Create a Postman Collection Using API Requests

Create a collection in the Postman application, add and test the required API request, and export the collection to a JSON file.

Previous step: Obtain the Details for an API Call

While building an adapter, starting with a Postman collection saves you time as you can group several API requests into a collection and also shape the responses according to your requirements.

When you test the API requests in a Postman collection, you must save the responses received, so that the Rapid Adapter Builder can generate a schema in the adapter definition document.

Tip:

Start small. For at least your first adapter, create a Postman collection with just one API request. After you build and test your adapter, you can add support for another API if necessary. See Best Practices for Building an Adapter. For subsequent iterations, you can use an existing Postman collection and add new requests to it. See Adding a new request to a collection.

1. Open the Postman application and sign in with your account.
2. Create a collection.
   1. With Collections selected in the left pane, click New, and in the resulting dialog, click Collection.
      A new, blank collection is created and listed in the left pane.
   2. Under the Overview tab on the right, click the default collection name (New Collection) to rename the collection. For example, enter <ApplicationName>_Adapter.
3. Add the API request for which you obtained the details earlier, test it, and save the response as an example.
   1. In the left pane, click Add a request under the newly-created collection.
      A new, blank request is created and displayed. Click the New Request field at the top of the workspace to rename the request.
   2. In the URL field of the request, select the right HTTP verb, and enter the request URL you obtained earlier. See Obtain the Details for an API Call.
   3. Enter all the other information you obtained for the request, such as parameters, authorization details, and headers.
   4. Click Send to test the request.
      The Response section displays the data received.
   5. In the Response section, click Save as example to save the response.

      A new example is created and displayed. Click the New Request field at the top of the workspace to rename the example.

      Tip:

      Before you save the response as an example, shape the response by removing properties that aren't applicable to your adapter. You can also remove this information after converting the Postman collection to an adapter definition document.
   6. In the left pane, click the request item to switch back to the Request page from the Example page, and then click Save to save the entire request.
4. Export the Postman collection to your workspace.
   1. In the left pane, point to the collection, click View more actions , and then click Export from the resulting menu.
   2. In the Export collection dialog, leave the default options selected, and click Export.
   3. In the Select path to save file window, navigate to the folder that you selected and initialized as workspace previously. See Configure the VS Code Extension for Rapid Adapter Builder. In the workspace folder, open the misc directory, and click Save to export the file to this directory.

      The Postman collection is saved as a JSON file, named <ApplicationName>_Adapter.postman_collection.json.

      Note:

      For the Rapid Adapter Builder to convert the collection into an adapter definition document, the file name of the Postman collection should always contain the suffix .postman_collection.

Next step: Generate an Adapter Definition Document