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Postman–Working with data files

Instead of doing a manual cleanup of my local RabbitMQ cluster I decided to use the Management HTTP API and script the whole process.

I decided to use Postman and the collection runner data files support.

Let’s walk through the steps:

  • I started by creating a new Collection inside Postman:

  • Inside this collection I started adding DELETE requests to different objects(exchanges, queues,…) inside RabbitMQ

  • I used variables (recognizable with the double mustaches {{variableName}}) inside the URLs.
    • E.g. http://user:pw@localhost:15672/api/exchanges/%2F/{{exchange}}
  • These variables should be replaced by values from a JSON data file.
  • Create a JSON file containing a list of values. Unfortunately it is not possible to add the data file to your collection. So save it anywhere you want
    • Here is how the data file looked like for the above request:
  • Let’s now try to use the collection runner. Click on the Runner button at the top:

  • Select the collection you want to run on the left.

  • Also select a data file.
  • Click on the big blue run button to execute the requests in the collection. Parameters will be replaced using the values you’ve provided in the data file.
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