With an ever-growing number of Android devices, and Android apps, Organizations heavily rely on Android automation testing to guarantee flawless functionality across multiple platforms and ensure faster application delivery. Appium is considered one of the best open-source mobile app test automation frameworks that provide an efficient way to automate mobile applications and testing on multiple platforms, including iOS and Android.
It enables developers and testers to ensure that their applications are of high quality and deliver quality services based on expected functionality levels. Additionally, Appium simplifies the testing process as testers do not have to modify the codes for testing on different operating systems and devices. Android automation testing with Appium involves a detailed understanding of Appium to ensure effective and reliable test execution.
This Appium guide will provide testers with all the essential understanding to get started with Android automation testing using Appium. It will include what Appium is, its benefits, architecture, and working. It will also introduce some best practices that can help testers improve their Android testing. So, let’s start.
Understanding Appium
Appium is a go-to choice in the world of mobile app testing. It’s an open-source framework that allows testers to write a single test script in various programming languages and run it on multiple real devices or emulators/simulators.
It also provides a cross-platform solution for mobile automation as it uses the same API and, as a result, enables code reuse between Android, iOS, and Windows test scripts. Appium is designed to streamline UI automation across various app platforms. Its latest Appium 2.0 version has added cutting-edge features and enhancements that further augment UI automation across multiple platforms.
Types of mobile applications that Appium can automate
Appium mainly focuses on testing mobile applications (Android or IOS) and automates test cases for native, web, and hybrid applications.
Native mobile applications- These apps are built with a specific platform that is for Android, iOS, and Windows SDKs.
Mobile web applications- These web apps can be accessed only on mobile web browsers. They are built using web-based languages such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. They can also be accessed using in-app browsers for Android and iOS.
Hybrid mobile applications- These applications have the qualities of both native and web applications. They can be installed on native app devices and still can be accessed through browsers. Instagram, Uber, Gmail, etc., are some examples of such applications.
Fundamentals of Appium
- Some fundamental concepts of Appium are essential for understanding its functionality.
- W3C WebDriver Protocol- Appium is built on the W3C WebDriver protocol. This provides a standard way to communicate with mobile and web applications via the standardized set of control capabilities, allowing for a consistent API for automation tasks.
- UIAutomator and XCTest- Appium utilizes platform-specific automation engines such as UIAutomator, which is preferred for Android automation and XCUITest for iOS to interact with the UI elements of mobile applications.
- Decentralized Architecture- This allows direct communication between clients and multiple devices.
- Platform-Agnostic Drivers- This is a design approach in Appium where the drivers are decoupled from the core framework. This enables easier updates, independent development, and testing for each platform.
- Inspector Tools- Appium offers inspector tools like Appium Desktop and Appium Inspector that help testers inspect and identify the app’s UI elements for automation, making it easier to create and validate locators.
Why Appium for Android automation?
Other than Appium, there are many open-source frameworks available for automating mobile testing. However, to communicate with native mobile apps, most of them require an additional agent to compile application codes. In comparison, Appium allows communication between different apps without requiring the app to include any extra agents.
Some other reasons that set Appium apart from other mobile test automation frameworks are-
- Appium works like a server and runs in the background.
- Its built-in UI Automator allows testers to get detailed information logs and reporting structures.
- Appium makes it easier to automate any mobile app built in different programming languages and frameworks.
- It allows full access to back-end APIs and databases from test scripts.
- It syncs well with testing frameworks like TestNG.
- It is easier to perform regression testing of mobile apps with Appium.
- For mobile testing, it doesn’t require installation on mobile devices.
The architecture of the Appium
Knowing Appium’s architecture is important to understand its working. The key components that form the foundation of Appium’s architecture, are-
Appium Client: The Appium client contains language-specific libraries, empowering developers to create test automation scripts for mobile applications using Appium. The automation scripts contain the configuration details for running test cases.
Appium Server: It is an HTTP server that bridges the gap between the test script and the mobile application by receiving JSON-formatted command requests from the client, enabling the automation of mobile applications. Via a REST API, the server receives commands from the test script and translates them into automation actions specific to the targeted mobile devices.
End Device: They are emulators, simulators, and real devices connected to the Appium server where tests are run. They are responsible for validating the functionality and performance of mobile applications.
How Appium works on Android platforms
Appium testing on Android devices allows testers to ensure that the Android applications function as expected in real user conditions, helping to ensure optimal consistency in deliveries. Appium leverages the Mobile W3C Protocol, UIAutomator, and Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to effectively automate the testing of Android applications. Below is how Appium works on Android platforms:
Mobile W3C Protocol
Appium’s functionality on Android platforms is achieved by utilizing the Mobile W3C Protocol. This protocol facilitates handling communication between the client and server by transforming test commands from the client libraries into REST API requests.
Client-Server Communication
When a test script is executed, the test results are returned to the Appium server, relaying an HTTP response containing relevant status codes to the Appium client. The server then processes these commands and translates them into actions that can be performed on the connected Android device or emulator.
