Getting Started with Appium for iOS Java on macOS in 10 Minutes

The second article from the Appium Series is going to be about testing iOS apps. I am going to show you how to configure your machine to test iOS applications – prerequisite installations and setup of simulators. After that, you will find how to start your application on the simulator and perform actions on it.

What Is Appium?

Appium is an open source test automation framework for use with native, hybrid and mobile web apps. It drives iOS, Android, and Windows apps using the WebDriver protocol. It is the “standard” for mobile test automation.

Machine Setup

1. Install Java Development Kit (JDK) version 7 or above

2. Install NodeJs

3. Install Appium from the terminal (skip if you install Appium Desktop)

npm install -g appium

4. Install Appium Desktop (optional)

5. Install Xcode from the Mac App Store

Start iOS App in Simulator

You need to make sure that the Appium server is started and listening on port 4723. 

private static IOSDriver < IOSElement > driver;
@BeforeClass
public void classInit() throws URISyntaxException, MalformedURLException {
  URL testAppUrl = getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("TestApp.app.zip");
  File testAppFile = Paths.get(Objects.requireNonNull(testAppUrl).toURI()).toFile();
  String testAppPath = testAppFile.getAbsolutePath();
  var desiredCaps = new DesiredCapabilities();
  desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, "iPhone 12 Pro Max");
  desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, "iOS");
  desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_VERSION, "14.4");
  desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, testAppPath);
  driver = new IOSDriver < IOSElement > (new URL("http://127.0.0.1:4723/wd/hub"), desiredCaps);
  driver.closeApp();
}
@BeforeMethod
public void testInit() {
  if (driver != null) {
    driver.launchApp();
  }
}
@AfterMethod
public void testCleanup() {
  if (driver != null) {
    driver.closeApp();
  }
}

After the driver is initialised we closed if the app is open. Then before each test, we launch the app.

Start Appium Service with Code

Instead of starting Appium server manually, we can start it from code.

appiumLocalService = new AppiumServiceBuilder().usingAnyFreePort().build();
appiumLocalService.start();

Get Path to Test App

The apk file is copied from the Resources folder to the compiled binaries. This is how we get the path.

URL testAppUrl = getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("TestApp.app.zip");
File testAppFile = Paths.get(Objects.requireNonNull(testAppUrl).toURI()).toFile();
String testAppPath = testAppFile.getAbsolutePath();

Initialize Appium Options

URL testAppUrl = getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("TestApp.app.zip");
File testAppFile = Paths.get(Objects.requireNonNull(testAppUrl).toURI()).toFile();
String testAppPath = testAppFile.getAbsolutePath();
var desiredCaps = new DesiredCapabilities();
desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, "iPhone 8");
desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, "iOS");
desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_VERSION, "14.4");
desiredCaps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, testAppPath);

driver = new IOSDriver<IOSElement>(new URL("http://127.0.0.1:4723/wd/hub"), desiredCaps);

Find iOS Locators with Appium Desktop

Appium provides you with a neat tool that allows you to find the elements you’re looking for. With Appium Desktop you can find any item and its locators by either clicking the element on the screenshot image or locating it in the source tree.

After launching Appium Desktop and starting a session, you can locate any element in the source. 

Locating Elements with Appium

• By ID

    IOSElement textField = driver.findElementById("IntegerA");
    ```
    
-   #### By Class
    
```java
    IOSElement textField = driver.findElementByClassName("XCUIElementTypeTextField");
    ```
    
-   #### By Name
    
```java
    IOSElement textField = driver.findElementByName("IntegerA");
    ```
    
-   #### By XPath
    
```java
    IOSElement button = driver.findElementByXPath("//XCUIElementTypeButton[@name='ComputeSumButton']");
    ```
    
-   #### By IosNsPredicate
    
```java
    IOSElement button = driver.findElementByIosNsPredicate("type == \"XCUIElementTypeButton\" AND name == \"ComputeSumButton\"");
    ```
    

### Locate Elements using IOSDriver

```csharp
@Test
public void addTwoNumbersTest() {
  var numberOne = driver.findElementByName("IntegerA");
  var numberTwo = driver.findElementByName("IntegerB");
  var compute = driver.findElementByName("ComputeSumButton");
  var answer = driver.findElementByName("Answer");
  numberOne.clear();
  numberOne.setValue("5");
  numberTwo.clear();
  numberTwo.setValue("6");
  compute.click();
  Assert.assertEquals("11", answer.getAttribute("value"));
}

You just need to call the f****indElementBy methods of the IOSDriver to locate the elements.

Locate Elements inside Parent

@Test
public void locatingElementsInsideAnotherElementTest() {
  var mainElement = driver.findElementByIosNsPredicate("type == \"XCUIElementTypeApplication\" AND name == \"TestApp\"");
  var numberOne = mainElement.findElementById("IntegerA");
  var numberTwo = mainElement.findElementById("IntegerB");
  var compute = mainElement.findElementByName("ComputeSumButton");
  var answer = mainElement.findElementByName("Answer");
  numberOne.clear();
  numberOne.setValue("5");
  numberTwo.clear();
  numberTwo.setValue("6");
  compute.click();
  Assert.assertEquals("11", answer.getAttribute("value"));
}

You have similar f****indElementBy methods on element level so that you can find elements inside other elements.

Gesture Actions in Appium

To perform any touch actions, we use the special TouchAction class. You can use it to do a series of steps simultaneously.

Swipe

@Test
public void swipeTest() {
  TouchAction touchAction = new TouchAction(driver);
  var element = driver.findElementById("IntegerA");
  Point point = element.getLocation();
  Dimension size = element.getSize();
  touchAction.press(PointOption.point(point.getX() + 5, point.getY() + 5))
    .waitAction(WaitOptions.waitOptions(Duration.ofMillis(200)))
    .moveTo(PointOption.point(point.getX() + size.getWidth() - 5, point.getY() + size.getHeight() - 5))
    .release()
    .perform();
}

MoveTo

@Test
public void moveToTest() {
  TouchAction touchAction = new TouchAction(driver);
  var element = driver.findElementById("IntegerA");
  Point point = element.getLocation();
  touchAction.moveTo(PointOption.point(point)).perform();
}

Tap

@Test
public void tapTest() {
  TouchAction touchAction = new TouchAction(driver);
  var element = driver.findElementById("IntegerA");
  Point point = element.getLocation();
  touchAction.tap(TapOptions.tapOptions().withPosition(PointOption.point(point)).withTapsCount(2)).perform();
}