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Mobile Test Automation Using Appium

 
With growing demand in the market, enterprise mobility has undergone a paradigm shift. Speed, quality and user-friendliness are the need of the hour for modern enterprises. Mobile apps have become a major source of revenue boosters for enterprises today.

It is a well-known fact today that the numbers of platforms and device types are more varied now than ever before. Customers continue to demand the latest devices, features and functionality, as well as increased mobility and accessibility. With the proliferation of mobile and portable device platforms and the Internet of Things, the workload of developers, and especially testers, has greatly increased. As traditional testing practices of manual app testing prove unable to keep up with the demand, businesses of all types are experiencing significant product delivery delays and, in some cases, costly product defects. Naturally, there is a growing demand for more efficient and cost-effective testing across all platforms.

Appium: Addressing the complexities of mobile app testing

To address the demands of complex testing needs, an effective mobile app testing platform is needed which is secure, supports functional and automated testing without losing an eye on the speed and quality. So, in this era where consumers have adopted smartphones, use multi-platforms to access mobile devices, do you think your app is delivering the best experience to your users? If not, then Appium is the solution. Appium is an open source, cross-platform mobile automation tool to automate the test for native, hybrid and mobile web apps.

Appium being one of the best solutions for automation comes with support for Android and iOS real devices. In fact, it also comes with support for simulators and emulators. At its core, it an HTTP server written in node.js. It has similar working as Selenium which actually perceives HTTP requests from selenium client libraries and handles those requests in different ways depending upon the platforms.

Being the best and widely used option available today in the market, it is widely adopted by modern enterprises to create a comprehensive mobile automation framework. With a growing user base and a stronger community, it is easier to adopt and implement which is why enterprises are adopting it on a very large scale. The best thing about Appium is that it lets you write in any language supported by Selenium using WebDriver API.

While testing an Android app, Appium automates it with the help of UIAutomator library, a part of Android SDK. This actually makes the learning and implementation easier for Selenium users. Having the capabilities to test on both Android and iOS devices makes it the best cross-platform mobile app test automation tool. Automation scripts can be run on real Android and iOS devices using the WebDriver JSON Wire protocol.

Appium starts a test case on the device that spawns a server and listens for proxy commands. On iOS, Appium proxies command to a UIAutomation script running in instruments.

AppiumSource: cloud.netlifyusercontent.com

Appium: Why should you Choose?

 

  • Opens the door to cross-platform mobile testing which means the same test would work on multiple platforms.
  • Unlike other tools, it doesn’t require any third-party code to compile into your app to make it automation friendly.
  • Enables a variety of frameworks and programming languages by wrapping the vendor-provided frameworks in the WebDriver API that specifies a client-server protocol.
  • For a tester, the programming language and the whole experience would remain same irrespective of the automating platform as all complexities are under the hood of Appium server
  • Possible to Execute multiple tests on multiple platforms without the need to manage them.
  • Able to run test sequences with hundreds of test cases, across multiple platforms.
  • Enables the view and share of device interactions with colleagues using in real-time built-in collaborative screen casting
  • On-demand testing and leverage results directly
  • It supports automation frameworks like JUnit and TestNG



Appium has some challenges when it comes to scaling up with continuous integration. pCloudy brings to you a solution for this where you can automate your app tests with zero learning. Sign up on pCloudy and automate your tests on Appium for faster and better delivery of apps.

Why Mobile App Automation Testing?

Testing of Mobile Apps in quite cumbersome because of sheer magnitude of testing required on variety of devices. Moreover, Mobile Apps require changes faster than other kind of Applications (Web or Desktop). That’s the reason, more and more organizations have started realizing the need of using automation testing over manual testing as much as possible.

 

Mobile App Automation Testing can be a massive undertaking, and if unaware, one can end up complicating the process by selecting a bad tool. With a major trending shift to open-source mobile test automation tools, there have been a plethora of tools available in most open-source software markets.

 

So how do you know which are the best software testing tool available in the market? Which tools will give you the most efficient solution to fulfill your enterprise’s need for speed and integration? Will manual testing suffice your app testing needs?

