REST API testing with Postman in ACTUM Digital

There are a lot of modern, interesting, and exciting ways of testing REST API. In Actum, we use Postman as an essential assistant in this wide and rich area.

We also have experience with other tools (e.g. SoapUI, Swagger, Fiddler). They provide a different set of functionalities or possibilities of use. Each one has its pros and cons. Nevertheless, it is not the topic of this article to compare the tools with each other. Let us take a closer look at what Postman is used for. How do I use it on my projects? What advanced features does Postman offer?

According to the statistics, more than 11 million developers use Postman for building, running, distributing their APIs. This platform has been one of the most widely used API development tools for a very long time.

In Actum, we have been using Postman for testing REST APIs for lots of years. On the one hand, we have met a number of worthy benefits, but as usual, we have also discovered some areas that could be improved by its developers in the coming period. Each coin has two sides, you know.

One of the attributes is a clear structure of all requests. Postman Collections allow us to group related requests together and organize them in separate folders. It is possible to add a description for a better understanding of our collection and some scripts/variables that are common to all requests.

Postman is easy to use. Simply create a request in a collection, choose a suited HTTP method, insert a URL address, click on the Send button, and… Eureka! The response is received and, hopefully, without any problems. On the other hand, we expect the error status codes in some cases, but this is not the topic.

Moreover, we can write some tests and watch their outputs. All tests are run after a response is received. There is also a possibility to create a pre-request script that is executed before a request is sent. Additionally, there is a useful feature — code snippets — many common pieces of code are available with one click. Unfortunately, the possibility to create our own snippets is still missing. There are more cons (e.g. it is not possible to send the ancillary requests from a test script synchronously), but the advantages outweigh it.

Before I jump into the next part, I would like to highlight that there are many more functions and features in Postman. As an example, if a request requires authorization, it is not a problem at all. If we need to store some variables by an environment, just a few clicks and we are done.

Let me briefly show you that, in my experience, I usually divide my requests into four folders:

In addition to the basic ones, Postman offers four advanced features:

There are a lot of things that are not highlighted in this article. Some of them are listed in the Postman API Platform picture above, or you can use the links below. We truly trust that Postman is one of the best choices for the REST API testing. However, there are many other tools. Everyone can find a favorite one which is suitable for him/her and a specific situation.

I believe that Postman’s development will continue in the right direction!

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