Interaction with Android Devices
Appium uses the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to interact with Android devices. This allows for various operations, including installing, and starting the app, and performing user actions like tapping, swiping, and entering text.
UI Automation
Appium uses the UIAutomator framework to test the Android user interface and automate Android devices. The UI Automator is a native UI automation tool provided by Android. The bootstrap.jar files in Appium Android enable the device to execute the commands using automation frameworks like Selendroid or UI Automator.
Test Execution Flow
- Appium follows a client-server model where the Appium client transmits the test commands to the Appium server.
- The server then processes and translates these commands into ADB calls.
- The ADB communicates with the Android device and executes those commands.
- Lastly, the device performs the actions, and test results are sent back to the Appium server, which then relays the relevant status codes and results to the Appium client.
Setting Up Appium for Android Testing
- Download the necessary components such as Appium Server, Appium Jar files, and Java for running the tests.
- After installing the necessary components on the system and setting the necessary environment variables.
- Next, define the desired capabilities which include a set of keys and value pairs sent by the client to the Appium server. These can either be set in the test code or the appium.txt files.
- These test codes aid in the writing of Appium test scripts needed to run Appium tests on Android devices.
- Write the Appium test scripts for the Android devices using the preferred programming language. Also, ensure that the scripts are tailored for the Android devices on which the testing needs to be done and that the developer mode option is enabled on these devices.
- Lastly, run tests on real Android devices to ensure they accurately reflect real user experiences. This is crucial for identifying UI issues and performance problems that may not appear on emulators.
Best Practices for Appium Android Automation Testing
Use Proper Wait Commands
One of the most common reasons for Appium test failures is the need for appropriate wait commands. Sometimes, an element may not be fully loaded or experiences delays between pages and wait commands, causing the test to fail. To avoid this timing issue, testers need to implement proper wait strategies, including explicit and implicit waits.
Explicit waits in Appium instruct the driver to pause before throwing an exception until an element is found, while implicit waits allow waiting for a specified duration before proceeding, repeatedly searching for the element until fully visible or until the specified time elapses.
Implement Page Object Model (POM)
The Page Object Model is a design pattern that systematically separates test logic from the intricacies of the application’s UI element locators. This enhances the maintainability of test scripts and promotes their reusability and readability.
The idea behind POM is to create a separate class for each page or screen in the app and use that class to interact with the page. This design pattern proves to be an effective tool for streamlining the testing process, as testers don’t need to update multiple test scripts. They only need to update the page object class, making scripts more adaptable to changes in the UI.
Parallelization for Speed and efficient test execution
The need for speed and efficiency in mobile test automation is paramount. Parallelization is the practice of running test scripts simultaneously on multiple devices, aligning perfectly with the goal. This approach not only expedites the process of identifying compatibility issues but also provides instant results.
Utilizing Appium Grid to run tests in parallel across multiple devices significantly accelerates the testing and development process, saving substantial time without compromising the quality of tests. However, to run tests in parallel, testers need to use a testing framework that supports it, frameworks such as TestNG or JUnit.
Run tests on real devices
To address the challenge of device fragmentation, testing teams face the critical challenge of ensuring the application’s functionality and reliability across various devices, operating systems, and browser combinations. Cloud-based testing services like LambdaTest offer an effective solution to this challenge by providing testers access to a wide range of real devices without the overhead of maintaining a physical device lab. This enables them to replicate the nuanced behavior of real devices, offering a more accurate reflection of real-world scenarios.
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test execution platform that allows testers to run their Appium scripts at scale on more than 3000 environments and real mobile devices of different screen sizes and resolutions online. It also allows for comprehensive cross-browser testing, both manual and automated, ensuring that applications are compatible with different browsers and versions. This is crucial for delivering a consistent user experience.
Testers can also perform automated testing in real time, helping to identify issues more efficiently and providing actionable insights for improvements. This real-time collaboration enables teams to share test results and feedback instantly, which, as a result, enhances communication and speeds up the development cycle.
Additionally testing across numerous devices and configurations simultaneously is made easier with this platform’s parallel test execution support, making it easier to scale testing efforts as applications grow. For teams working specifically on Android applications, the platform provides an Android emulator for Mac for quick testing and debugging during the development phase before deploying the app to real devices.
Handle mobile gestures and interactions
To handle mobile gestures, use Appium’s TouchAction class to accomplish sophisticated gestures, which include tapping, swiping, or pinching. Also, incorporate long-pressing or dragging gestures to simulate realistic user interactions. Lastly, testers can verify the correctness of gesture-based interactions by validating the resulting UI state or behavior.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Appium has become a widely used framework in testing mobile applications for iOS and Android. This quick start guide provides the foundational steps for running Android automation tests using Appium. It has also provided benefits and some best practices that test
ers can leverage to increase the efficiency and reliability of Appium Android automation testing.
