Introduction to Robotium

An Intertech Course

Robotium Tutorial

Mobile March

March 21, 2013

By Jim White, Intertech, Inc..

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Copyright © Intertech, Inc. • www.Intertech.com • 800-866-9884 Slide 2

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Slides & demo code available at intertech.com/blog

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Session Agenda

• Robotium…

• What is it?

• Where to get it and how to set it up

• “Normal” Android unit testing background

• Why Robotium is needed

• Using Robotium

• Robotium Tips/Tricks/Issues

• Complimentary tools

• Further Resources

• Q&A

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Purpose

• The main point/purpose to my talk…

• There are wonderful test/QA tools available for Android!

• There are no excuses for skipping unit testing in Android!

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Jim White Intro

• Intertech Partner,

• Dir. of Training,

• Instructor,

• Consultant

• Co-author, J2ME, Java in Small Things (Manning)

• Device developer since before phones were “smart”

• Java developer when “spring” and “struts” described your stride

• Occasional beer drinker

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Robotium – what is it?

• An open source test framework

• Used to write black or white box tests (emphasis is on black box)

• White box testing – testing software that knows and tests the internal structures or workings of an application

• Black box testing – testing software functionality without knowledge of an application (perhaps where the source code is not even available)

• Tests can be executed on an Android Virtual Device (AVD) or real device

• Built on Java (and Android) and JUnit (the Android Test Framework)

• In fact, it may be more appropriate to call Robotium an extension to the Android test framework

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Robotium Project Setup

• Prerequisites

• Install and setup JDK

• Install and setup Eclipse (optional)

• Install and setup Android Standard Development Kit (SDK)

• Supports Android 1.6 (API level 4) and above

• Install and setup Android Development Tools (ADT) for Eclipse (optional)

• Create Android AVD or attach device by USB

• Create an Android Test Project

• Download Robotium JAR and add to project classpath

• robotium-solo-X.X.jar (version 3.6 the latest as of this writing)

• From code.google.com/p/robotium/downloads/list

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Background - Android JUnit Testing

• Android testing is based on JUnit

• You create test suites, classes (test cases), methods

• Organize tests into a Android Test project

• Android API supports JUnit 3 code style – not JUnit 4!

• No annotations

• Old JUnit naming conventions

• Test case classes can extend good-old-fashion JUnit3 TestCase

• To call Android APIs, base class must extend AndroidTestCase

• Use JUnit Assert class to check/display test results

• Execute tests using an SDK provided InstrumentationTestRunner

• android.test.InstrumentationTestRunner

• Usually handled automatically via IDE

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Android Test Architecture

• Architecturally, the unit testing project and app project run on the same JVM (i.e. DVM).

Test case classes,

instrumentation, JUnit,

mock objects, etc.

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Robotium Project Setup

• Add Robotium JAR to the Java Build Path

• Put Robotium in the build path order.

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Android JUnit Project Setup

Demo

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The “App” Used To Demo Today

• Want to make sure data is entered.

• Want to make sure data is valid.

• Age is less than 122

• Zip has 5 characters

• Make sure a role is clicked.

• Make sure clear does clear the fields.

• Etc.

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Example JUnit Test (Continued) public class TestDataCollection extends ActivityInstrumentationTestCase2<DataCollectionActivity> {

DataCollectionActivity activity;

public TestDataCollection() {

super(DataCollectionActivity.class);

}

@Override

public void setUp() throws Exception {

super.setUp();

activity = getActivity();

}

@Override

protected void tearDown() throws Exception {

activity.finish();

super.tearDown();

}

Extends AndroidTestCase –

provides functionality for testing a

single Activity. Need to associate it

to an Activity type (like

DataCollectionActivity)

Test case initialization method (just

like JUnit 3).

Test case tear down method (just

like JUnit 3).

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Example JUnit Test (Continued)

public void testCheckNameClear() {

final EditText name = (EditText) activity.findViewById(R.id.nameEdit);

activity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {

public void run() {

name.requestFocus();

}

});

sendKeys("J I M");

Button button = (Button) activity.findViewById(R.id.clearButton);

TouchUtils.clickView(this, button);

assertTrue("First name field is not empty.", name.getText().toString().equals(""));

}

}

Grab widgets by

their Android ID.

Test methods must

begin with “test”.

UI adjustments/ work must

be done on UI thread

TestCase,

TouchUtils

provide limited UI

maneuvering, but

again requires

deep knowledge

of the UI details

Normal assert methods to

check results.

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Why Android JUnit Isn’t Enough

• Requires deep knowledge of widgets

• Widget IDs

• Widget Properties

• What has focus

• Order of widgets

• Etc.

• Often requires deep knowledge of Android internals

• Especially around menus, dialogs, etc.

• Makes for brittle unit tests

• As the UI changes, the test often must change dramatically.

• Poor instrumentation

• Instrumentation is a feature in which specific monitoring of the interactions between an application and the system are made possible.

• Use of runOnUIThread to execute UI work that isn’t covered by TouchUtils or TestCase class.

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Example Robotium

• Use Robotium tests in JUnit test class

• Same code as in TestDataCollectionActivity above…

• With a few additions/changes.

private Solo solo; @Override public void setUp() throws Exception { super.setUp(); activity = getActivity(); solo= new Solo(getInstrumentation(), getActivity()); }

Add a Solo member

variable and initialize it

during setUp( ).

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Example Robotium (Continued)

• The new test method – greatly simplified via Robotium!

public void testCheckNameClear() { solo.enterText(0, "Jim"); // 0 is the index of the EditText field solo.clickOnButton("Clear"); assertTrue("First name field is not empty.",solo.getEditText(0). getText().toString().equals("")); }

Solo methods allow

widgets to be selected

and interacted with.

