Effective Locator Strategy for Mobile App Automation using Appium

Introduction:

Mobile App Automation using Appium involves various ways to locate elements for effective testing. In this blog, we’ll se the Mobile app automation Using Appium Inspector, we can inspect elements on both iOS and Android devices.

Now we’ll go for locating the Android Element

• Mobile App Testing tools are available in the market right now are as follows:
  • Katalon
  • Appium
  • Espresso
  • XCTest
  • Robotium
  • Selndroid
  • Flutter
  • Robot Framework
  • iOS-driver
  • Xamarin

So currently we are going to Inspecting the Locator Strategy for Mobile App Automation using Appium, For the initial setup of Appium for Android device you can refer this blog How To Configure Our System For Real Mobile App Automation. This  blog will guide you for the mobile app automation using Appium setup on Android device.

We have various ways to locate the elements for mobile app automation using Appium Inspector, mainly we have the following ways to locate the elements:

• Id
• Xpath
• Customized Xpath
• Accessible Id

First, we’ll see how to locate the specific element for Mobile App Automation using Appium

After starting the session on an Android phone you will see the below Appium inspector window

In this image, you can see the mobile screen, App source, and Selected Element tabs.

When you select the particular element on the mobile screen displayed on Appium Inspector, You will see the below image, I have selected the C button from a calculator for mobile app automation using appium.

Now we can see the DOM content is loaded in the App Source tab, and the Attributes and values will be displayed in the Selected Element tab.

Now we’ll see how to locate the element from the Selected Element tab.

In the above image you can see the attribute and values to locate the element

Now we can see the Locator strategies to locate this element for mobile app automation using appium. First, we’ll see locating the element using the Id

First, we’ll have to see the available Attributes for that particular element and then try to locate the element. So copy the ID from given Selected Element tab as shown below

So now We’ll see how to check whether the Id is a valid locator or not.

• For that first click on the Search bar

• Then make sure you have selected the correct locator Strategy as shown in the below image.

• Now after clicking on the search element, you will get to see the identified element as shown in the below image

• As the element is getting highlighted it indicated that we can use that ID to locate that particular element

Now we’ll see locating elements using XPath for Mobile App Automation using Appium

In a similar way to Id we can locate the element using Xpath, So for first we need to click on the Xpath shown in the below image.

Now click on the search button explained above

Make sure that you have selected the XPath as Locator Strategy as shown. Then Paste the copied XPath in the Selector Box and click on the Search Button, so then you can see the below image the element is located by the XPath

The element is getting highlighted and that means we can use this XPath to locate this element

Now we’ll see how to use customized XPath for Mobile App Automation

This allows us to handle parameterization and overcome limitations when ID or XPath is not available by default. So for that, we need to know how we can create XPath

• The first step is you need to find the class for that particular element

• As you can see the above image, class is present for that particular element. So first step is we need to copy this class value
• The next step is to choose the attribute you want to use the value of.

• These are the various attributes you can use to customize XPath
• So after that, you can create the Customized XPath, So here is a sample XPath I have used to locate the equal button from the Calculator app
• In this XPath, I have chosen text attribute. So in the below image, you can see the combination of class and attribute and value. This is how we can create customized XPath

• As shown in the below image you can see the Located element

• So when the requirement is there to create a parameterized locator or ID is not available, at that time you can use Customized XPath

For accessibility Id you can follow similar steps like ID to locate the element. The only condition is Accessibility ID should be available for that particular element

Now we’ll go for locating the iOS element for Mobile App Automation using Appium

For iOS automation We’ll be going to see how we can locate the element. To locate elements on iOS devices following strategies are available

• Accessibility Id
• XPath
• Customized XPath

Now we’ll see how to locate the element using Accessibility ID on iOS device.

For that, we’ll have to start the Appium Session on iOS. After starting the Appium session on iOS device you  will get to see the below window of Appium inspector

This will be the home page of the calculator on the iOS App. On this screen, you can see three windows Mobile screen, App Source, and Selected  Element. When you select any of the elements displayed on the Mobile screen the screen will be shown below.

In the above Image, I have selected the AC button which is for All Clear. After selecting that element the DOM content is loaded in the App Source window and in the Selected Element window we can see the attributes and values that can be used for inspecting the elements.

We have so many options to locate the element as you can see in the Selected Element window. We have accessibility ID, XPath, and customized XPath for Mobile App Automation using Appium.

Now we’ll see how to locate the element using accessibility id for Mobile App Automation using Appium

So first we’ll go to search for element as shown in the below image

As shown in the above image you can see that I have selected Locator Strategy as the Accessibility ID and the value I have passed the accessibility ID got from the Selected Element window. Now, I’ll click on the Search button.

The system will display the result window below.

As shown in the screenshot, the AC button is highlighted after successfully finding the window element. The count for the found element is 1, and you can use this accessibility ID to locate this specific element.

Note: So for locating the elements using XPath and customized XPath you can refer the steps mentioned for Android.

• Preffered Locator Strategy: As you can see the Selected element window, We have multiple options to locate the element for Mobile App Automation. So there might be a confusion to select the correct locator strategy. So here are some key points which you can consider while choosing the locator strategy
  • Most preferred locator strategy will be id (Android) or accessibility id (iOS). Because id’s are designed to be unique for direct access.
  • name locator strategy can be used if the particular element have the unique name which can be used to locate element.
  • The XPath are more likely to use if id not available or we have requirement to create locator which needs to be parameterized.

Conclusion:

As we see, we have multiple ways to locate the elements on the Mobile Application. Here in this blog, we got to know the the locator strategies to locate the elements on Android and iOS Application for Mobile App Automation using Appium. So you have multiple options to locate the elements, From which you have to decide which strategy suits best for your requirements. So as mentioned above id is fastest way to locate elements, But you have choice to use XPath and customized XPath for parameterization. https://github.com/appium/appium-inspector/releases

Overall, this blog provides an overview of how to locate elements Mobile App Automation using Appium Inspector. Additionally, it explains the various locator strategies you can choose based on the requirements of your test script.

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