Automation Guide Application testing Mobile testing Testing mobile applications Android Automation Setting up the test environment Setting up installation local appium server

 Setting up Appium environment

Setting up Appium environment

This section will guide you through the process of installing Appium Server on your host PC.

Mobile Testing Environment Prerequisites

• For Android testing, it requires a Windows, OS X or Linux machine for hosting test. For iOS testing, OS X is required
• Your app’s .apk or .ipa file or its appPackage name (e.g. com.google.android.youtube) and appActivity name if you are going to test pre-installed applications.

Setup Android Environment

Installing JDK

1. Download the proper installation file from Oracle for your operating system. Java SE Development Kit 11.0.5 LTS is recommended.

2. Run the installer, then wait until the installation is complete.

3. Set JAVA_HOME in your system’s environmental variables to the JDK installation path.

   Firstly, find your JDK installation path. On Windows, the path should be C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-<VERSION NUMBER> by default. It should be /usr/libexec/java_home on OS X and /usr/lib/jvm/java-<VERSION NUMBER>-openjdk-amd64 on Linux (Ubuntu).

   • Windows: Hit Windows + R combination then type “sysdm.cpl” in Run dialog box. It will open the Advanced System Setting window, then click Environment Variables... on Advanced tab. Click New button in the User Variables section for adding the variable detail. Enter JAVA_HOME for variable name and the JDK 8 folder location on your computer in variable value field (e.g. C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-11.0.5).

   • OS X:

     For OS X use zsh as default shell (OS X 10.15): Open ~/.zprofile with a text editor (e.g. run open -e ~/.zprofile from terminal).

     For OS X use bash as default shell (OS X 10.14 and below): Open ~/.bash_profile with a text editor (e.g. run open -e ~/.bash_profile from terminal).

     Then add a new line export JAVA_HOME=<JDK INSTALLATION PATH> to the opened file and save it. See this article for OS X update details from Apple.

     Tip: 
     You can check the default shell on your system by the title of any running terminal.

   zsh

   or bash

   • Linux: Find the path to your java installation, it depends on which version of Linux you are using. Open ~/.bashrc with a text editor (e.g. gedit ~/.bashrc on Ubuntu 18.04.3) and add the line export JAVA_HOME=<JDK INSTALLATION PATH>. Save the file.

4. PATH variable configuration: Add the JDK bin folder path to your system’s environment variable PATH (or Path on Windows 10). You’ll need to intialize this variable using the same method you used for the JAVA_HOME variable if you have not already done this.

   On the other hand, you just have to edit by click Edit button after select it and add new value %JAVA_HOME%\bin by click New button (for Windows). On OS X, depend on the system default shell that you have to add new line export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin to ~/.zprofile or ~/.bash_profile file. For Linux, users have to add new line export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin to ~/.bashrc.

5. Run source ~/.bash_profile or source ~/.zprofile (for OS X) and source ~/.bashrc (for Linux) or restart the machine. Remember to run these commands (or restart) everytime you modify these files. Windows users don’t need to do this step.

Installing Android Studio

Android Studio is an IDE for creating Android applications. The Android SDK tools are included when you install Android Studio.

1. Go to the Android Studio website and click Download Android Studio.
2. Run the application file (e.g. android-studio-ide-182.5314842-windows.exe).
3. In the Choose Components screen, select the Android Studio
4. Configure your settings, then click Install to start the installation process.
5. Click the Finish button on the Completing Android Studio Setup screen to finish the process.
   

Installing Android SDK Tools

After installing Android Studio, you’ll need to install Android SDK Tools in order to use Appium.

When launching Android Studio for the first time, the setup process will start and ask if you want to install the required Android SDK Tools (If you’ve already set up Android Studio go to Step 6) :

1. Launch Android Studio

2. Android Studio Setup Wizard will be displayed like below

3. Click Next, then select Standard on the Install Type screen

4. Continue navigating to Verify Settings, you will see the list of SDK Components to be downloaded
   

   Tip: 
   The items in the list depend on the current version of Android Studio. If you already have an older version installed, the list might be different.

5. Click the Finish button and then wait until the installation is completed.

6. If you’ve already set up Android Studio, open up the SDK Manager by selecting Configure > SDK Manager from the menu bar.
   

7. Select Android SDK > SDK Tools
   

8. Ensure that the components below have been installed or updated:

   • Android SDK Build-Tools (version 33.0 is recommended)
   • Android Emulator
   • Emulator Accelerator (if available)

9. Configure the ANDROID_HOME environmental variable: Initialize this variable using the same method you use for the JAVA_HOME environmental variable.

   • For Linux, add the line export ANDROID_HOME=~/Android/Sdk to your .bashrc file.
   • On Windows, the variable’s value should be C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk.
   • On OS X, add the line export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/<UserName>/Library/Android/sdk to your.bash_profile or .zprofile.

Checking the adb command

Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a powerful tool that’s provided as part of the Android SDK. With adb, you can run commands and communicate with connected devices or emulators.

First, you can check whether adb has been installed with adb devices command:

adb devices
* daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037
* daemon started successfully

If you get the daemon started successfully message, then adb is installed and is working properly.

If the command adb devices fails to run (like in the Windows example below), please follow the next TIP.

adb devices
'adb' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

For Windows, users have to add C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools to your PATH using the same method you used for installing the JDK

On OS X just add this :<path to platform-tools folder> to the line that contains the PATH variable value in .zprofile or .bash_profile. The whole line should look like this : export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools or export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin:/Users/test/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools in case ANDROID_HOME wasn’t set.

On Linux you have to add :<path to platform-tools folder> to the PATH variable by using either of these commands: export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools or export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin:~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools

adb is included in the Android SDK Platform-Tools package. If it hasn’t been installed yet, you can install adb via the SDK Manager in Android Studio as above.

Installing Appium Server

Appium Server is required for testing on mobile, users can choose between installing it via npm or the Appium Desktop package which contains:

• Appium Server, the software driving the test automation
• A GUI to start Appium Server and inspect mobile applications.

Note: Appium Desktop only runs on 64-bit systems. If you’re using a 32-bit (x86) system, please skip to the TIP below.

Click here to download and install the right package for your OS (version 1.22+ is recommended for Android). Typically:

• For Windows: it should look like Appium-Server-GUI-....exe
• For Mac: download the one with .dmg extension
• For Linux: download the one with .AppImage extension

Appium Desktop

Now open Appium Desktop and click the Edit Configurations button.

• ANDROID_HOME: Set this to your Android SDK folder. It is usually one of these

  • Windows C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\
  • Linux /home/<UserName>/Android/Sdk/
  • OSx /Users/<UserName>/Library/Android/sdk/

• JAVA_HOME: Set this to the location of your java installation

  • Windows C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-<VERSION NUMBER>\
  • Linux /usr/lib/jvm/java-<VERSION NUMBER>-openjdk-amd64
  • OSx /usr/libexec/java_home

Save the settings and restart Appium Desktop.

Appium Server with Command Line

If you choose not to use Appium Desktop, Appium Server has to be installed using the command line. You also have to use the command line to configure and control it. Follow the steps below to install Appium Server using the command line:

1. Ensure that NodeJS is installed
2. Open the command line and install Appium using npm

   npm install -g appium

Before running a test, users need to start Appium Server by running appium from the terminal.