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What is Postman?

Postman is an API platform for building and using APIs, and generating API documentation.

Postman is known as a GUI REST client, meaning it has a graphical user interface and can invoke REST services.

For this exercise, we will use Postman to make a GET request for the weather using the OpenWeatherMap API.

To use this API, you must create an account and create an API key.

How to make a request with Postman

  1. Download and install Postman.
  2. Open Postman.
  3. Click New.
  4. Click HTTP Request.

  5. Insert the following endpoint into the empty box ("Enter request URL") next to GET:

    https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather

  6. Click on the tab labelled Params (parameters). It should be displayed by default.

  7. Add the following parameters in the respective key and value rows:

    • key: zip / value: 28215
    • key: units / value: imperial
    • key: appid / value: / e326886bb536c5eac65ccc70df1067bb

    Note: When you add these parameters, they appear as a query string to the endpoint URL in the GET box. The endpoint now looks like this:

    https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?zip=28215&units=imperial&appid=e326886bb536c5eac65ccc70df1067bb

  8. Click Send.

Success

The response (in JSON) appears in the lower pane:

{
   "coord":{
      "lon":-80.7387,
      "lat":35.244
   },
   "weather":[
      {
         "id":803,
         "main":"Clouds",
         "description":"broken clouds",
         "icon":"04d"
      }
   ],
   "base":"stations",
   "main":{
      "temp":56.53,
      "feels_like":55.74,
      "temp_min":54.23,
      "temp_max":59.4,
      "pressure":1026,
      "humidity":82
   },
   "visibility":10000,
   "wind":{
      "speed":8.05,
      "deg":10
   },
   "clouds":{
      "all":75
   },
   "dt":1665408709,
   "sys":{
      "type":2,
      "id":2011045,
      "country":"US",
      "sunrise":1665401084,
      "sunset":1665442490
   },
   "timezone":-14400,
   "id":0,
   "name":"Charlotte",
   "cod":200
}

How to make the same request with curl

  1. In Postman, click on the code (< / >) button.
  2. Below Code Snippet, select cURL from the dropdown.
  3. Copy the code using the Copy snippet button.
  4. Paste the code into the command line.
  5. Replace the single-quotes around the hyperlink with double-quotes to avoid an error message:

curl --location --request GET "https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?zip=28215&units=imperial&appid=e326886bb536c5eac65ccc70df1067bb"

Success

The unminified (unformatted) response should look like this:

{"coord":{"lon":-80.7387,"lat":35.244},"weather":[{"id":802,"main":"Clouds","description":"scattered clouds","icon":"03d"}],"base":"stations","main":{"temp":64.02,"feels_like":63.32,"temp_min":60.94,"temp_max":66.99,"pressure":1027,"humidity":68},"visibility":10000,"wind":{"speed":10.36,"deg":70},"clouds":{"all":40},"dt":1665416552,"sys":{"type":2,"id":2011045,"country":"US","sunrise":1665401084,"sunset":1665442490},"timezone":-14400,"id":0,"name":"Charlotte","cod":200}

How to save a request with Postman

  1. In Postman, click the Save button. It is above the Send button.
  2. In the Request name box, replace the endpoint with: OpenWeatherMap Current API.
  3. Click the Add Description box.
  4. Type a description: “gets the current weather for 28215 in imperial units.”
  5. Scroll down and click New Collection to create a new folder to save the request in.
  6. Type the name of your new collection (“OpenWeatherMap”) in the Name your collection box.
  7. Click Create.
  8. Click the orange Save button.

Success

The request has been saved and will now appear in the left-side pane in the Collections tab.

How to create a Run in Postman button

  1. Click on the Collections tab in the left-side pane.
  2. Next to the collection name, select the more actions icon (three dots) and then click Share.
  3. Click on the Via Run in Postman tab.
  4. Click Embed a static version.
  5. Click on the Markdown friendly option.
  6. Click Copy code and embed the code below:

Run in Postman

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