 

This blog post is to help you quickly choose which open-source test automation tool will be right for your automation testing

 

Benchmarks for selecting the right tool

You would need a set of criteria to fulfil when assessing your selection of the right open-source automation tool. Here are a crucial few questions to ask:

 

  • Do you have the required skilled resource for automation tasks?
  • Is there ease of script development to support agile processes and shorter iteration cycles?
  • Does the tool support cross team collaboration for seamless use by QA and Dev?
  • Can it match app platform with test development language?
  • Will it have performance capabilities gaps while testing?
  • Will it support both real devices and emulators?
  • Does the app support multiple platforms — Mobile and Web?
  • Does it have multi device execution capability
  • How easily can it integrated with external Device cloud platforms?

 

Best Open-Source Mobile Testing Frameworks to use:

To take the final call, testers must have a strong awareness of the tool’s strong and weak aspects, what it can do and what it cannot, and find a balance between cost and benefit.

 

These are top highly adopted open source test automation frameworks available in the market. Each of these frameworks are backed by different communities due to their unique offerings to the target audiences and relevant platforms. The overall benefits are that they cover a wide range of devices. However, for technical clarity it’s important to know the pros and cons of the framework based on your mobile and web testing needs:

 

1. Appium: Widely adopted, it is the leading open-source test framework for mobile app (Android, iOS) test automation.

 

Pros:

  • Best suited for QA teams to test the functionality of mobile web, native and mobile hybrid apps across iOS and Android.
  • Its reports are limited from debugging and fast feedback loop.
  • Supports development tools using any WebDriver compatible language including Java, C#, Ruby etc.
  • Cross Browser Support and cross platform capabilities

 

Con: It is less suitable for performing and developing unit testing.

 

2. Calabash: It is a Behavior-driven development (BDD) test framework based on Ruby development language.

 

Pros:

  • Has a large community support
  • Cross platform development support (Android and iOS)
  • Provides solid reports and insights to QA and Dev teams
  • Easy path to both develop and test features in parallel
  • Simple and easy-to-read test statements

Con: It is not friendly to languages other than Ruby.

3. Espresso & XCTest UI: Both are very similar tools as they were designed for the target users. Espresso for Android and XCTest for iOS are fully maintained by Google and Apple, assuring the latest features for respective platforms.

Pros:

  • Latest feature integrations assure lead in market curve for developers and testers
  • Easy to develop techniques including test recorders
  • Support both types of unit testing and functional UI

Con: Both are app context only, which means limited ability to test for user condition scenarios

4. Selendroid: An open source automation framework which drives off the UI of android native, hybrid and mobile web application. A powerful testing tool that can be used on emulators and real devices. And because it still reuses the existing infrastructure for web, you can write tests using the Selenium 2 client APIs.

 

Pros:

  • Can interact with multiple Android devices and simulators simultaneously
  • Can simulate human actions like touch, swipe, drag etc. on devices
  • Supports development tools using any WebDriver compatible language including Java, C#, Ruby etc.

 

5. Robotium: Widely adopted open source Android test Automation framework.

 

Pros:

  • Easy to write powerful test scenarios
  • Full support for native and hybrid Android Apps
  • Easy to use recorder
  • Handles multiple Android routines automatically

 

6. EarlGrey: EarlGrey is a native iOS UI automation test framework that enables you to write clear, concise tests. It integrates with Xcode’s Test Navigator so you can run tests directly from Xcode or the command line.

 

Pros:

  • Works directly from XCode
  • Full support for native and hybrid Android Apps
  • Synchronization features which automatically synchronizes with the UI and network requests.

 

mobile app automation testing

 

Would you like to know how to use Automation Testing on Real Devices with pCloudy? Click Here

pCloudy Appium integration

 

1. pCloudy-java-Connector for Appium

 

1.1 Overview

Appium is an open source test automation framework which is used with wide range of mobile apps that supports only android/ios or both. pCloudy is a popular mobile testing platform integrated with Appium script which enables you to automate test of mobile apps as well. If you have your Appium Scripts (or you plan to build them) in Java then you can use the pCloudy-java-connector.jar to integrate with the pCloudy platform. In case, you don’t have your Appium script then, you will need to use the rest web services APIs which are given in the end of this document.

 

1.2 Objective of this document

This user help guide has been developed for pCloudy end users. This help guide will help you to understand the APIs that pCloudy platform provides to integrate your existing Appium Scripts with pCloudy. After the integration, you will be able to execute your Appium scripts from your PC directly to the pCloudy real device cloud.

 

1.3 System Requirements

  • Java based Appium Script
  • Eclipse or Netbeans
  • >APK or IPA file
  • pCloudy Account
  • pCloudy-java-connector jar

NoteThe APIs are evolving and we will come back with a better set of APIs & the jar soon. You might need a little tweaking in the code.

