Appium Boilerplate

NOTE: This boilerplate is for Webdriver V8 where the tests are written with async/await and TypeScript. If you need a boilerplate for older versions, check the following:

• V7 (JavaScript) please click here
• V7 (TypeScript, sync mode) please click here

Boilerplate project to run Appium tests together with WebdriverIO for:

• iOS/Android Native Apps
• iOS/Android Hybrid Apps
• Android Chrome and iOS Safari browser (check here)

This boilerplate uses the WebdriverIO native demo app which can be found here. Note: This boilerplate only handles local execution on 1 em/simulator at a time, not parallel execution. For more info about that Google on setting up a grid with Appium.

Based on

This boilerplate is currently based on:

• WebdriverIO: 8.x
• Appium: 2.x

Installation

1. Running git clone https://github.com/webdriverio/appium-boilerplate.git
2. Running npm install
3. Installing Appium on a local machine here
4. Setting up Android and iOS on a local machine here
5. Making demo app available. Create a ./apps directory. Download the app files (.app / .apk) with version >= 0.4.0 here. Move the files into the directory apps.
6. Running tests npm run android.app or npm run android.browser

How to implement in your project

Choose one of the following options:

1. Clone the git repo — git clone https://github.com/webdriverio/appium-boilerplate.git
2. Then copy the files to your project directory (all files in /tests and the wdio.conf files in the config folder)
3. Merge project dev dependencies with your project dev dependencies in your package.json
4. Merge the scripts to your package.json scripts
5. Run the tests, see Native App Tests or Automating Chrome of Safari.

Configuration files

This boilerplate uses a specific config for iOS and Android, see configs. The configs are based on a shared config wdio.shared.conf.ts. This shared config holds all the defaults so the iOS and Android configs only need to hold the capabilities and specs that are needed for running on iOS and or Android (app or browser).

Please check the wdio.shared.conf.ts-file for the minimal configuration options. Notes are added for why a different value has been selected in comparison to the default values WebdriverIO provides.

Since we do not have Appium installed as part of this package we are going to use the globally installed version of Appium. This is configured in wdio.shared.local.appium.conf.ts.

Locator strategy for native apps

The locator strategy for this boilerplate is to use accessibilityID's, see also the WebdriverIO docs or this newsletter on AppiumPro. accessibilityID's makes it easy to script once and run on iOS and Android because most of the apps already have some accessibilityID's.

If accessibilityID's can't be used, and for example only XPATH is available, then the following setup could be used to make cross-platform selectors

const SELECTORS = {
    WEB_VIEW_SCREEN: browser.isAndroid
        ? '*//android.webkit.WebView'
        : '*//XCUIElementTypeWebView',
};

NOTE: If you look into the screen/page-objects you might see that a lot of selectors are made private, meaning you can use the elements in the spec-file itself. This has been done on purpose because one of the best practices is to remove all interactions from your spec files and implement the interactions in the page objects. This will make it easier to maintain for the future and easier to refactor if new interaction methods will be added or names will be adjusted.

Native App Tests

All tests can be executed on the devices as configured in wdio.android.app.conf.ts or wdio.ios.app.conf.ts. Please check the below tests on what they do or how to run them separately.

# For Android local execution
npm run android.app

# For iOS local execution
npm run ios.app

Drag And Drop

Drag-and-drop an element can be a complex gesture to automate with Appium. The demo app has a simple puzzle that hopefully makes it easier and fun to understand how to implement a drag-and-drop in WebdriverIO. The test can be found here and the drag-and-drop implementation can be found in [this](./tests/screenobjects DragScreen.ts) file.

This file will now only hold the touchAction way of using the drag and drop Gesture. The touchPerform is the old JSONWP way of implementing a gesture and is not W3C compatible. The touchAction is the new official W3C implementation of a gesture.

You can run the single test with the following commands

# For Android local execution
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.drag.and.drop.spec.ts

# For iOS local execution
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.drag.and.drop.spec.ts

Form components

The forms tab holds some components that might be a challenge during automation:

• Input fields
• Switches
• Dropdowns / Pickers
• Native alerts

The tests and used page objects hopefully explain what you need to do to make this work and can be found here.

You can run the single test with the following commands

# For Android local execution
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.forms.spec.ts

# For iOS local execution
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.forms.spec.ts

Login with Biometric support

The Login screen holds a simple implementation of a Login and SignUp form. This boilerplate holds 2 different test files for the Login screen.

• Default Login/Sign Up
• Login through Touch-/FaceID or FingerPrint (Biometric Support)

The last one can be very interesting because it will give you an idea of what you need to do when you need to log in with Touch-/FaceID or FingerPrint. The app.biometric.login.spec.ts will also enable Touch-/FaceID if needed automatically for you for Android Emulators or iOS Simulators. It covers almost all platform versions.

NOTE: The methods rely on the fact that the Android Emulator or iOS Simulator have English as the default language. If you have set up your test devices with a different language you might need to change certain selectors and or texts for the selectors.

You can run the single test with the following commands

# For Android local execution
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.login.spec.ts
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.biometric.login.spec.ts

# For iOS local execution
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.login.spec.ts
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.biometric.login.spec.ts

Navigation

There are 2 types of navigation tests explained in this boilerplate.

1. Tab Bar
2. Deep Links

The most interesting test here will be the Deep Links because this might speed up your tests if your app supports Deep Links. Check the code and the openDeepLinkUrl() method in the Utils.ts-file to see how this works.

PRO TIP: If you are automating iOS apps and you can use Deep Links, then you might want to try adding the capability autoAcceptAlerts:true when you start the iOS device. This capability will automatically accept all alerts, also the alert that will appear when you want to open your deep link in Safari.

If you ware going to use this capability, then don't forget to remove the last few lines in the openDeepLinkUrl()-method, see the comments in the method

You can run the single test with the following commands

# For Android local execution
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.tab.bar.navigation.spec.ts
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.deep.link.navigation.spec.ts

# For iOS local execution
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.tab.bar.navigation.spec.ts
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.deep.link.navigation.spec.ts

Swiping

Swiping is a movement with your finger on the screen that has a starting position on the screen, an x-, and y-coordinate and an end position, also an x-, and y-coordinate. The starting position can be seen as the first time you touch the screen, the initial press. The end position can be seen as the time you release the screen. If you translate this into steps you will get:

1. Press your finger on the screen in the starting position
2. Move your finger to the end position
3. Release your finger when you are in the end position

The Swipe test will be an example of how to do that. It uses a Gesture-helper that might be useful for you in the future.

If you want to know more about Gestures and how to automate them, then we would advise you to watch this presentation "Swiping your way through Appium by Wim Selles".

You can run the single test with the following commands

# For Android local execution
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.swipe.spec.ts

# For iOS local execution
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.swipe.spec.ts

WebViews

The app has a WebView that will automatically load the WebdriverIO documentation page. This boilerplate holds 2 test files:

1. Interact within a WebView with CSS Selectors. You will also find a test that interacts between a WebView and the Native part of the app.

2. Automate a WebView based on Native Selectors. This test will compare the execution time of:

   • automating the WebView by NOT switching to the WebView (by using native selectors).
   • automating the WebView by SWITCHING to the WebView.

   Check the console for load time differences. An example time could look like this

   // Android
   [0-0] RUNNING in Android - /tests/specs/app.webview.xpath.spec.ts
   [0-0] Test time for using XPATH It took 0.799 seconds.
   [0-0] Test time for switching to the WebView It took 0.238 seconds.
   [0-0] PASSED in Android - /tests/specs/app.webview.xpath.spec.ts
   
   // iOS
   [0-0] RUNNING in iOS - /tests/specs/app.webview.xpath.spec.ts
   [0-0] Test time for using XPATH It took 3.125 seconds.
   [0-0] Test time for switching to the WebView It took 1.443 seconds.
   [0-0] PASSED in iOS - /tests/specs/app.webview.xpath.spec.ts
   

You will also find a WebView-helper with hopefully useful methods that can help you automate a Hybrid App. Keep in the back of your mind that for the simplicity of the Demo app, only one WebView is used. This is also used in the WebView-helper.

More information about Automating Hybrid Applications with Appium and more complex WebViews can be found in this webinar recording.

You can run the single test with the following commands

# For Android local execution
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.webview.spec.ts
npm run android.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.webview.xpath.spec.ts

# For iOS local execution
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.webview.spec.ts
npm run ios.app -- --spec=tests/specs/app.webview.xpath.spec.ts

Automating Chrome or Safari

Mobile web automation is almost the same as writing tests for desktop browsers. The only difference can be found in the configuration that needs to be used. Click here to find the config for iOS Safari and here for Android Chrome. For Android be sure that the latest version of Chrome is installed, see also here. Our wdio.shared.local.appium.conf.ts uses the relaxedSecurity: true argument from Appium which will allow Appium to automatically download the latest ChromeDriver.

For this boilerplate, the test cases from the Jasmine boilerplate, created by Christian Bromann, are used.

Cloud vendors

Sauce Labs

If you want to run the Native App tests on Sauce Labs you need to do 2 things:

• Add the Sauce Service to your project
• Upload the apps to the Sauce Labs Storage

When the above has been executed you can follow the steps:

• Run app tests on the Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud
• Run app tests on the Sauce Labs Emulators and Simulators

Add Sauce Service

Make sure you install the latest version of the @wdio/sauce-service with

npm install --save-dev @wdio/sauce-service

and add services: ['sauce'], to the config. If no region is provided it will automatically default to the US-Virtual/RDC cloud. If you provide region: 'us' or region: 'eu' it will connect to the US or the EU Virtual/RDC cloud.

Upload apps to Sauce Storage

If you want to use Android emulators, iOS simulators or Android real devices in the Sauce Labs UI you need to upload the apps to the Sauce Storage. You can find a script to upload them to, and the US, and EU DC in this folder. You can push the files to the storage by executing the following steps in a terminal from the root of this project:

cd scripts
./push_apps_to_sauce_storage.sh

When you've done that you will see a lot of successful logs in your terminal.

Run app tests on the Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud

NOTE: Due to signing iOS Real Devices are not supported. Only Android Real Devices are supported.

Please check the Android Real Devices-config to see the setup for Android real devices.

You can use the following scripts, see the package.json, to execute the tests in the cloud:

# For Android Real Devices
# On EU DC
npm run android.sauce.rdc.app.eu
# On US DC
npm run android.sauce.rdc.app.us

Run app tests on the Sauce Labs Emulators and Simulators

Please check the following configs to verify the configurations:

• Android Emulators
• iOS Simulators

The following scripts can be used, see the package.json, to execute the tests in the cloud:

# For Android Emulators
# On EU DC
npm run android.sauce.emulators.app.eu
# On US DC
npm run android.sauce.emulators.app.us
# For Android Real Devices
# On EU DC
npm run android.sauce.rdc.app.eu
# On US DC
npm run android.sauce.rdc.app.us

# For iOS
# On EU DC
npm run ios.sauce.simulator.app.eu
# On US DC
npm run ios.sauce.simulator.app.us

BrowserStack

This boilerplate provides a setup for testing with BrowserStack. Please check the BrowserStack folder to see the setup for iOS and Android.

Make sure you install the latest version of the @wdio/browserstack-service with:

npm install --save-dev @wdio/browserstack-service

There are 2 scripts that can be used. See the package.json to execute the tests in the cloud:

# For iOS
$ npm run ios.browserstack.app

# For Android
$ npm run android.browserstack.app

TestingBot

This boilerplate provides a setup for testing with TestingBot. Please check the TestingBot-folder to see the setup for Android.

Make sure you install the latest version of the @wdio/testingbot-service with

npm install --save-dev @wdio/testingbot-service

You can use the script from package.json, to execute the tests in the TestingBot cloud:

$ npm run android.testingbot.app

FAQ

See FAQ

Tips and Tricks

See Tips and Tricks