Postman's documentation leaves a lot to be desired. In their Variables page they say:
The following scopes are available to you:
Global
Environment
Local
Data
There's information about the Global and Environment scopes, and I believe the "Data" scope is the data from a collection run. But what are the "local" variables?
Because I'd love to have a variable that is calculated on the fly, used for the request, and then discarded. Both global and environment variables are persistent.
According to the Postman Quick Reference Guide local variables are only available within the request (or collection run) that has set them. So they are used for the request or collection run and then discarded.
When to use:
passing data from the pre-request script to the request or tests or between requests.
The behavior is a bit different in Postman vs Collection Runner / Newman, so make sure you understand how they work before using!
Setting
pm.variables.set('myVariable', MY_VALUE);
Getting
pm.variables.get('myVariable', MY_VALUE);
Removing
Local variables are automatically removed once the tests have been executed / collection run finished.
Local variables are the one you use in your Tests part.
You may even use the 'let' declaration as it is coded in javascript ...
ie:
let jsonData;
jsonData = JSON.parse(responseBody);
or use var for declaration.
var jsonData = JSON.parse(responseBody);
Though, you can erase globals on the fly using
pm.environment/global.unset(<variable>)
see here for details
Related
I have variable "TOKEN" in my collection scope. I try to set the value using Tests scripts when do a request. But the variable not changed.
So, I try to use environment scope variable. And It works.
Why It's doesn't work when in collection scope? I had read about postman variable scope here and understand it well.
Here're some screenshots:
1. First, I call login endpoint.
Below is the console result. Nothing wrong.
Until I try to get all users endpoint that required token in request header. The status is 401 because the token is null. If the token is not null, then it will return 200:
It's gracefully working when I add "TOKEN" variable to environment. Switch to No Environment again will result 401 status code:
This may be new since this question was posted, but for anyone else
finding this, you can set collection variables using:
pm.collectionVariables.set(key, value)
See:
https://learning.postman.com/docs/sending-requests/variables/#defining-variables-in-scripts
You can now use:
pm.collectionVariables.set("variable_key", "variable_value");
In my original answer in June 2019, I wrote that collection variables are not editable through scripts, and can only be changed manually. As noted, this is no longer the case. . . .*
Turn off Automatic persist variable values from postman settings.
image
It seems you can only set env variables when some environment is selected: https://learning.postman.com/docs/postman/scripts/postman-sandbox/#environment-and-global-variables
Using variables from scope: collection inside Postman works fine.
But when I export collection and use it inside Newman it does not work as I expected.
1) Variabes are inside collection json, in the end of file - ok.
2) I use this code:
var obj = {};
obj.categories = pm.variables.get("category_id");
obj.packages = pm.variables.get("package_id");
obj.type = "add";
pm.globals.set("switch_json", JSON.stringify(obj));
console.log("request body: " + pm.globals.get("switch_json"));
in pre-request script to get value of 2 collection variables (category_id, package_id).
3) Inside Postman all works fine, console.log return:
request body: {"categories":"14","packages":"2","type":"add"}
4) Inside Newman console.log return only:
'request body: {"type":"add"}'
Does it mean Newman do not support collection variables?
Collection Variables are stored in the variables tab in collections under Edit. Initial values are shared when you export a collection and not the current values. Newman will access these(initial Values) values.
you shall save your environment (ie. my_environment.json) then, in your newman command use the -e option to use it.
have a look here for newman options
hope this helps
Alexandre
I looked around and around for a way to set a collection variable on the command line, without using an environment file, without finding any answers so I just tested using --env-var and it worked.
In the case of the original question it would look like this:
newman run xxxxxxx --env-var package_id=14
I face the similar issue, but because I need to override the collection variable from command line using --env-var(there is no --collection-var in options) but seems not working, I think because collection variable is narrow than the environment so won't work.
I think your case works because you have different variable name, is it?
When I add environment variables I can use them in my post body with {{varName}}. But this does not work for collection variables (Collection > edit > Variables tab)
With the settings as shown above, if I add {{firstName}} to my body it does not work. How can I access these collection variables in my posts?
Currently if I try to post postman will just hang for a while then give this error
Error: Script execution timed out.↵ at
ContextifyScript.Script.runInContext (vm.js:53:29)
If I use an environment variable or just type in a value it works fine.
Also, you need to make sure to save the request to the belonging collection before you can use it!
It turns out {{varName}} does work. The problem was in my pre-request script. The API I was connecting to requires a checksum on the body so it pre-processes the variables in the body, but it was not setup to handle collection variables. This was causing postman to fail. User error.
Currently, it is possible to set and get variables from the global and environment scope, as well as the generic variable in a pre-request script. However, the documentation is not clear if it is possible to programmaticaly set collection scoped variables.
For example
pm.environment.set("timestamp", timestamp); //acceptable
pm.global.set("signature", hash); //acceptable
pm.variable.set("signature", hash); //acceptable
pm.collection.set("signature", hash); //not possible?
Is this possible?
You can only currently set these manually at the Collection level but you can reference these using the pm.variables.get('var_name') syntax.
https://www.getpostman.com/docs/v6/postman/environments_and_globals/variables#defining-collection-variables
EDIT:
Postman now allows you to use:
pm.collectionVariables.set('var_name', 'var_value') and pm.collectionVariables.get('var_name') to interact with the Variables at the Collection level.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/58325002/6028443
I have create global variable. Set it as Test as env variaable corresponding quote id were stored in the CreateGLVar
pm.test("Status code is 200", function () {
pm.response.to.have.status(200);});
var jsonData = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set("CreateGLVar",jsonData.result.quoteID);
script for storing the value in Env variable
May i know how i can use value which is stored in the CreateGLVar for the below script. how i can the quote id from first request from global variable and insert dynamically in the second request( shown below) .
get quote id
enter image description here
Postman uses double curly braces to insert variables, which can also be used in raw request bodies.
In your specific case you can use:
"quoteID": "{{quoteIdVariable}}"
I am using the Postman Chrome extension Version 5.3.1, and this works for me.
Edit: Now that the Chrome extension has been depricated, this still works with the Postman Desktop app
Thanks Aaron.
I got the success when i used the "quoteID": "{{quoteIdVariable}}" in my bind API.my 2 API are working fine when i executed individually.
But I got issue when i executed API's as collection( Quote and Bind API). What i missing here if i executed as collection.
Failed