How to Retrieve the Request Object in PostMan

Postman is a popular API testing tool used by developers to test, document, and share APIs. While Postman primarily focuses on sending HTTP requests and receiving responses, it also provides features for inspecting request objects. In this article, we’ll explore how to retrieve the request object in Postman and use it for testing and debugging purposes.

Accessing Request Object

To retrieve the request object in Postman, follow these steps:

• Open Postman: Launch the Postman application on your computer.
• Create a New Request: Create a new request by clicking on the “New” button or selecting an existing collection and clicking “New Request.”
• Build Your Request: Enter the request URL, select the HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.), and add any headers, query parameters, or request body as needed.
• Send the Request: Click on the “Send” button to send the request to the specified URL.
• View Request Object: After sending the request, you can view the request object in the “Headers,” “Body,” “Params,” and “Tests” tabs in the request details section.

Why Retrieving the Request Object Matters

• Extracting Data: The request object provides comprehensive information sent by clients to servers, including URL parameters, query strings, headers, and body data. This data is vital for handling specific requests, modifying responses, and processing or storing content.
• Debugging: Understanding incoming data during application development or troubleshooting is paramount. By inspecting the request object, developers and testers can identify issues, such as incorrect or missing data, and ensure proper handling by the server.
• Validation and Sanitization: Validating and sanitizing data is crucial for maintaining data integrity and security. The request object allows for the validation of data against predefined criteria and protects against security vulnerabilities like SQL Injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
• Authentication and Authorization: Headers often contain authentication tokens necessary for user verification, while authorization ensures access control based on user permissions, enhancing security.
• Routing and Handling Logic: Understanding the request type and endpoint allows servers to route requests to appropriate handlers, fundamental for RESTful API design and web application architectures.
• Custom Middleware: Middleware functions in frameworks like Express can access and modify the request object, enabling tasks such as logging, error handling, and session setup.
• Session Management: Cookies and session identifiers sent in request headers facilitate session management, allowing applications to maintain state between HTTP requests.

Steps to Retrieve the Request Object

Step 1 :

• Set up a request in a collection, including URL, parameters, query strings, headers, and body data.
• In the URL “localhost:3000”, we’ve added query parameters “company=gfg” and “country=india” to filter data by company and country. Query parameters are extra information in the URL for interaction between client and server, commonly used for filtering, sorting, and pagination.
• Additionally, we’ve added a path variable “id=10” to fetch data of the document with ID 10. Path variables help identify specific resources, making APIs more flexible with parameterized endpoints.

Step 2:

• The “Bearer token” added in the headers serves for authentication and authorization purposes, particularly beneficial in distributed systems and microservices architectures.
• Authentication: The token holds information about a specific valid logged-in user, verifying their identity.
• Authorization: Additionally, the token can include details regarding permissions, allowing or restricting access to certain resources based on user privileges.
  

Step 3:

• In the image, we’ve included a role with the value “admin” in the body of the request. This mechanism is employed for transmitting form data or additional information to the server.
• Furthermore, it can facilitate file uploads and the transmission of intricate data that isn’t suitable for query parameters, headers, or path variables.

Step 4:

• Navigate to either “Pre-request Script” or “Tests” section, depending on whether you want to inspect the request before sending it or after receiving the response.
• For the “Pre-request Script” section, you can add the following line of code to log the request object before it’s sent:

Step 5:

• Initiate the request by clicking on the blue-colored button named “Send”.
• View the output by clicking on the “Console” button located at the bottom left corner of the Postman window. Alternatively, you can access it through the main menu by selecting “View” > “Show Postman Console”.

Step 6:

In the Postman Console, you’ll find the logged pm.request object. Click on the object to expand and examine its properties, including URL, method, headers, and body information. This object serves as a valuable tool for debugging and comprehending the structure of our requests. It provides access to the following:

• pm.request.url: Contains URL information such as the path, query parameters, and more.
• pm.request.method: Specifies the HTTP method of the request (GET, POST, etc.).
• pm.request.headers: Presents a collection of the request headers.
• pm.request.body: Offers information about the request body, particularly useful for POST, PUT, and similar requests.

Step 7:

• We can see that apart from host, port, variable and query params ,we get a lot of other information like Content-Type, Date, etc.
• The data that we are sending can be seen in the above image whether it is query params, body , path variables or headers.

Note: While modifications to the request object in Pre-request Script or Tests do not change the request sent by Postman, they are essential for setting up variables, preparing the environment, or testing assertions on the response. To dynamically alter the request itself, such as modifying headers or the body, variables or scripts must be used before the request runs.