Debugging Techniques For Appium Test Tips For Success

Test automation is becoming increasingly popular daily as organizations want an enterprise automation testing suite to enable faster software development. Many frameworks, such as Puppeteer, Cypress, and Selenium, provide automated testing. However, organizations might take time to evaluate hybrid, mobile, and native applications. 

To complete their release cycles effectively, organizations frequently use Appium-like solutions, which automate the tasks mentioned above and improve debugging.  Learn how to use essential approaches for debugging in Appium with this brief tutorial.

Appium Mobile Testing: Why Is It So Popular?

Appium has gained enormous traction among developers and testers globally because of its features and advantages, solidifying its position as the preferred choice for dependable and effective app testing.

• Cross-Platform Compatibility

Appium mobile testing offers remarkable cross-platform compatibility, enabling testing across a range of platforms, including desktop (macOS, Windows), TV (Roku, tvOS, Android TV, Samsung), web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), iOS, Android, Tizen, and more. Teams can save time and work by writing test scripts only once and having them run smoothly across several platforms. To scale the cross-platform compatibility, you can use cloud-based platforms like LambdaTest. LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale with over 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations.

• Popular Programming Languages Supported

The Appium mobile testing framework can support several well-known programming languages, including Java, Ruby, Python, and others. Because they may use their current frameworks and coding knowledge, testers, and developers can easily switch to Appium.

• Free & Open Source

Appium is an open-source framework that encourages creativity and guarantees transparency by allowing users to view and alter the source code as needed. Organizations of various sizes and budgets can use Appium because it is free.

• Sturdy and Expandable Ecosystem

Appium’s architecture makes customization and extensibility simple. Anyone can now develop and distribute Appium drivers for new platforms with Appium 2.0, continually enhancing the framework’s functionality. Plugins encourage creativity and flexibility by enabling developers to alter and expand Appium’s features.

Support for Both Native and Web Applications

Appium is proficient in automating web and native applications, offering an extensive feature set to manage a wide range of testing scenarios. Because of its adaptability, Appium is a valuable tool for testing various applications.

Appium Test Tips For Success

Here are some tips that you need to keep in mind to be successful – 

Entire Test Plan

Establishing a thorough test strategy before delving into Appium’s mobile automation testing features is essential. Determine the extent of your testing, considering the network circumstances, supported devices, and operating systems. 

Ensure your test suite covers user scenarios, edge cases, and potential problems. Work with stakeholders, developers, and designers to fully comprehend the app’s operation. A clearly defined strategy guarantees optimized test coverage and streamlined testing procedures.

Choosing the accurate Equipment

Testing your app on each gadget available might be a daunting task. Due to this, it’s essential to organize the devices based on your target demographic’s popularity and usage habits. You can quickly test your app on iOS and Android devices thanks to Appium’s cross-platform features, which is very useful for reaching a broader user base. 

Furthermore, cloud-based testing services are a perfect choice. They make the testing process more productive and efficient by providing access to various real devices. These techniques ensure your app has been extensively tested and is prepared for use by your intended user base.

Configuring the Appium Environment

To guarantee the success of your mobile app testing, you must have an Appium environment set up correctly. It entails getting the most recent versions of Appium and Appium server and the necessary drivers for iOS and Android. 

Setting up the required development tools, such as Xcode and the Android SDK. You can make sure that your tests run well and reduce the possibility of any compatibility problems by following these procedures.

Designing Test Cases Effectively

A good Appium testing strategy’s foundation is creating strong test cases. Test cases should be precise and concise, covering a range of user actions within the application.

Sort test cases into priority lists according to how they affect essential app features and user experience. To reduce redundancy and streamline test maintenance, make reusable test components as well.

Await Test Stabilization Strategies

Variations in device performance or latency in the network can cause disparities in responsiveness for mobile applications. To solve this problem, you must include wait strategies in the test scripts. Doing this makes the tests more stable, giving the program more time to load before interacting with the items. 

To guarantee dependable and accurate test execution waits that are explicit, implicit, or customized by the application’s behavior must be used. This strategy can enhance the app’s quality and offer a more satisfying user experience.

Making Use of the Page Object Model (POM)

The Page Object Model is another design pattern encouraging legible and manageable test code. POM encapsulates app parts and activities in distinct classes, minimizing code duplication and improving test scripts’ readability. 

Developers can adapt the associated page objects to changes in the application’s user interface (UI) without impacting the entire test suite.

Tests Driven by Data

To make sure that every feature is accurately tested across a range of scenarios, it is imperative that you extensively test your application using a variety of data sets. Using data-driven testing techniques, which use external data sources like Excel or CSV files to input test data, is one efficient way to accomplish this. 

Using this method, you may perform a single test using several data sets, saving a lot of time and effort compared to conducting numerous tests. Using these strategies, you can ensure your application works properly in any scenario and offers a satisfying user experience.

Record-keeping and Documentation

Debugging and analysis require efficient reporting and logging systems. Appium offers a range of logging options that record comprehensive details about the execution of tests, facilitating the identification of faults and failures. 

