WebDriver for MobileApp testing

In this article, we will discuss how to test Mobile applications running on Android and iOS. It is easier to test Web based applications, because we can just open the browser and type the URL, then we are able to work on it. Mobile App testing is different, before launching the test script, we need to install the App package and open it in the first place.

To pass the App package, in WebEngine Framework, you can set it in AppId. There are two different possibilities:

  1. AppId format that supported by your cloud provider.
  2. Or to test locally, the APK pathdans les : c:\mypackage\appv1.0.apk

If you are connecting to a local Appium Server, the package file will be passed-through, so Appium server will install the package on the device and open it. If you are connecting to a remote Selenium Grid, make sure the AppId is understandable by remote server. All other parameters are exactly the same as WebDriver for Web based tests.

Note

When you are using Keyword driven test approach, the class TestSuiteApp handles automatically app package upload to supported cloud providers and converts AppId from local path to cloud provider understandable value.

Instead of using BrowserFactory for web based tests, we will use AppFactory for mobile app tests.

Native automation driver

Appium uses native automation drivers to interact with the applications. By default, WebEngine Framework uses following automation driver:

  • XCUITest on iOS devices
  • UIAutomation2 on Android devices

More automation driver could be considered in the future.

Connecting to local Appium Server

To connect to a local Appium Server which connects to a single device, we only need to specify the Server URL and the full path of the app package: 

var settings = AxaFrance.WebEngine.Settings.Instance;
settings.GridServerUrl = "http://localhost:4723/wd/hub";
settings.AppId = "C:\\app-packages\\myapp-1.0.apk";
var driver = AppFactory.GetDriver(AxaFrance.WebEngine.Platform.Android);

The above code snippet will install myapp-1.0.apk on the device and returns AndroidDriver so you can write test scripts based on it.

Connecting to On-Premise Selenium Grid

To test on on-premise selenium grid, you'll need to specify the Settings.Device and/or Settings.OsVersion

var settings = AxaFrance.WebEngine.Settings.Instance;
settings.GridServerUrl = "http://remote-server.internal:8080/wd/hub";
settings.AppId = "C:\\app-packages\\myapp-1.0.apk";
settings.Platform = Platform.Android;
settings.Device = "Android API 30";
//settings.OsVersion = "9.0";
var driver = AppFactory.GetDriver(AxaFrance.WebEngine.Platform.Android);

When using on-premises selenium grid, you need to copy or upload the app-package to an accessible location for your appium nodes. And transform AppId to the understandable form.

For example, using UNC paths: settings.AppId = "\\\\SeleniumShare\\package\\myapp-1.0.apk";

Connecting to BrowserStack

Browserstack is one of the supported cloud providers by the Framework. When *.browserstack.com as endpoint location, the framework will automaticaly upload local app package to broserstack platform and gets AppId in bs://<id> format. If you are working with Keyword driven test approach, the upload and conversation of AppId is automatic.