Newman)
A computer with Windows, macOS or Linux is required for viewing the lectures and installing Postman. Using a mobile phone/tablet is not recommended.
Registering to a few reputable public APIs is required for you to be able to follow along with the course
Description
RESTful APIs (or simply REST API) are everywhere nowadays but at the same time they are getting more complex to get started with: different HTTP methods,, headers, cookies, dealing with file uploads or authentication with api keys, tokens, OAuth and so much more.But before you start investing time writing code to retrieve the data the API is offering, why not test the request first to make sure everything is working as expected?This is where the Postman App comes in! Postman allows you very quickly create a request with the required HTTP method and parameters, submit the request and easily inspect the results. Postman can help if you are developing APIs as well! I have created this course for testing engineers and well as for software developers. Postman can help you during the development of your API as well as after the API is completed, by running tests that make sure your API is still working as intended.In the first part of the course we will start exploring the features of Postman and continue by writing API tests with the intention of integrating them in a CI server where the tests will run on a current basis.But this is not the normal course you take part in. Because your needs may be different and because I hate leaving you wondering what to do next, the second part of the course will include user questions and answers to problems that were not yet covered in the course or that are more specific and may not interest everybody.So let’s look at what you are going to learn:Start with simple requests and advance towards more complex scenariosLearn to deal with authentication / authorization mechanisms like Basic Auth, API Keys, or OAuth.Start writing API testsOrganize tests in collections and share them with your teamRun API tests in Jenkins or any other CI serverYou ask, I answerSo after this course you will know how to use Postman as a pro.Excited to learn Postman? Sign-up up today!

Overview

Section 1: Introduction and first steps in Postman

Lecture 1 Course overview

Lecture 2 About the course

Lecture 3 How to install Postman

Lecture 4 A quick introduction to APIs

Lecture 5 Your first Postman request

Lecture 6 Troubleshooting Postman errors

Lecture 7 Using Postman on the web

Lecture 8 A brief overview of HTTP

Lecture 9 The Postman Landscape

Section 2: Creating REST API requests with Postman

Lecture 10 Section overview

Lecture 11 Postman collections

Lecture 12 Storing configuration in collection variables (2022)

Lecture 13 Modifying collection variables

Lecture 14 GET request

Lecture 15 Visualizing responses in Postman

Lecture 16 Query parameters

Lecture 17 Misconceptions about API parameters

Lecture 18 Assignment #1 - Query parameters

Lecture 19 Assignment #1 - Query parameters - Solution

Lecture 20 Shortcuts in Postman

Lecture 21 Path variables

Lecture 22 POST request

Lecture 23 Assignment - Check cart contents

Lecture 24 Assignment - Check cart contents - Solution

Lecture 25 JSON format explained

Lecture 26 POST request with JSON

Lecture 27 GET vs POST

Lecture 28 API Authentication

Lecture 29 Troubleshooting HTTP status codes

Lecture 30 Assignment - Place an order

Lecture 31 Assignment - Place an order - Solution

Lecture 32 Using random data in requests (random variables)

Lecture 33 Working with HTTP headers in Postman

Lecture 34 Common questions about HTTP headers

Lecture 35 Headers vs query vs params

Lecture 36 Exporting and Importing a Postman collection

Lecture 37 PATCH request method

Lecture 38 Assignment - PATCH request method

Lecture 39 Assignment - PATCH request method - Solution

Lecture 40 Using Postman variables to avoid duplication

Lecture 41 PATCH request method - continued

Lecture 42 PUT request method

Lecture 43 DELETE request method

Lecture 44 Assignment - Delete an order

Lecture 45 Assignment - Delete an order - Solution

Lecture 46 GET, POST, PUT, PATCH … What is the difference?

Lecture 47 HEAD request method

Section 3: Practice section - Building REST API requests

Lecture 48 Section overview

Lecture 49 Why learn to use real-world APIs?

Lecture 50 Troubleshooting

Lecture 51 Using the API documentation - Assignment

Lecture 52 Using API documentation - Assignment Solution

Lecture 53 Using identifiers when working with resources

Lecture 54 Assignment - Creating resources - Lists

Lecture 55 Assignment - Creating resources - Lists - Solution

Lecture 56 Assignment - Creating resources - Cards

Lecture 57 Assignment - Creating resources - Cards - Solution

Lecture 58 Assignment - Managing resources

Lecture 59 Assignment - Managing resources - Solution

Lecture 60 Assignment - Deleting resources

Lecture 61 Assignment - Deleting resources - Solution

Section 4: Writing API tests and scripts

Lecture 62 Introduction

Lecture 63 Course updates

Lecture 64 The Postman Cheat Sheet & Quick Reference Guide

Lecture 65 Your first API test in Postman

Lecture 66 Testing an API - Writing more tests

Lecture 67 Refactoring Tests

Section 5: Writing API tests and scripts using Postman variables

Lecture 68 Variables in Postman

Lecture 69 Global variables

Lecture 70 Environments

Lecture 71 Session variables (new in Postman 6.2!)