Furthermore, incorporate reporting frameworks or plugins to produce thorough test reports emphasizing test outcomes, pass rates, and possible problems.

Debugging In Appium

One of the main functions of Appium is debugging. It makes possible several test debugging strategies, such as:

• Logs for devices and video recording
• Screenshot of Tests That Failed
• Live logging using the console or CLI
• Logs of Text

Let us see how to automate Appium debugging – 

1. Device logs and video recording

Video footage of mobile app test cases being executed can be quite significant. These would not only help debug issues more successfully, but we could also use recorded movies to show internal stakeholders how to carry out tests. 

These recorded videos can also be added to the project management application while creating bugs, which helps to understand the bug better.

2. Screenshot of Tests That Failed

The easiest and fastest way to debug your automated testing script is to use screenshots. It is intended to take a screenshot of the smartphone screen when the Appium test script fails. As a result, we can rapidly identify the location and reason for our test case failure during troubleshooting by referring to the screenshots.

Pytest allows hook configuration; to do this, place a file called conftest.py in the root folder containing the tests to be run. It gives us the ability to create Python code that will locate test files, run them, and collect the results of the test execution.

3. CLI/Console Logs with Live Recording

The log_cli configuration was added in Pytest 3.5. Pytest will change the log_cli configuration option to true to output logging records as soon as they are emitted into the console.

The user can choose the logging level for which log entries of equal or higher level are printed to the terminal by specifying log_level. To enable this, just make an INI file for configuration in the root directory and add the following CLI options.

4. Text Diaries

A built-in recording module is included in the standard library of Python. Therefore, there is no installation required.

To emit a log message, use the “logger.getLogger(__name__)” method to construct a new logger. The __name__ variable will hold the name of the module (or Python file) that calls the code.

Here’s an illustration of how to apply these methods to debug an Appium test:

• Check the Appium logs first to see any errors during the test. Take note of the error message and attempt to identify the source of the problem if you notice one in the logs.
• Next, confirm that Appium is accurately finding elements within the application using the Appium Inspector. You could utilize a different locator approach or change the element’s characteristics if Appium has problems finding the element.
• To ensure that the app is operating as intended, take screenshots of the app at critical junctures during the test. It helps you determine issues with the app’s behavior or the test logic.
• Create breakpoints in your code and execute the test in debug mode to examine the variables and the application’s states at particular test junctures.
• Lastly, utilize a test reporting tool to obtain comprehensive information about test failures, including screenshots and stack traces.

You may enhance the dependability of your Appium tests and efficiently troubleshoot them by following these methods.

Tools to Examine Components for Appium

Many tools that visually depict the program’s user interface and its elements can be used to check aspects of a mobile application for Appium. The following are some well-liked resources for examining components in mobile applications:

1.     Appium Desktop 

A free and open-source program called Appium Desktop offers the graphical user interface (GUI) for Appium. It lets you design and test scripts, examine components of the mobile application, and start and stop the Appium server. You can choose, analyze, and view the properties of items in the application’s user interface using Appium Desktop’s visual tree view.

2.     Viewer for UI Automator

The Android SDK includes a tool called UI Automator Viewer that lets you examine the components of an Android application. It allows you to pick and examine certain pieces and presents the application’s user interface in a hierarchical view. You can use Android Studio or the command line to start UI Automator Viewer.

3.     Accessibility Inspector in Xcode

Apple’s Xcode IDE offers an inspector called Xcode’s Accessibility Inspector that lets you look over the components of an iOS application. It allows you to pick and examine certain pieces and presents the application’s user interface in a hierarchical view. Open the Accessibility Inspector by selecting it from the “Developer Tools” menu in Xcode.

4.     Inspector of Selendroids

The Selendroid project offers a tool called Selendroid Inspector that lets you look into the components of an Android application. It has a graphical user interface (GUI) that shows the application’s components and allows you to pick and examine specific ones. Both the Selendroid server and the command line can be used to start Selendroid Inspector.

These tools let you examine and interact with the mobile application’s user interface items while providing a visual depiction. They are necessary when using Appium to create and test mobile applications.

Conclusion

Appium has proven to be a valuable tool for automating mobile app testing across various platforms, allowing testers and developers to ensure app quality and user experience. Following best practices, Appium can expedite app testing and uncover potential issues before users encounter them.

For developers looking for a comprehensive cloud platform with robust debugging tools, LambdaTest is a suitable choice. Developers can easily debug web applications across various operating systems and browsers, guaranteeing a consistent user experience and functionality. 

LambdaTest is designed to address the common challenges faced during the Appium test debugging process, providing features that enhance efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration. Here’s how LambdaTest can transform your Appium test debugging:

You can debug your mobile apps in real time with LambdaTest’s live interactive testing feature. It allows you to manually interact with your app on various devices, helping you understand the issue’s context and pinpoint the problem more effectively.

The platform’s comprehensive debugging logs, smooth integration with well-known development tools, and real-time interactive testing enable efficient problem-solving.

Keeping yourself abreast of Appium 2.0’s latest automation testing features is crucial if you want to be at the forefront of mobile app development and deliver exceptional user experiences.

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