Creating dynamic sized array in response body based on csv

New to APIs/Postman
1

I’m working on a test that uses a csv file to take in a wide number of parameters. Within the request I send an array. Usually that array is of a specific size, but it’s possible that array could change in size. This is reflected in the csv file I use to populate the data. I’ll give an example
Standard file without issue
|TEST ID|EXTRA|Variable1|Variable2|
|ID1|0|1|A|
|ID2|0|2|B|
|ID3|0|3|C|
|ID4|0|4|D|

But every so often I receive a file that looks like this
|TEST ID|EXTRA|Variable1|Variable2|
|ID1|0|||
|ID2|0|2|B|
|ID3|0|3|C|
|ID4|0|4|D|5|E|

It’s possible I could be handed a set that either contains nothing in the place of ‘Variable1’ and ‘Variable2’, which is expected for testing. Or as in the case of line 4, has extra fields not found in lines 2 or 3. Is there a method to handle those extra fields containing ‘5’ and ‘E’ without adding headers?

What I’m looking for is if it’s possible to change the response body in my Pre-request so on line 2’s test I can send

"arrayName": [
        {
          "Variable1": "3",
          "Variable2": "C"
        }
      ]

While on line 4’s test, I can send

"arrayName": [
        {
          "Variable1": "4",
          "Variable2": "D"
        }
        {
         "Variable1": "5",
          "Variable2": "E"
        }
      ]

I could theoretically add a header for each variable in the csv, but then it would almost be easier to just create the tests by hand for each line in the csv.

2

Just tried a quick test and it would appear that the Collection Runner doesn’t like it if it doesn’t have the headers.

Not sure how the CSV is generated and how much control you have over it.

But ideally, you would have one field\header and store the array as a string in that field.

Example CSV

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You don’t have to do anything in the pre-request script this way.

You can use the header as a variable in the body.

Example body.

{"arrayName": {{Object}}}

With the resulting console logs.

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