Automate Testing of WaveMaker Mobile Apps Using Appium

---

Appium is an open-source tool for automating testing of native, mobile web, and hybrid applications on iOS mobile, Android mobile, and Windows desktop platforms.

WaveMaker mobile applications are hybrid mobile applications and can be easily tested using Appium. This document outlines the steps to configure mobile automation testing for React Native applications using Appium, Android Studio, and WebdriverIO.

Prerequisites

Ensure the following tools are installed and properly configured on your system before proceeding.

1 Node.js and npm

Install Node.js (v16 or higher is recommended), which comes with npm.

node -v
npm -v

Download: https://nodejs.org/

2 Java JDK

Install Java Development Kit (JDK) -- version 11 or above.

java -version

Download: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-downloads.html

3 Android Studio

Install Android Studio to get the Android SDK and emulator tools.

• Ensure ANDROID_HOME environment variable is set.
• Add the following paths to your environment variables:

export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools

Download: https://developer.android.com/studio

Note: Ensure you install the required SDK Platform Tools and emulator images from SDK Manager.

4 Appium

Install Appium globally using npm

npm install -g appium

Verify installation

appium -v

You can also use the Appium Desktop for GUI interaction : Download: https://github.com/appium/appium-desktop

5 WebdriverIO CLI

Install WebdriverIO CLI globally

npm install -g @wdio/cli

Create your project and run the configuration wizard

npx wdio config

During setup, it will ask to choose options for multiple parameters. Here are some of the important parameters you have to choose:

• Test Framework: Mocha or Jasmine
• Reporter: spec
• Services: appium
• Path: /wd/hub
• Test Framework: Mocha or Jasmine
• Reporter: spec
• Services: appium
• Path: /wd/hub

Project Setup

1. Initialize your test project (if not already)

npm init -y

2. Install required dependencies

npm install @wdio/cli @wdio/local-runner @wdio/mocha-framework @wdio/spec-reporter @wdio/appium-service appium --save-dev

3. Add test specs

Create your test file in ./test/specs/example.e2e.js

describe('React Native App Launch', () => {
    it('should launch the app and show the welcome screen', async () => {
        await expect($('~welcome')).toBeDisplayed();
    });
});

Sample WebdriverIO Configuration

Below is a sample wdio.conf.js for Android:

exports.config = {
    runner: 'local',
    path: '/wd/hub',
    specs: ['./test/specs/**/*.js'],
    maxInstances: 1,
    capabilities: [{
        platformName: 'Android',
        'appium:deviceName': 'Android Emulator',
        'appium:platformVersion': '11.0',
        'appium:app': '/path/to/your/app.apk',
        'appium:automationName': 'UiAutomator2'
    }],
    logLevel: 'info',
    framework: 'mocha',
    reporters: ['spec'],
    services: ['appium'],
};

Running the Tests

• Start the Android emulator from Android Studio or the CLI.
• Start Appium server

appium

• Run the WebdriverIO test.

npx wdio run wdio.conf.js

Quick Example

TestCase

This Test will attempt to log in to the application. We need to fill in the Username & Password and click on the Login button. We will verify if the Login is successful.

• Launch the application in the Android Studio emulator.
• Launch the Appium Inspector, and switch to uiautomatorviewer in the Appium Inspector.

• Obtain the AccessibilityIDs of Username, Password, and Log in button as shown in the above image.

login = async (username: string, password: string) => {
    const userNameField = await $('~username'); // Replace with actual accessibility ID or selector
    const passwordField = await $('~password'); // Replace with actual accessibility ID or selector
    const loginButton = await $('~login');      // Replace with actual accessibility ID or selector

    await userNameField.setValue(username);
    await passwordField.setValue(password);
    await driver.hideKeyboard(); // optional
    await loginButton.click();
};

Sample Automation Framework

We have created a sample automation framework to execute a single testcase. All you have to do is,

• Get the setup ready.
• Generate apk of an application.
• Clone or Download the zip from this repository. Appium test framework
• If downloaded, extract and start writing a testcase using the above mentioned process and execute it.

Execution