Run all iterations for a specific test and then call a specific API with no iteration data

[raghav19]

I have a Rest API which is used for registering some data using POST request. In postman i have multiple data iterations that i run it for using collection Runner and all that data is updated successfully and validated. POST request response is as below. The id generated is dynamic and is saved in postman test script for each iteration using the 'pm.info.iteration' for each id for later use

[
 {
	"name":"abcd",
	"address":"asd 123 xyz"
	"id": 123456
 },
 {
	"name":"xyz",
	"address":"asd 123 xyz"
	"id": 987123
 }
]

Now i have another API which retrieves the whole list using a GET request.The validation scenario is to call the GET API once all the itearations are complete and validate the count and data.Is there a way to iterate on the data for POST request, after completion , call the GET request and check the count?
How to achieve this when running with multiple folders and multiple tests inside each folder with dynamic data?

[raghav19]

The gist of the request is, the iterations should run for a specific request or a set of requests and then no iteration is required, ,meaning control iterations at per request/multiple request level. Similar feature can be observed in ReadyAPI tool by SmartBear

[sivcan]

@raghav19 You can make use of the powerful feature called postman.setNextRequest (SNR)

I've prepared a collection to help you achieve this use-case very easily.

I've documented the scripts on how this can be done. (Take a look at Request 1 and Request 4)
Not only this, setNextRequest allows you to build even more complex flows easily.

Here: https://www.getpostman.com/collections/75239d5577195dd82acf

To use this collection:

1. Initialize an environment variable numberOfIterations with the number of iterations you want. (You can skip in case you want to use the script to define the count viz. 5 and you can modify this in Pre-Request script of Request 1)
2. Run the Collection

Explanation of the collection:
Request 1 runs and sets the iterationCount.
On reaching Request 4 it checks if iterationCount is not the last one then jump to Request 1

Docs for SNR: https://www.getpostman.com/docs/v6/postman/collection_runs/building_workflows

You can think of SNR as basically like goto and label in C++

Let me know if this solved the issue for you. 🙂

[raghav19]

Thanks @sivcan , for your valuable input. I am trying to implement the same using pm.info.iteration and pm.info.iterationCount. I added the following condition in my post request. I have only 1 POST request which has to run for multiple iteration of testdata.
if(pm.info.iteration != pm.info.iterationCount) { postman.setNextRequest('registerValue'); }

However even after calling as new request, the pm.info.iteration is not incrementing itself from 0 to 1.
Where am i making a mistake?

[raghav19]

Hi @sivcan ,

I tried further to get it working. i went through the exact same way as you have suggested in your example script. My POST & GET request are in a single folder. The use case is to run the POST request for all the iteration data and then call the GET request once. I observed the following with my execution.

1. The GET request gets executed even if i have set the next request in my pre-request Script of GET to call registerValue.
   Pre-request Script:
   currentIterationCount = pm.environment.get('currentIterationCount'); numberOfIterations = pm.environment.get('numberOfIterations'); if(currentIterationCount < numberOfIterations) { postman.setNextRequest('registerValue'); }

2. When it calls the registerValue POST request again , it is picking the first iteration data and not the new iteration data. As a result , my second iteration is failing the tests.

Please let me know , how to go about this

[sivcan]

@raghav19
So,

1. Your iterations are being controlled by the environment variables and you'd want to set the iteration count as 1 before running the run. (Iterations are being controlled using setNextRequest)

Iteration should be 1
Also, the environment should be selected

2. Can you share the collection so that I'll be able to go through that?
   Remove any sensitive information and share the collection.
   It's hard on our end to debug otherwise.

How to share a collection

[sivcan]

@raghav19 Also if you're using the data file, share a sample of that too.
Replace url's with postman-echo.com/post and postman-echo.com/get if you may. :)

[raghav19]

@sivcan ,

Thanks for the input once again. The screenshots which you have show , I am very aware of the same and am running my requests and testing it out in the same manner.
I have posted in the following link my collection as requested by you after removing all sensitive data.

Postman link

The testdata which i am using is:

[ { "name":"Devuser", "address":"unknown", "value:": "hello" }, { "name":"Testuser", "address":"verymuchknown", "value:": "Bye" } ]

Observations:

1. Run the testdata in collection runner with 2 iterations and observe the console. The GET request gets executed even if the pre-request script of GET request is calling the next request as POST call.
2. The testdata is the first iteration data itself for the second request, when using postman.setNextrequest.

[sivcan]

@raghav19 Found the issue.

So, I'll explain what went wrong here.

Irrespective of 'where' you put the setNextRequest inside a request i.e inside pre-request script or tests script the current request will ALWAYS RUN and after the execution of the current request is finished only then the next request that you've request using the setNextRequest function will be executed.

You wrote the 'setNextRequest' function inside the pre-request script of the GET request, thus no matter what the GET request will be first executed and after it has finished, then the setNextRequest function will drive the runtime to the next request that is to be run.

So basically what happened was:
Post Request > Get Request > Post Request > Get Request ... and so on

What was needed:
Post Request > Post Request > Post Request > Post Request > Get Request (End Run)

To solve this, you need to put the setNextRequest function inside the POST request itself.
So it'll keep checking after the execution of the POST request as to when do you want to use the GET request.

Read Advanced Workflows in the doc

Also,
Since we're not going to use 'iteration' feature of the runner but control the iterations on our own using the iterationCount variable and setNextRequest, thus pm.info.iteration will not give you the current iteration count.

Something like this is happening:

let pm = { info: { iteration: 1 } };

for (let iterationCount = 0; iterationCount < 5; iterationCount++) {
  console.log(pm.info.iteration); // This will always remain 1
  console.log(iterationCount); // This is our loop modifying the iterationCount
}

Resolved Collection: https://www.getpostman.com/collections/aa8d42a00c4715e21b71

Now, using the data file would be tricky here.
Since, we don't have the access to the complete data file's iteration data inside runner because of variable scopes being resolved per iteration.

You can do 2 things:

1. Either you put the whole data file into an environment variable and you're good to go.
2. You just modify you data file a bit like so:

[
  {
    "iterations": [
      {
        "name": "Devuser",
        "address": "unknown",
        "value": "hello"
      },
      {
        "name": "Devuser",
        "address": "unknown",
        "value": "hello"
      },
      {
        "name": "Devuser",
        "address": "unknown",
        "value": "hello"
      },
      {
        "name": "Devuser",
        "address": "unknown",
        "value": "hello"
      },
      {
        "name": "Testuser",
        "address": "verymuchknown",
        "value": "Bye"
      }
    ]
  }
]

And then you can read in the test-script how we can achieve it.

[raghav19]

Thanks a lot @sivcan for the solution. It works now. I went with option 2 for testdata iterations. However ,
now the POST request body needs data from the testdata. I tried with {{data.name}}. it doesnt work..
I think i have to save all the variables from testdata as env variables and then use it in the various places.

This also creates another problem, now that the structure of the testdata is changed. The further scripts also need to use it in the same fashion for this to work. But, other tests dont have such a scenario. It doest solve the problem elegantly..But yah..it does the job.
The feature for controlling iterations at folder level is most essential.
Let me know how to use the testdata.

[vkaegis]

Hey @raghav19, thanks for the writing in! I'm going to close this issue since the original issue is resolved. If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the community:
https://community.getpostman.com/

Cheers!

[raghav19]

Nope, It isnt resolved, it just a workaround provided, which complicates many flows and script changes are required across the entire collection just because one request works in that fashion. That isnt scalable , please add this as a feature. If already added, please let me know the link for the feature release page