Lecture Transcript Notes

Introduction

• Discussion on how to download and install Postman.
• Incognito window usage for downloading.
• Shift from Chrome extension to Postman app.

Postman Overview

• Collaboration platform for API development.
• Automatic detection of operating system for download.
• Importance of release notes and roadmap for future features.

Download and Installation

• Downloading the executable file for Windows 64-bit.
• Registration process for Postman account creation.
• Importance of creating a team for collaboration.

Postman Navigation

• Introduction to the Postman dashboard and Launchpad.
• Various tutorial options available within Postman.
• Options to create requests, collections, environments, APIs.
• Customization options: light mode, dark mode, team collaboration.

API Testing with Postman

• Making a first API call (GET request) using Postman.
• Explanation of request and response sections.
• Use of query parameters to customize requests.
• Status codes and their significance (e.g., 200, 201).

Advanced API Requests

• Introduction to other HTTP methods: POST, PUT, DELETE.
• Example of using online REST APIs for practice.
• Use of JSON payloads in POST requests.

Collection and Execution

• Explanation of collections in Postman as a group of requests.
• How to create and manage collections.
• Running collections and interpreting results.

Importing and Exporting

• Exporting collections as JSON files.
• Importing collections in Postman from various formats.

Adding Tests in Postman

• Writing test scripts in JavaScript for validation.
• Using snippets for common test cases.
• Importance of tests for ensuring API functionality.

Managing Environments

• Using environments for managing different API endpoints.
• Difference between environment and global variables.
• Use of environment variables in requests.

Debugging and Logs

• Using Postman console for debugging.
• Logging requests and responses for analysis.
• Categorizing logs with levels like info, warn, error.

Workflow in Postman

• Setting up workflows for sequential request execution.
• Controlling request order using scripts.

Pre-request Scripts

• Introduction to pre-request scripts and their execution order.
• Use cases for pre-request scripts in preparing requests.

Working with Curl Commands

• Importing and executing cURL commands in Postman.
• Use of Postman to create API requests from cURL commands.

Running Postman via CLI

• Using Newman to run Postman collections from command line.
• Integration with CI tools like Jenkins for automated testing.

Generating Reports

• Creating HTML and interactive reports with Newman.
• Importance of reports for test result analysis.

Integrating Postman with Jenkins

• Steps to integrate and run Postman collections in Jenkins.
• Using GitHub repository for managing Postman collections.

Postman vs. Code Libraries

• Discussion on when to use Postman vs. libraries like Rest Assured.
• Pros and cons of each approach depending on project needs.