Lecture 72 Bulk editing removed new in Postman 6.2!)

Lecture 73 Pre-request scripts in Postman

Lecture 74 Understanding different variable scopes / types

Lecture 75 How to setup different URLs using environments in Postman

Lecture 76 Debugging tests

Lecture 77 Notice about the old Postman scripting API

Section 6: Advanced assertions

Lecture 78 Section overview

Lecture 79 Postman assertion basics

Lecture 80 Chai Assertion Library

Lecture 81 Assertions

Lecture 82 Assertions on arrays

Lecture 83 Assertions on nested objects

Lecture 84 How to write assertions in Postman (objects, arrays, nested properties)

Lecture 85 Testing headers and cookies

Section 7: Automatically running tests

Lecture 86 Overview

Lecture 87 Postman collection runner

Lecture 88 Postman monitors

Lecture 89 Automating with Newman (Overview)

Lecture 90 Short introduction to NodeJs and NPM

Lecture 91 Installing Newman

Lecture 92 Troubleshooting Node.js / npm / Newman Problems (for Windows)

Lecture 93 Running a collection with Newman

Lecture 94 Newman v3 to v4 Migration Guide

Lecture 95 3 ways to access your Postman collection from Newman

Lecture 96 Specifying environments with Newman

Lecture 97 Prerequisites for running Newman on Jenkins

Lecture 98 Troubleshooting Jenkins Problems (for Windows)

Lecture 99 Troubleshooting Jenkins Problems (for macOS, Linux)

Lecture 100 Running a collection with Jenkins and generating a report

Lecture 101 Creating an HTML report in Jenkins

Lecture 102 Generating better HTML reports

Lecture 103 Customizing HTML reports

Lecture 104 Troubleshooting HTML reports

Lecture 105 Running a collection from a Git repository with Jenkins

Section 8: Running Newman with other CI servers / tools

Lecture 106 Gitlab CI

Lecture 107 TeamCity

Lecture 108 Short introduction to Docker (optional)

Lecture 109 Running Jenkins with Docker

Lecture 110 Running Newman with Docker

Section 9: Workflows and Scenarios

Lecture 111 Overview

Lecture 112 Creating a basic workflow / scenario

Lecture 113 Advanced workflows

Lecture 114 Multiple workflows with the same collection

Section 10: Data driven tests: Running a request multiple times with different data sets

Lecture 115 Using workflows to create data-sets

Lecture 116 Using external data files - Basic usage

Lecture 117 Using external data files - Writing tests

Lecture 118 Using external data files - Advanced usage

Section 11: Team Collaboration

Lecture 119 Introduction

Lecture 120 Using the Git version control system - Overview

Lecture 121 Using the Git version control system - Hands on

Lecture 122 Team Workspaces - Creating and sharing a workspace

Lecture 123 Team Workspaces - Understanding users and permissions

Lecture 124 Team Workspaces - Managing user permissions

Section 12: Mock servers

Lecture 125 Introduction to mock servers

Lecture 126 Why use a mock server?

Lecture 127 Create your first mock server

Lecture 128 Practical example: using mock servers for front-end development

Lecture 129 Recording responses from an existing API

Lecture 130 Known limitations

Section 13: File uploads (testing, automatic uploads, uploading multiple files)

Lecture 131 Sending and testing multipart/form-data requests (file upload form)

Lecture 132 Automatic the upload and testing process with Newman

Section 14: Authentication / Authorization

Lecture 133 Basic access authentication

Lecture 134 OAuth2 Authorization Flow (Authorization Code Grant)

Lecture 135 Form-based / Session-based authentication

Lecture 136 JSON Web Tokens (JWT)

Section 15: Advanced topics and user questions

Lecture 137 Postman help - Schedule your free Postman consultation

Lecture 138 You ask, I answer

Lecture 139 Reusing tests in multiple requests

Lecture 140 How to deal with CSV responses?

Lecture 141 Writing files to the file system

Lecture 142 Passing variables dynamically to the request at runtime (Newman)

Lecture 143 Sending requests from scripts

Lecture 144 How can I connect to my database using Postman?

Lecture 145 JSON Schema validation in Postman

Section 16: New features in Postman

Lecture 146 Designing APIs with Postman (OpenAPI 3.0.0 / Swagger)

Lecture 147 Sending GraphQL Queries in Postman

Section 17: JavaScript fundamentals

Lecture 148 Section overview

Lecture 149 A short history of JavaScript

Lecture 150 Data Types in JavaScript

Lecture 151 Variables

Lecture 152 Conditionals

Lecture 153 Functions

Lecture 154 Data structures: arrays

Lecture 155 Data structures: objects

Lecture 156 Loops

Lecture 157 Modern JavaScript

Lecture 158 Applying what you have learned to Postman

Lecture 159 Conclusion

Section 18: Postman Developer Challenge

Lecture 160 Postman challenge webinars

Section 19: Last words

Lecture 161 Bonus Lecture

This course is targeted towards testing engineers and developers.