Postman random start and end dates

Question

How can I generate dynamic random start and end dates for a post request in the YYYY/MM/DD format? This is what I tried in the pre-request script but it does not work

    const moment = require('moment');
    pm.globals.set("start", moment().format(("YYYY/MM/DD")));

Answer 1

You can solve this with a mix of Postman Dynamic Variables and momemt for formatting. These variables get generated at execution time (when you send a request) so you have different values for each request. You can use the following variables:

• $randomDateFuture
• $randomDatePast
• $randomDateRecent

You can use them directly as you would use a collection or global variable in query params, etc. If you want to use these variables on scripts then you have to use it like this:

const startDate = pm.variables.replaceIn('{{$randomDatePast}}')

So for your example in concrete I've written a request you can see here (check pre-request script). Also posting the code here for future perservation:

const moment = require('moment')

// Generate a past and future date using dynamic postman variables 
let futureDate = pm.variables.replaceIn('{{$randomDateFuture}}'),
    pastDate = pm.variables.replaceIn('{{$randomDatePast}}')

// Use moment to output the right format
futureDate = moment(futureDate).format(("YYYY/MM/DD"))
pastDate = moment(pastDate).format(("YYYY/MM/DD"))

console.log(futureDate)
console.log(pastDate)

The output looks like this: