In this course, you will learn the basics of Appium, and start your journey of Android & iOS mobile and m-web apps automation.

appium.tar.gz

emulator

Testing the mobile application is generally time-consuming when done for each new release and across devices of various resolutions and versions. Test automation is the most common and effective way to simulate the actual user journey and business use-cases for any application.

In this course, you’ll start by learning the basics of Appium, setting up the environment, native mobile testing frameworks like UIAutomator, XCUITest, locators, and then move on to learn about designing a mobile test automation framework and its various components like build management, logging, and reporting, which are key learnings for any QA engineer or developer. 

By the end of this course, you will be able to automate Android & iOS mobile and m-web apps.

Mobile Test Automation with Appium

# What are capabilities?

**Capabilities** or **DesiredCapabilities** are simple key-value pairs encoded as JSON objects. These capabilities are sent by the client to the server, which could be a **ChromeDriver** service,  **GeckoDriver** service, **EdgeDriver** service, or **AppiumDriver** service, to tell the server how the test should work and what features or capabilities to enable.

Every driver will have their own set of capabilities.

The following is a sample `DesiredCapabilities` JSON that the client requests from the Appium service for creating an `AndroidDriver` to test mobile web browsers.
  
```
{
  "browserName": "Chrome",
  "platformName": "Android",
  "deviceName": "Emulator",
  "udid": "emulator-5554",
  "automationName": "UIAutomator2"
}
```

We can search for the capabilities at [https://caps.cloudgrey.io](https://caps.cloudgrey.io).

## Capabilities for Android app automation

The following table shows the capabilities with respect to automating Android applications:

<div style="font-size: 0.85em">

|	**Capability Name**     |			**Description**			|	**Possible Values**	|
|		----			|			------				|		-----		|
| 	`automationName`	| 	automation engine to use	|  	UiAutomator2 	|
| 	`platformName`		|	mobile OS platform to use	|  	Android			|
|	`platformVersion`		| 	mobile OS version			| 	7.1, 4.4, etc.	|
|	`deviceName`			|	kind of mobile device or emulator to use	|	Android Emulator, Galaxy S4, etc.... |	
| 	`app`					| 	absolute path of an .apk file or a .zip file that contains the .apk file or publicly hosted .zip file	| /path/.apk or /path/.zip or http://.../app.apk  |
|	`otherApps`			|	app or list of apps (as a JSON array) to install at the start of running tests. It could be a local file or publicly hosted app | [ "/path/.apk", "http://.../app.apk"  ] |
|	`autoLaunch`			|	initializes the app to test automatically. Defaults to true	|	true or false	|
|	`appActivity`			|	name of the activity to launch at the start of the session when `autoLaunch` is set to `true`. By default, it is inferred from the `app` if passed	||
|	`appPackage`			|	Java package of the app under test. By default, it is inferred from the `app` if passed 	| 
|	`udid`				|	unique device identifier of the connected physical device	|	e.g. emulator-5554,  4sfdawg456 |
|	`autoWebview`			|	move directly into `WebView` context. Default to false		|	true or false	|
|	`noReset`				|	do not reset app state before this session				| true or false	|
|	`fullReset`				|	performs a complete reset 				|	true or false	| 
| 	`chromedriverExecutable`	|	absolute local path to webdriver executable 		| 	/abs/path/to/webdriver |
|	`unicodeKeyboard`		|	enable Unicode input. Defaults to false		|	true or false	|
|	`resetKeyboard`		|	resets keyboard to its original state after running Unicode tests with `unicodeKeyboard` capability. Default to `false`	|	true or false |
|	`nativeWebScreenshot`	|	in a web context, use native (adb) method for taking a screenshot than proxying to `ChromeDriver`. Defaults -- false | true or false |
|	`autoGrantPermissions`	|	automatically determines which permissions your app requires and grants them to the app on install. Defaults to false |	true or false |
|	`networkSpeed`		|	sets the network speed emulation.	Defaults to full |	"full", "gsm", "edge", "hscsd", "gprs", "umts", "hsdpa", "lte", "evdo" |

</div>

There are more capabilities other than what is mentioned above. Follow these links – [general-capabilities](http://appium.io/docs/en/writing-running-appium/caps/#general-capabilities), [android-only](http://appium.io/docs/en/writing-running-appium/caps/#android-only), [uiautomator-capabilities](https://github.com/appium/appium-uiautomator2-driver) - to learn more.

`app` is needed when `fullReset` is set to `true`. `appPackage` and `appActivity` are not needed if `app` is set. Either `app` or `appActivity` and `appPackage` are mandatory. 

### Finding app package & app activity

`appPackage` and `appActivity` are needed if we do not have the `.apk` file and launch and test an already existing app installed on the device. But they aren't necessary if we have the `.apk` file as **Appium** will infer them.

We can find `appPackage` and `appActivity` in two ways:

* Using `aapt` command
* Manually by launching the app

#### Using `aapt` command

To use the `aapt` command, we need the `.apk` file. 

If we want to fetch the `.apk` file of an already installed application on the device, run the following command and search for the app name that we want to test.

```
$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell pm list packages -f
```

> **Note:** Replace **$ANDROID_HOME** with **%ANDROID_HOME%** if you are using a Windows machine.  

For demonstration, let us find the `appPackage` and `appActivity` for the app `Youtube`. 


The line that watches with the text **"Youtube"**, in the response of the above command, should look something like this:

```
package:/system/product/app/YouTube/YouTube.apk=com.google.android.youtube
``` 

For copying the installed app to our local machine using `adb pull`, run the following command:

```
$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb pull /system/product/app/YouTube/YouTube.apk youtube.apk
```

Now once we have the `.apk`file, we can find the `appPackage` and `appActivity` using `aapt`.

`aapt` will be present at `$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/30.0.3/aapt`, where `30.0.3` might change as per your local installation.

Run the following command and search for the texts `launchable-activity` and `package` to find the values of `aapActivity` and `appPackage` respectively.

```
aapt dump badging youtube.apk
```

#### Manually by launching the app

Incase `launchable-activity` is not showing up in the response of the above command, we can manually launch and monitor the app using the command `adb log` to see the activity that is launched when the application is starting.  

We can look for the line that contains `ActivityTaskManager` and the package name we found using `aapt` command. It should look something like below:

```
I ActivityTaskManager: Displayed com.google.android.youtube/com.google.android.apps.youtube.app.WatchWhileActivity
```

From the above text, we find `com.google.android.apps.youtube.app.WatchWhileActivity` is the `appActivity`.


# What are capabilities?

**Capabilities** or **DesiredCapabilities** are simple key-value pairs encoded as JSON objects. These capabilities are sent by the client to the server, which could be a **ChromeDriver** service,  **GeckoDriver** service, **EdgeDriver** service, or **AppiumDriver** service, to tell the server how the test should work and what features or capabilities to enable.

Every driver will have their own set of capabilities.

The following is a sample `DesiredCapabilities` JSON that the client requests from the Appium service for creating an `AndroidDriver` to test mobile web browsers.
  
```
{
  "browserName": "Chrome",
  "platformName": "Android",
  "deviceName": "Emulator",
  "udid": "emulator-5554",
  "automationName": "UIAutomator2"
}
```

We can search for the capabilities at [https://caps.cloudgrey.io](https://caps.cloudgrey.io).

## Capabilities for Android app automation

The following table shows the capabilities with respect to automating Android applications:

<div>

|	**Capability Name**     |			**Description**			|	**Possible Values**	|
|		----			|			------				|		-----		|
| 	`automationName`	| 	automation engine to use	|  	UiAutomator2 	|
| 	`platformName`		|	mobile OS platform to use	|  	Android			|
|	`platformVersion`		| 	mobile OS version			| 	7.1, 4.4, etc.	|
|	`deviceName`			|	kind of mobile device or emulator to use	|	Android Emulator, Galaxy S4, etc.... |	
| 	`app`					| 	absolute path of an .apk file or a .zip file that contains the .apk file or publicly hosted .zip file	| /path/.apk or /path/.zip or http://.../app.apk  |
|	`otherApps`			|	app or list of apps (as a JSON array) to install at the start of running tests. It could be a local file or publicly hosted app | [ "/path/.apk", "http://.../app.apk"  ] |
|	`autoLaunch`			|	initializes the app to test automatically. Defaults to true	|	true or false	|
|	`appActivity`			|	name of the activity to launch at the start of the session when `autoLaunch` is set to `true`. By default, it is inferred from the `app` if passed	||
|	`appPackage`			|	Java package of the app under test. By default, it is inferred from the `app` if passed 	| 
|	`udid`				|	unique device identifier of the connected physical device	|	e.g. emulator-5554,  4sfdawg456 |
|	`autoWebview`			|	move directly into `WebView` context. Default to false		|	true or false	|
|	`noReset`				|	do not reset app state before this session				| true or false	|
|	`fullReset`				|	performs a complete reset 				|	true or false	| 
| 	`chromedriverExecutable`	|	absolute local path to webdriver executable 		| 	/abs/path/to/webdriver |
|	`unicodeKeyboard`		|	enable Unicode input. Defaults to false		|	true or false	|
|	`resetKeyboard`		|	resets keyboard to its original state after running Unicode tests with `unicodeKeyboard` capability. Default to `false`	|	true or false |
|	`nativeWebScreenshot`	|	in a web context, use native (adb) method for taking a screenshot than proxying to `ChromeDriver`. Defaults -- false | true or false |
|	`autoGrantPermissions`	|	automatically determines which permissions your app requires and grants them to the app on install. Defaults to false |	true or false |
|	`networkSpeed`		|	sets the network speed emulation.	Defaults to full |	"full", "gsm", "edge", "hscsd", "gprs", "umts", "hsdpa", "lte", "evdo" |

</div>

There are more capabilities other than what is mentioned above. Follow these links – [general-capabilities](http://appium.io/docs/en/writing-running-appium/caps/#general-capabilities), [android-only](http://appium.io/docs/en/writing-running-appium/caps/#android-only), [uiautomator-capabilities](https://github.com/appium/appium-uiautomator2-driver) - to learn more.

`app` is needed when `fullReset` is set to `true`. `appPackage` and `appActivity` are not needed if `app` is set. Either `app` or `appActivity` and `appPackage` are mandatory. 

### Finding app package & app activity

`appPackage` and `appActivity` are needed if we do not have the `.apk` file and launch and test an already existing app installed on the device. But they aren't necessary if we have the `.apk` file as **Appium** will infer them.

We can find `appPackage` and `appActivity` in two ways:

* Using `aapt` command
* Manually by launching the app

#### Using `aapt` command

To use the `aapt` command, we need the `.apk` file. 

If we want to fetch the `.apk` file of an already installed application on the device, run the following command and search for the app name that we want to test.

```
$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell pm list packages -f
```

> **Note:** Replace **$ANDROID_HOME** with **%ANDROID_HOME%** if you are using a Windows machine.  

For demonstration, let us find the `appPackage` and `appActivity` for the app `Youtube`. 


The line that watches with the text **"Youtube"**, in the response of the above command, should look something like this:

```
package:/system/product/app/YouTube/YouTube.apk=com.google.android.youtube
``` 

For copying the installed app to our local machine using `adb pull`, run the following command:

```
$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb pull /system/product/app/YouTube/YouTube.apk youtube.apk
```

Now once we have the `.apk`file, we can find the `appPackage` and `appActivity` using `aapt`.

`aapt` will be present at `＄ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/30.0.3/aapt`, where `30.0.3` might change as per your local installation.

Run the following command and search for the texts `launchable-activity` and `package` to find the values of `aapActivity` and `appPackage` respectively.

```
aapt dump badging youtube.apk
```

#### Manually by launching the app

Incase `launchable-activity` is not showing up in the response of the above command, we can manually launch and monitor the app using the command `adb log` to see the activity that is launched when the application is starting.  

We can look for the line that contains `ActivityTaskManager` and the package name we found using `aapt` command. It should look something like below:

```
I ActivityTaskManager: Displayed com.google.android.youtube/com.google.android.apps.youtube.app.WatchWhileActivity
```

From the above text, we find `com.google.android.apps.youtube.app.WatchWhileActivity` is the `appActivity`.


Get introduced to capabilities for testing android apps and mobile web on android phones.

Capability Name	Description	Possible Values
`automationName`	automation engine to use	UiAutomator2
`platformName`	mobile OS platform to use	Android
`platformVersion`	mobile OS version	7.1, 4.4, etc.
`deviceName`	kind of mobile device or emulator to use	Android Emulator, Galaxy S4, etc…
`app`	absolute path of an .apk file or a .zip file that contains the .apk file

__default

Example - Android App and Mobile Web Automation

What are capabilities?

Capabilities for Android app automation