Check whether a test case already exists before creating it - TFS 2018 - api

Question

I am creating a test case in TFS 2018 using postman like this:
curl -X POST \
'https://TFSURL:443/DefaultCollection/PROJECT/_apis/wit/workitems/$Test%20Case?api-version=4.1' \
-H 'Authorization: Basic MYKEY' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json-patch+json' \
-d '[
{
"op": "add",
"path": "/fields/System.AreaPath",
"from": null,
"value": "TEST\\Automation"
},
{
"op": "add",
"path": "/fields/System.IterationPath",
"from": null,
"value": "TEST\\Sprint 8"
},
{
"op": "add",
"path": "/fields/System.Title",
"from": null,
"value": "Sample task"
},
{
"op": "add",
"path": "/fields/Microsoft.VSTS.TCM.Steps",
"value": "<steps id=\"0\">
<step id=\"1\" type=\"ValidateStep\"><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Input step 1</parameterizedString><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Expectation step 1</parameterizedString><description/></step>
<step id=\"2\" type=\"ValidateStep\"><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Input step 2</parameterizedString><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Expectation step 2</parameterizedString><description/></step>
<step id=\"3\" type=\"ValidateStep\"><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Input step 3</parameterizedString><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Expectation step 3</parameterizedString><description/></step>
<step id=\"4\" type=\"ValidateStep\"><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Input step 4</parameterizedString><parameterizedString isformatted=\"true\">Expectation step 4</parameterizedString><description/></step></steps>"
}
]'
How can I check before sending this request that this test exist so that I can update it instead of creating a new one every time?
I was expecting to do it by :
searching the name of the automation which should be unique in tfs (method name from automation script) and see if it returns something
It seems like in tfs there is a way to do a request to get all work items but I am not sure if you can return based on the title field of the item. (Help page on how to do this request)
I tried to use the search api to return the results if anything with that name exists in tfs but I am getting an error message which I don't know how to resolve
curl -X POST \
'https://TFSURL:443/DefaultCollection/PROJECT/_apis/search/workitemsearchresults?api-version=4.1-preview' \
-H 'Authorization: Basic MYKEY' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '[
{
"searchText": "Sample task",
"$skip": 0,
"$top": 1,
"filters": {
"System.AreaPath": [
"TEST\\Automation"
]
},
"$orderBy": [
{
"field": "system.id",
"sortOrder": "ASC"
}
],
"includeFacets": true
}
]'
'
Response:
{
"count": 1,
"value": {
"Message": "An error has occurred."
}
}

Answer 1

Just to answer my own question in case someone else needs it, as I have read you can't do this with just a single or two different API calls. for the following solution i have created multiple REST API request to TFS and called/processed them with Python >3.
What I have done in order to update a test case if it exist or create a new one it if it is not:
Create in tfs a query which returns all test cases
Update query using an API request and the key of the query you have created (i specified iteration and team specifically in the body of the request) (help)
Create an API request to get the result of that query (help)
In a loop i was iterating over all the test case ids the query has returned
In the same loop I have used the test case id to access with a request that specific work item (help)
I then compared the title of the returned item versus the title that i want to create from my automate script (ClassName_MethodName)
If those titles where the same I do a request to update that test case using the test id i got and then break from the loop
If the titles were different i create a new test case and then break from the loop
I know this is not the fastest solution but at least it is working!
If there is another way which is easier and faster I am more than happy to follow it.