Very basic Postman Code question

[Adrian4]

Hello,

I have been plunged head first into API stuff having not done programming before : /

I have a decent idea of how it all works but I need to rapidly learn programming 😛

For example, right now I am trying to write a call that will Aggregate 10 pairs of switch ports between two switches (for example aggregate port 48 on switch 1 with port 48 on switch 2).

I found the basic script in the library which looks great, but I assume there is a way to write it to do a range (eg 38 - 48) rather than having to write the same thing out 10 times. Trouble is I'm not sure what language I need to learn for Postman.

I know Python is the most common language for writing scripts but is that what postman uses? Can I just type python into the body field and away I go or does it use something else?

{

    "switchPorts": [

        {

            "serial": "switch 1",

            "portId": "48"

        },

        {

            "serial": "switch 2",

            "portId": "48"

        }

    ],

}

Thanks!

[Slobs2]

Here is a link about scripting in Postman. The great thing about APIs though is you can really write a script in any language you want. I've written some in Powershell or in CFML (Adobe Coldfusion). Python is a great language to learn too.

[Adrian4]

Thanks! - Annoyingly it looks like Im going to have to use Python or something if I want to do anything more than basic API calls?

I wanted to stay with postman because it has a really easy interface for collaborating with other team members - sharing scripts in a central repository etc but I guess Im going to have to figure out how to do that with some other Python client : /

[sungod]

Assume you will use this https://developer.cisco.com/meraki/api-v1/#!create-network-switch-link-aggregation to create an aggregate link.

From the documentation...

You need to issue this call for each aggregated link you want to create.

An aggregated link can have from 2 to 8 ports 

The ports must each be specified in the call as serial number + port number, there is no option to specify a range.

To create ten links, you could create a 'for' loop to issue the ten calls, incrementing the port number each time, like...

ser1 = serialnumberofswitch1

ser2 = serialnumberof switch2

for port_num from 1 to 10

create_link(ser1, ser2, port_num)

...this is illustrative, not code in any particular language

[Adrian4]

thanks!

I was just about to reply with some sudo code of what I need to figure out how to code, more or less the same as yours I think, although I was using a variable counter for port number. I dont think I can do this in postman? I'll have to get Python installed and working 🙂 

Var1 = Serial 1

Var2 = Serial 2 

Var3 = 38   #portId

For Loop until var3=48

{

    "switchPorts": [

        {

            "serial": "var1",

            "portId": "var3"

        },

        {

            "serial": "Var2",

            "portId": "Var3"

        }

    ],

}

Set "var3"+1

[sungod]

Not sure about Postman as I use Python, once you get started it's pretty straightforward, there're a lot of sites with Python examples/tutorials.

Install the latest full release for your platform, probably 3.10 at the moment. Once you've got it set up, install the Meraki Python package (pip3 install meraki).

On linux/Mac I use always use pyenv to install Python, if you are using Windows there also a version (I haven't tried it though).

I'd recommend you install using pyenv it as it can simplify using/managing your Python environment. See https://pypi.org/project/pyenv-win/  for instructions for Windows if that's what you will use.

[Adrian4]

Iv actually found something called replit that might work for python collaboration, however I am having an issue installing the meraki module via pip but thats a separate issue.

Thanks!