What is Appium?

Introduction to Appium

Hello Folks! We all are living in the Twenty-first generation and using mobile for each and everything. It is an agreeable fact that mobile has become the most important part of our life. As the use of mobile is more, the demand for mobile applications is also high. As mobile applications are convenient, there are almost 2 million apps in Android and IOS.

Converting current software testing into mobile version came in to picture for creating apps in mobile software, and the need to test these applications has aroused. This is a repetitive task to test the mobile app; hence it would be better if there is an automated testing system for testing these mobile applications. Thus appium came in to picture. There are many automated tools in the market, but appium is the widely used one.

Let’s not delay and learn about the appium automation tool in a step-by-step process.

What is Apppium?

It can be defined as an open-source tool for all mobile application automation which was launched in 2012. With the help of appium automation, this automation can be done with ease

• Native
• Hybrid
• Web

This can be run on operating systems such as

• Ios
• Android
• Firefox OS

It is cross-platformed as well. It means we can write tests on any platform using the same Application Programming Interface. This means we can write the test code in IOS, and the same test can be used for windows phones, android app. This, in turn, results in large re-usable code, which is time-saving.

Another beautiful feature of appium is, recompilation doesn’t involve automation of application. That means without access to the automation code; this can be used.

Understanding

Let’s dive right in and know about appium. The most important aspect of appium is the client/server nature. Understanding appium can be understood easily by appium architecture.

Server: When selenium RC is used, we will generally find out that appium works in a similar line to selenium server in selenium RC; it provides communication between mobile device and client. It is scripted in Node.js, so there is no need to install it again.

Client: Client in appium means client libraries like java, ruby, python, PHP, Javascript is available. These support mobile-specific commands in addition to standard selenium commands.

A REST API is exposed once the Appium server is started to the client. A client starts a session with JSON ‘desired capabilities’ object. A connection is set between the client and the server.

How Appium works?

Before using this, we need to follow the necessary steps to make it work properly.

Installation of JDK, Android SDK Studio

Next, Eclipse has to be installed, and for Eclipse install TestNg

Selenium server JAR, Appium Library client and Appium desktop have to be installed.

An HTTP Server that the usage can write of a platform node.js that makes the iOS and Android operating system to work with the utilization of a JSON wire protocol is known as Appium.

Once the Appium has been installed, our machine has to be set up with a server that releases REST API.

The client will then be receiving a connection and a command request; Appium starts executing the command on various mobile operating systems such as Android or iOS.

The response is an HTTP response; for executing an HTTP response, it makes use of the mobile test automation framework to bring a user interface output.

Why choose Appium?

With plenty of mobile automation tools in the market, Appium comes with its own unique feature that drives Android/iOS systems to give user-friendly flexibility. It has its extension to work in native and hybrid mobile applications. It can be written in any language and can be used for automated purposes without modifying anything. And Appium code can run in various devices, which are the best reliable and scalable choice for the automation of mobile.

Pros and Cons

The pros and cons are given below in a detailed format

Pros

• It is free and open-source
• These provide cross-platform solutions for native and hybrid apps
• It is compatible with JSON web-driver and Grid
• Testing based on cloud is supporting using testdriod
• Programming languages such a C#, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby are supported by appium
• App Automation is possible by using appium
• It enables to evaluate of cross-platform mobile apps without recompiling the code.
• It supports simulators, emulators and real devices simultaneously
• The testers can use the inspector for playback and record tool
• Supports JSON wire protocol
• Independent of mobile device means can be used in any mobile device
• Has an active google group
• Excellent support for android versions above 4.1

Cons

• With the use of simulators, it speeds up ios app testing. This behavior makes it the testers easier to understand and control the internal behavior of underneath ios devices, but it does not allow multiple scripts in multiple simulators at a time.
• The testing of the app below the 4.2 android version is not allowed
• Support for hybrid app testing is limited
• Gestures support is not yet implemented like to access java library by double click.
• No detailed documentation is there in the form of tutorials
• Image recognition is very poor; we have to do this by using image handling techniques
• In Microsoft Windows, appium inspector is not supported

Conclusion

It is a language-agnostic supports web driver application program interface, allows cross-platform tests. Applications are efficient, accurate, fast, and free from bugs, which saves a lot of time and cost. Keeping all this in mind learning appium will be worth it.

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