words Al Woods
With the rise in smartphone use, mobile apps are flooding the market, promising a slew of advantages. As a result, the creation and testing of these apps have become more difficult. Businesses must ensure that their apps function smoothly in today’s competitive market.
Manual testing is no longer adequate for many applications. To get better results in less time, you should automate your testing. Appium is one of the most widely used mobile app test automation solutions for this! Appium is a cross-platform, open-source mobile test automation solution for native, hybrid, and mobile web apps. Appium works with real-world Android and iOS devices, as well as simulators and emulators. It’s also Selenium WebDriver compatible. Appium is a wrapper that converts Selenium instructions into Android and iOS commands.
What Is Appium?
Appium is widely recognized as the most reliant mobile app test automation platform. “Appium is like Selenium,” according to the software testing community, but only when it comes to mobile applications and games. Appium is a popular open-source solution for automating hybrid, native, and web application testing. Appium’s cross-platform nature allows for the construction of test cases on both the iOS and Android platforms utilizing a single API. Appium, in essence, takes its utility from Selenium and leverages the JSON Wire Protocol to actively interact with iOS and Android applications using Selenium’s WebDriver.
According to its server-client architecture, a REST API-enabled web server connects directly to the client, receives instructions, and then executes them on a mobile device. Because Appium is a Node.js HTTP server, the results of running commands may be examined without difficulty. One big benefit of Appium testing is that it eliminates the need to recompile the app for automation. With the widespread usage of Selenium WebDriver, this tool’s API has been extended to provide specific methodologies for testing mobile apps.
Example
Let’s suppose that an app developer has created a simple mobile app. The developer downloads the app on any iOS or Android device that is available and performs a brief manual test. Everything is in working order. The developer is now working on the app’s next major feature. After a new feature is created, it must be tested in parallel to confirm that everything is working properly.
Thorough testing is required for each new feature. Manually testing the mobile app on iOS and Android devices, on the other hand, is incredibly inefficient. Appium may be used to automate testing for mobile applications on both iOS and Android platforms in this example. The Appium server distinguishes the tests depending on the platform given in the DesiredCapabilities, a collection of key-value pairs used in both Appium and Selenium to specify the intended test environment.
Architecture Of Appium
When you download Appium, you’re really downloading the Appium server. Selenium WebDriver is implemented on the server, which is written in Node.js. It’s based on a client-server model. The JSON Wire protocol is used by WebDriver Script to deliver a connection request to Appium Server. Appium server initiates an automation session and makes a request to UIAutomator for Android or UIAutomation for iOS, depending on the requested capabilities set.
The actions are subsequently performed by UIAutomator, which connects with bootstrap.jar, which runs on an Android mobile device or emulator. UIAutomation, on the other hand, interfaces with bootstrap.js, which runs on iOS devices or emulators and does the tasks. It sends a message to the Appium server after each execution, and the Appium server records the results.
What Is Selenium?
Selenium is an open-source framework for validating web applications. Since 2004, Selenium has been acknowledged as the standard foundation for all subsequent automated testing platforms, having been created and maintained by the public community.
Components of Selenium:
Selenium is a collection of technologies that consists of three parts: Selenium WebDriver, Selenium IDE, and Selenium Grid. Selenium Remote Control was a previous component of the package (Selenium RC). However, Selenium RC was officially removed from Selenium 3.0 owing to several substantial shortcomings that were all handled by the WebDriver. Selenium enables users to develop test scripts in a variety of programming languages, including Ruby, Python, NodeJS, Perl, Java, Python, C#, and others, using a single interface.
- Selenium WebDriver: Selenium WebDriver is a set of open-source APIs that support a variety of browsers, including Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. WebDriver, unlike Selenium RC, is a Selenium family member, connects directly with browsers without the need for JavaScript. Because WebDriver supports the headless HtmlUnit browser without a GUI, there’s no need to wait for page components to load, which speeds up the test execution cycle.
- Selenium IDE: It is a web application testing tool that allows you to create and update Selenium test cases. With the exception of installing the extension of the tester’s unique browser, Selenium IDE is suitable for even inexperienced programmers and needs no special setup step to get started. Test cases may be converted to other programming languages in the development environment, offering testers more freedom in test execution.
