July 2015 Summaries

Newman, a command-line collection runner for Postman, is now available as an official Docker image, providing a streamlined way to execute and test API endpoints from Postman Collections using the command line. To get started, users need to ensure Docker is installed and functioning on their system, with the ability to execute a simple test command like `docker run hello-world` to confirm the setup. The official Docker image can be pulled from the Docker Hub and run with commands that specify the desired collection URL or locally stored collection files, with the entry point set to Newman to utilize all its command-line parameters. This integration allows developers to run Newman in a Dockerized environment, eliminating concerns related to operating system dependencies and environment configurations, and facilitating easier integration with continuous integration servers and build systems. Docker simplifies the development and deployment process by packaging applications with their dependencies into a standardized unit, allowing Newman to be used seamlessly across different systems.

Postman is transitioning to a new collection file format and is utilizing JSON-Schema to validate whether a JSON file is a valid Collection, leveraging tools like "is-my-json-valid" for this purpose. JSON-Schema, traditionally used for validating inputs to HTTP endpoints, is being applied to ensure the validity of collections exported from client versions 1.x.x and above, with the support of references ($ref) to maintain modularity. As part of the move towards Collections-V2, Postman has released a schema for the current Collection format (V1) along with documentation to aid this validation process. The company also plans to introduce command line utilities and libraries to facilitate the management of Postman collections.