Installing Squish for Android
Squish can be used to test software for Android that meets the following prerequisites:
- The application must provide a user interface.
- From the application, a test package has to be made and installed.
For the second prerequisite, a Java JDK, version 7 or higher, and optionally the Android SDK has to be installed.
With the prerequisites in place, Squish can be used to test the application, either using an Android emulator or using an Android device connected to the machine running Squish via USB.
Warning: OS-level changes for >= Android-28
For finding some UI elements, Squish has to use Java reflection in some cases. These code paths may break in future, yet unsupported, Android versions. Therefore since Android-28 (Android Pie), a warning dialog informs the user about this access. Of course that breaks UI testing and therefore Squish disables warnings dialogs, but keep warnings in the log (the logcat
output).
Note: When testing on a real device using USB on MS Windows, a special USB driver (for development/debugging purposes) from the vendor of the specific Android device/model must be installed (see OEM USB Drivers, the fact that an Android device shows up as a usable device in the operating system is usually not sufficient).
Note: Linux users testing on a real device using USB should make sure the access permissions to the device are configured properly (see Using Hardware Devices).
Make the Android app testable
Squish can record and replay test scripts for your application when there is a package containing the SquishHook instrumentation that has the target set to your application's package name.
Using a separate test package
This is the method used by the Squish IDE. The IDE will build a test apk, re-sign your apk and finally install both. Either when choosing a new package in the test suite settings page or "Manage Android AUTs" in the "Server Settings".
For command-line users, to create a test package, re-sign yours and install, run
apk-tool -a <path-to-android-sdk> -j <jdk> -pkg <your-apk> -o <temp-dir> -d <device>
where apk-tool
is a script found in the Squish' bin
directory, jdk
the full path to a Java JDK, version 7 or higher, and temp-dir
some directory where apk-tool
writes some temporary files.
The -a
option may be omitted. Squish has the required tools packed. Use it when your app uses more up-to-date resources from the Android SDK.
The -j
option may be omitted when both java and jarsigner are in your path.
You can pass multiple -d device
pairs to the apk-tool.
Note: The packages installed by apk-tool
may conflict with a previous installed package due to re-signing. Either uninstall it manually first or edit the apk-tool script Settings for Signing
field to match the keystore and credential your apk is using.
Using a built-in SquishHook
This is an alternative method to get a testable application. Instead of creating a test apk, the squish hook can be built-in too. This may be a faster compile/test cycle in some work loads.
We take as example AddressBook
, which you can find in the android
directory under examples
.
This project was created as
$ android-sdk/tools/android create project --target android-8 \ --name AddressBook --path AddressBook \ --activity AddressBook --package com.froglogic.addressbook
To compile this application yourself, first create a local.properties
file containing
sdk.dir=path-to-your-android-sdk
Note: When on MS Windows, either use forward slashes or use double backslashes for the path.
Next, create a project.properties
file containing
target=android-8
Note: Look in your Android SDK directory for the possible targets. The targets are the subdirectories under android-sdk/targets/
. Here we use target android-8
.
Then create a libs
subdirectory and copy the file squishandroid.jar
in there.
To add support for UiAutomation, also the jars testing-support-lib and uiautomator can be copied to libs
. These two jars can be retrieved from the Android-SDK extras/android/m2repository/com/android/support/test
directory, when having 'Android Support Repository' installed. Unzip the aar
files and rename classes.jar
so that these two jars don't overwrite each other.
Edit the AndroidManifest.xml
file to enable Squish instrumentation.
Edit the AndroidManifest.xml
file to add android.permission.INTERNET
permission.
Note: The above two steps have been done for the AddressBook application already
To build the application, execute
$ ant debug
Start the device or emulator, and once it is ready, install the application by executing
$ android-sdk/platform-tools/adb install -r bin/AddressBook-debug.apk
Naturally, you must replace android-sdk
with the full path to your Android SDK installation.
Starting the AUT
For more information of starting the application in a test script, see Notes on using with Android
You can check to see if Squish can see multiple devices and emulators by executing:
squishrunner --info androidDevices
To see all applications that Squish can use, run
squishrunner --info androidInstrumentation
Note: squishserver must be running to handle the --info
request.
© 2022 The Qt Company Ltd. Documentation contributions included herein are the copyrights of their respective owners. The documentation provided herein is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software Foundation. Qt and respective logos are trademarks of The Qt Company Ltd. in Finland and/or other countries worldwide. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.