 

1.4 Stepwise Workflow of the APIs for getting an Appium Driver

 

The basic steps to get APIs for Appium Driver are given below:

appium testing

 

1.5 How to get my API Key for using the services

If you are a registered user then you just need to follow few simple steps to get API key for using our services.

Login to pcloudy.com –

 

Appium

 

After successful login, Instant Access page opens. Now, you finds different devices which can be filtered from the above given dropdown list of devices. From this page, you can book your device by clicking on Book your Device link. Furthermore, you can connect with any given device to perform mobile testing but you will be given 10 minutes only. While performing testing operation on selected device, you cannot perform testing on other device simultaneously.  For this, you need to release previously connected device.

When you click on settings option, support page opens by default which helps you to drop support ticket. It also includes various options like support, History, Test Runs, UDID, Profile, Credits, Unsubscribe, and API.

 

1.6 How to integrate my existing Appium Scripts on Java with pCloudy

You need pCloudy java connector jar file and corresponding APIs for Appium based mobile testing platform, pCloudy. You should add the pCloudy-java-connector.jar in its build path as a reference within the your java project containing appium scripts. See this link to learn how to add reference in eclipse.You can download pCloudy-java-connector.jar from this link –

http://support.pcloudy.com/solution/articles/9000062255-adding-reference-to-jars-in-eclipse

While downloading such file, you may come across message as given below which alerts you regarding safety of your computer.

 

pCloudy java connector jar file

 

Now, you can reference the JAR file in Eclipse or Android studio. Please refer the link.

The pCloudy-java-connector.jar comprises the following methods which gives you a wrapper code over the web services. Furthermore, you will not need to call the Rest APIs if you are working on JAVA:

 

Appium Automation Testing

 

1.7 Useful Codes to get Web-Driver Object

 

A. Run on Android Native

 

public void runExecutionOnPCloudy() {
Connector pCloudyCONNECTOR = new Connector();

// User Authentication over pCloudy
String authToken = pCloudyCONNECTOR.authenticateUser(“abc@gmail.com”, “asd53sd3fa4asd5fsasda”);
ArrayList selectedDevices = new ArrayList<>();

// Populate the selected Devices here
selectedDevices.add(MobileDevice.getNew(“Gionee_Ctrl-V6L_Android_4.4.2”, 73, “Ctrl-V6L”, “Ctrl V6L”, “android”, “4.4.2”, “Gionee”));

// Book the selected devices in pCloudy

BookingDtoDevice[] bookedDevicesIDs = pCloudyCONNECTOR.bookDevicesForAppium(authToken, selectedDevices, 5, “friendlySessionName”);
System.out.println(“Devices booked successfully”);

// Upload apk in pCloudy
PDriveFileDTO pDriveFile = pCloudyCONNECTOR.uploadApp(authToken, new File(appPath));
System.out.println(“ipa file uploaded successfully”);
pCloudyCONNECTOR.initAppiumHubForApp(authToken, pDriveFile);

// Get the endpoint from pCloudy
URL endpoint = pCloudyCONNECTOR.getAppiumEndpoint(authToken);
System.out.println(“Appium Endpoint:” + endpoint);

// Create multiple driver objects in multiple threads
for (int i = 0; i < bookedDevicesIDs.length; i++) {
Thread.sleep(5000);
new Thread(getTestCaseClass(endpoint, bookedDevicesIDs[i])).start();
}
}

private Runnable getTestCaseClass(final URL endpoint, final BookingDtoDevice dto) {

// this will give a Thread Safe TestScript class.

// You may also like to have this as a named class in a separate file

return new Runnable() {
@Override

public void run() {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability(“newCommandTimeout”, 600);
capabilities.setCapability(“launchTimeout”, 90000);
capabilities.setCapability(“deviceName”, dto.capabilities.deviceName);
capabilities.setCapability(“browserName”, dto.capabilities.deviceName);
capabilities.setCapability(“platformName”, “Android”);
capabilities.setCapability(“appPackage”, appPackage);
capabilities.setCapability(“appActivity”, appActivity);
capabilities.setCapability(“rotatable”, true);
AppiumDriver driver = new AndroidDriver(endpoint, capabilities);

// Your Test Script Goes Here…

}
};
}

 

