Postman is a fantastic tool that can greatly streamline your API testing process. However, there are times when you might need to save a value from a Postman header and use it across multiple requests within a collection. In this article, we will guide you through the process of saving a Postman header value into a variable and making sure it is accessible throughout all the requests in your collection.
To begin, let's understand why you might need to save a header value into a variable. When working with APIs, you often encounter scenarios where a response header contains critical information that needs to be passed along in subsequent requests. By saving this header value into a variable, you can easily reference it in other parts of your collection without having to extract it repeatedly.
The first step is to extract the header value that you want to save. In Postman, you can do this by using the Tests tab within a request. In the JavaScript snippet box, you can access the response headers using the pm.response.headers object. For instance, if you want to extract a token value from the "Authorization" header, you can use the following code:
`pm.environment.set("token", pm.response.headers.get("Authorization"));`
This code saves the value of the "Authorization" header into an environment variable called "token." You can replace "token" with any variable name that makes sense for your use case.
Once you have saved the header value into a variable, you can access it in other requests within the same collection. To do this, simply reference the variable using double curly braces syntax. For example, if you want to include the saved token in the "Authorization" header of a subsequent request, you can use the following syntax:
`Authorization: Bearer {{token}}`
By using this syntax, Postman will dynamically replace "{{token}}" with the actual value saved in the variable during the execution of the collection.
It's important to note that the environment variable will retain its value throughout the entire run of the collection. This means that any changes made to the variable in one request will be reflected in subsequent requests as well. If you need the variable to have a different value for each request, you can use different environments or reset the variable value as needed.
In conclusion, saving a Postman header value into a variable and using it across requests can help you manage and reuse critical information efficiently during API testing. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can enhance the flexibility and effectiveness of your API testing workflows in Postman.