- Selenium Grid: It is a tool that allows you to run numerous tests in parallel on various operating systems, browsers, and computers. It’s a huge help for high test loads, allowing QA to handle massive test suites quicker and cut the time it takes to perform a whole parallel-testing run in half.
What Makes Appium Such An Important Tool?
Appium, as previously said, is a cross-platform tool that allows you to build tests for several platforms, including iOS, Windows, and Android, using the same APIs. Appium also enables you to conduct automated tests on real-world devices like phones and tablets.
Appium is popular among mobile app testing service providers because it makes regression testing of mobile applications easier. This is particularly important for big mobile applications that are often updated with new features and functions.
Here are a few key facts that demonstrate why Appium is the most dependable solution.
- Appium is a server that runs in the background, much like a Selenium Server.
- The TestNG testing framework is simply compatible with this mobile test automation solution.
- Appium is powerful enough to automate any mobile app written in a variety of programming languages using a variety of frameworks.
- Appium is an ‘HTTP Server’ created in the Node.js programming language. With the aid of the Webdriver JSON wire protocol, it can drive iOS and Android sessions. Before starting the Appium Server, you must first install Node.js on your PC.
- Appium has a built-in UI Automator whose purpose is to provide complete data records and build a comprehensive reporting structure.
- You may gain control with this mobile testing solution by gaining complete access to back-end APIs and databases from test code. Appium is an ‘HTTP Server’ created in the Node.js programming language. With the aid of the Webdriver JSON wire protocol, it can drive iOS and Android sessions. Before starting the Appium Server, you must first install Node.js on your PC.
When Appium is downloaded and installed properly, it creates a server on the PC that exposes a REST API. Its function is to accept connection requests from clients, as well as command requests, and to execute such commands through mobile devices. As a consequence, it answers via HTTP responses. Furthermore, mobile test automation frameworks are utilized to run the user interfaces of the related applications in order to repeat this request.
Benefits Of Using Appium
Appium offers the following benefits:
- It is open-source and free.
- It is simple to install. Appium does not need any further installation on a device. Sauce Labs built and supports it, and the community loves it.
- It works with both iOS as well as Android devices.
- Appium is adaptable to a wide range of programming languages, including Java, Python, PHP, C#, and others. This makes it actually easy for the user to choose their preferred programming language. To support Appium, there is no need to change or recompile the app we’re evaluating.
- The same API may be used to write automation tests for iOS and Android.
- Any language may be used to write Appium tests.
- All Selenium WebDriver functionalities are accessible in Appium since it is compatible with Selenium WebDriver. Appium is simple to use and comprehend if you are familiar with selenium fundamentals.
- Appium does not need any additional software to be installed on a mobile device.
- Appium is adaptable to a wide range of programming languages, including Java, Python, PHP, C#, and others. Because of this, the user can simply choose their preferred programming language. To support Appium, there is no need to change or recompile the app we’re evaluating.
- An Appium test may run on both iOS and Android without requiring any changes to the code. At the same time, we may perform several tests on different systems. The same test may be conducted on any device with any OS version.
- Appium, like other automation tools, has a record and playback feature. Inspectors may be used to speed up testing by using Appium’s record and playback features. It inspects the DOM to capture the native app’s actions (Document Object Model).
- Integration with CI tools: Appium can be integrated with most CI systems (for example, Bamboo, Jenkins, and others) to allow automated test triggering throughout release cycles.
Appium testing is the ideal solution since it can operate on a wide range of devices and OS versions. Appium tests are simple to create and may be applied in a variety of ways, according to app developers and testers. For Appium testing, you can leverage cloud-based platforms like LambdaTest, which allows you to test apps on over 3000 different real devices and OS combinations.
With the information provided in this blog, it is reasonable to conclude that Appium has a considerable market share in test automation.
To improve the quality of mobile app testing, businesses must automate their testing process, especially as mobile app usage continues to grow. Appium, an open-source cross-platform mobile test automation solution for native, hybrid, and mobile web apps, is a popular choice. It can work with both real-world Android and iOS devices, as well as simulators and emulators, without requiring app recompilation. Additionally, it is Selenium WebDriver compatible, which is an open-source framework used for validating web applications on various browsers like Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. In one word, Appium is an essential tool for mobile app testing service providers that makes regression testing of mobile applications easier. Visit our website to learn more about Appium and how it can benefit your business.”