B. Run on Android Web

 

public void runExecutionOnPCloudy() {
Connector pCloudyCONNECTOR = new Connector();

// User Authentication over pCloudy

String authToken = pCloudyCONNECTOR.authenticateUser(“uttam.kumar@sstsinc.com”, “sadf54sad65fds6sdsdsw”);
ArrayList selectedDevices = new ArrayList<>();

// Populate the selected Devices here
selectedDevices.add(MobileDevice.getNew(“Gionee_Ctrl-V6L_Android_4.4.2”, 73, “Ctrl-V6L”, “Ctrl V6L”, “android”, “4.4.2”, “Gionee”));

// Book the selected devices in pCloudy

BookingDtoDevice[] bookedDevicesIDs = pCloudyCONNECTOR.bookDevicesForAppium(authToken, selectedDevices, 5, “friendlySessionName”);
System.out.println(“Devices booked successfully”);
pCloudyCONNECTOR.initAppiumHubForBrower(authToken, “Chrome”);

// Get the endpoint from pCloudy
URL endpoint = pCloudyCONNECTOR.getAppiumEndpoint(authToken);
System.out.println(“Appium Endpoint:” + endpoint);

// Create multiple driver objects in multiple threads
for (int i = 0; i < bookedDevicesIDs.length; i++) {
Thread.sleep(5000);
new Thread(getTestCaseClass(endpoint, bookedDevicesIDs[i])).start();
}
}

private Runnable getTestCaseClass(final URL endpoint, final BookingDtoDevice dto) {

// this will give a Thread Safe TestScript class.

// You may also like to have this as a named class in a separate file
return new Runnable() {
@Override

public void run() {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setBrowserName(“chrome”);
capabilities.setCapability(“newCommandTimeout”, 600);
capabilities.setCapability(“deviceName”, dto.capabilities.deviceName);
capabilities.setCapability(“platformName”, dto.capabilities.platformName);
AppiumDriver driver = new AndroidDriver(endpoint, capabilities);
// Your Test Script Goes Here…
}
};
}

 

C. Run on IOS

public void runExecutionOnPCloudy() {
Connector pCloudyCONNECTOR = new Connector();

// User Authentication over pCloudy
String authToken = pCloudyCONNECTOR.authenticateUser(“uttam.kumar@sstsinc.com”, “sadf5sd5fds5sfd5a5fdas1”);
ArrayList selectedDevices = new ArrayList<>();

// Populate the selected Devices here
selectedDevices.add(MobileDevice.getNew(“Apple_iPad2_Ios_7.1.2”, 70, “iPad2”, “iPad 2”, “ios”, “7.1.2”, “Apple”));

// Book the selected devices in pCloudy
        BookingDtoDevice[] bookedDevicesIDs = pCloudyCONNECTOR.bookDevicesForAppium(authToken, selectedDevices, 5, “friendlySessionName”);
System.out.println(“Devices booked successfully”);

// Upload apk in pCloudy
PDriveFileDTO pDriveFile = pCloudyCONNECTOR.uploadApp(authToken, new File(appPath));
System.out.println(“ipa file uploaded successfully”);
pCloudyCONNECTOR.initAppiumHubForApp(authToken, pDriveFile);

// Get the endpoint from pCloudy

URL endpoint = pCloudyCONNECTOR.getAppiumEndpoint(authToken);
System.out.println(“Appium Endpoint:” + endpoint);

// Create multiple driver objects in multiple threads
for (int i = 0; i < bookedDevicesIDs.length; i++) {
Thread.sleep(5000);
new Thread(getTestCaseClass(endpoint, bookedDevicesIDs[i])).start();
}
}

private Runnable getTestCaseClass(final URL endpoint, final BookingDtoDevice dto) {
// this will give a Thread Safe TestScript class.
// You may also like to have this as a named class in a separate file

return new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability(“newCommandTimeout”, 600);
capabilities.setCapability(“launchTimeout”, 90000);
capabilities.setCapability(“deviceName”, dto.capabilities.deviceName);
capabilities.setCapability(“browserName”, dto.capabilities.deviceName);
capabilities.setCapability(“platformName”, “ios”);
capabilities.setCapability(“bundleId”, bundleId);
IOSDriver driver = new IOSDriver(endpoint, capabilities);
// Your Test Script Goes Here…
}
};
}

 

2. Rest APIs if needed to be used in platforms other than Java

 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcloudy-content-distribution/v2/API_USAGE_V2.pdf