Run multiple collections sequentially sharing a common environment.

Dear,

I was wondering if it is possible (did not find how) to run sequentially two or more collections, but sharing the same environment.

Something like

newman run authenticate_collection.json api_collection.json -e environment.json

I have a collection that basically login a user and retrieve an access_token. Then I have multiple collection for several APIs. I would not to have to copy/paste each time the authentication folder but share it instead. So the result (access_token) of the authenticate_collection.json would be into the environment, only for the run execution context.

I guess it require to be handle first by postman before newman? Is this something possible? Thanks a lot for your help!

[ahghatol]

@shubhamjadon

I tried the solution you have given to run multiple collections.

I observed that with the solution you have provided, the pre-request script does not work. I was trying to set variables (e.g token) in per request script at the collection level.

[shubhamjadon]

@lusoalex there is no feature like the one you asked currently in postman. But there is a workaround i discovered maybe that could help you. It is as follows:

1. You can change environment variable using Test Scripts(go through this link for tutorial). The environment variable will get changed after getting a response from collection run.
2. Then you can use that value in other collection run. As you mentioned it is a access token so you can either add it to url or header of requests.(more info)
3. Now, above is possible if you can run multiple collections sequentially which is currently not possible in postman. Hence, to run them sequentially you will need to add some lines of code(if you want to do this i suggest that you locally install newman library in a folder and do following changes directly in it) Steps are as follows:

• Add following code at line 98 (after “var emitter = new EventEmitter(),runner = new runtime.Runner(),stopOnFailure,entrypoint;”) (inside node_modules/newman/lib/run/index.js):

if(_.isArray(options.collection)){
        let obj = {};
        obj.info = options.collection[0].info;
        obj.info.name = "combined";
        obj.item = [];
        for(let i=0; i<options.collection.length; i++){
            obj.item.push({name:"file"+(i+1),item:options.collection[i].item});
        }
        options.collection = obj;
}

• After adding following changes use newman nodejs module to run your collection. Provide a array of collections like this: (sample app.js)

const newman = require('newman'); // require newman in your project

// call newman.run to pass `options` object and wait for callback
newman.run({
    collection: [require('./authentication_collection.json'),require('./api_collection.json')], 
    reporters: 'cli',
    environment: require('./testEnv.postman_environment.json')
}, function (err) {
	if (err) { throw err; }
    console.log('collection run complete!');
});

(The above only works for newman nodejs module) (Also, if you want info on how to run collection using newman library then see docs)

(The above implementation will combine all the collections into a single collection and then run it. That’s the only way i can think of achieving desired functionality)

I hope this helps.