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http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=TG7SXjhHEOS3kM&tbnid=Vl-TSm50XeD3gM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.photofunblog.com/amazing/laughing-and-smiling-face-babies/attachment/happy-baby-laughing-picture-2/&ei=vzNHUbSbItK3qQHz54GYDw&bvm=bv.43828540,d.aWM&psig=AFQjCNHKYUQywNF6SKm9LEPoya75fK5LNA&ust=1363707099718008

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Robotium Solo API

• Robotium is all baked into one class - Solo – with many methods:

• clickX methods: clickOnButton, clickOnImage, clickOnText,…

• clickLongX methods: clickLongInList, clickLongOnScreen, clickLongOnText,…

• enterText

• drag

• getX methods: getButton, getCurrentActivity, getImage, getEditText, …

• goBack

• isX methods: isCheckBoxChecked, isRadioButtonChecked, isSpinnerTextSelected, isTextChecked,…

• pressX methods: pressMenuItem, pressMenuItem, pressSpinnerItem, …

• scrollX methods: scrollToTop, scrollToBottom, …

• searchX methods: searchButton, searchEditText, searchText, …

• waitForX methods: waitForActivity, waitForText, …

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Android Robotium Demo

Demo

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Tips & Tricks

• Robotium (and all JUnit tests) operate in the same process (DVM) as the original app

• Robotium only works with the activities and views within the defined app

• For example: Can’t use intent to launch another app and test activity work from that app

• The popup keyboard is accomplished with a bitmap in Android

• Robotium (or any unit test software) doesn’t see the “keys” as buttons or anything.

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Tips & Tricks (Continued)

• Use waitFor methods liberally.

• Especially if new screen opens or changes to what is displayed are occurring.

• The waitFor methods tell Robotium to wait for a condition to happen before the execution continues.

public void testGoodLogin() { solo.enterText(0, “username"); solo.enterText(1, “password"); String label = res.getString(R.string.login_button_label); solo.clickOnButton(label); String title = res.getString(R.string.title_activity_systemv); solo.waitForText(title); solo.assertCurrentActivity("systemv", SystemVActivity.class); solo.getCurrentActivity().finish(); }

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• RadioButtons are Buttons, EditText are Text, etc…

• Getting the proper widget by index can be more difficult

• Use of index also makes the test case more brittle due to potential layout changes

• Consider clickOnButton(“Clear”) vs.

clickOnButton(6)

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• Resources in Android are at a premium (especially when test cases and App code are running in same DVM).

• Use solo.finishOpenedActivities() in your tearDown method.

• It closes all the opened activities.

• Frees resources for the next tests

• Robotium has some difficulty with animations

• Robotium doesn’t work with status bar notifications

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Tips & Tricks – Black Box Testing

• Black Box Testing (when all you have is the APK file) is a little more tricky.

• Recall in the demo, the test application wants the main activity name? public TestDataCollectionActivity() {

super(DataCollectionActivity.class);

}

• You may not know this for a 3rd party/black box app.

• You can get the activity name by loading the APK to an AVD or device, running it, and watching the logcat.

• The APK file has to have the same certificate signature as the test project.

• Probably have to delete the signature and then resign the APK with the Android debug key signature.

• It’s easier than it sounds. See referenced document for help.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=black+box&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=21J9DDRp3hxNKM&tbnid=nN83qNIvuzTDbM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/art/big-images/&ei=ImJHUcb_AsKArAGiyoHICA&bvm=bv.43828540,d.aWc&psig=AFQjCNG6PcFmbbkWwVxAYqMqJKzM89_fOA&ust=1363718997618023

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Android Robotium Black Box Demo

Black Box

Demo

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Robotium Additional Features

• Robotium can automatically take screenshots

• solo.takeScreenshot( )

• Robotium can be run from the command line (using adb shell)

• adb shell am instrument -w com.android.foo/android.test.InstrumentationTestRunner

• Robotium can test with localized strings

• solo.getString(localized_resource_string_id)

• Code coverage is a bit lackluster at this time

• Can be done with special ant task and command line tools

• Robotium does not work on Flash or Web apps.

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Complimentary Tools

• Robotium Testroid Recorder

• Record actions to generate Android JUnit/Robotium test cases

• Run tests on 180 devices “in the cloud”

• Testdroid.com

• Commercial product (50 runs free, $99/month or ¢99/run)

• Robotium Remote Control

• Allows Robotium test cases to be executed from the JVM (on a PC)

• This allows Robotium to work with JUnit 4.

• code.google.com/p/robotium/wiki/RemoteControl

http://testdroid.com/wp-content/uploads/Testdroid-recorder-product-spec.pdf

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Resources

• These slides and demo code: intertech.com/blog

• Google Robotium site

• code.google.com/p/robotium

• code.google.com/p/robotium/wiki/RobotiumTutorials

• Tutorial Articles/Blog Posts

• devblog.xing.com/qa/robotium-atxing/

• www.netmagazine.com/tutorials/automate-your-android-app-testing

• robotiumsolo.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-is-robotium.html

• www.vogella.com/articles/AndroidTesting/article.html

• robotium.googlecode.com/files/RobotiumForBeginners.pdf

• excellent article for black box testing when all you have is the APK

• Fundamentals of Android Unit Testing

• developer.android.com/tools/testing/testing_android.html

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Q&A

• Questions – you got’em, I want’em

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Documents

Introduction to Robotium